May 13, 2022

Victoria Fulfer, a Ph.D. student at the URI Graduate school of Oceanography, has been awarded a 2022-2023 Fulbright U.S. Student Program Research Award to fund her work in Nha Trang, Vietnam. 

“I have proposed to research the plastic waste problem in this area of Vietnam,” said Fulfer. “Vietnam, like the U.S. and many other countries, has a huge plastic problem and a real waste management problem.”

Fulfer intends to use what she learned about how plastics move and are deposited in Narragansett Bay to understand where most plastics entering Nha Trang Bay end up. This may help facilitate targeted cleanups and reveal the effects this pollution is having on the ecosystem.

While in Vietnam for 10 months starting in September, Fulfer will also co-teach a course on coastal and ocean science and management with GSO professor and Coastal Resources Center director – and Fulfer’s major professor – J.P. Walsh. This course will be offered as part of a new Ph.D. program at Nha Trang University. 

“I am really excited to pursue new research endeavors and get some great teaching experiences while in Vietnam,” said Fulfer. “I hope to build lifelong collaborations during my Fulbright.”

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries by providing high-achieving students with the opportunity to research, study or teach abroad. The program enables applicants to design their own research projects to work with institutions abroad.