Three Professors at Texas Tech University recently received grants to further research.

Sankar Chatterjee, Conrad Lyford, and Rich Rice were selected to receive Fulbright U.S. Scholar Grants for 2014-2015. The professors join approximately 800 other recipients to lecture and conduct research in 140 countries.

Chatterjee, Horn Professor of Paleontology and Curator of Tech’s museum, received Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award for teaching and research. In the spring of 2015 Chatterjee will travel to India to continue research on a hypothesis dealing with the Shiva crater. The Shiva crater is an underwater crater in the Indian Ocean west of Mumbai and many scientists believe its creation impacted the demise of the dinosaurs.

“The Shiva crater is about 500 kilometers in diameter, and we discovered it from geophysical evidence and drill core samples in the Mumbai Offshore Basin on the western continental shelf of India,” said Chatterjee. “The crater is largely submerged and buried by a 2- to 7-kilometer-thick strata and is the largest oilfield in India. I’ve been  invited to participate in the Koyna Drilling Project to study the core samples that may unravel the genesis of the Shiva crater.”

Conrad Lyford, associate professor of agricultural and applied economics, will travel to Ethiopia to work in conjunction with Ethiopian educators and researchers at Hawassa University. There, they will work to facilitate agribusiness development.

“Receiving this Fulbright means enhanced opportunities to work in agricultural development in Feed the Future countries that are currently a focus of efforts by the U.S. government/U.S. Agency for International Development for development assistance,” Lyford said. “This should build on Texas Tech’ growing partnerships with Ethiopian universities.”

Rich Rice, associate professor of English, specializes in technical communication and rhetoric. With his grant, Rice will teach and conduct research this fall at Delhi University in Inida. While there, he will work on a project titled - Shifting Programmatic Studies in U.S.-India English/Communication and Study Abroad Programs. According to Rice the project will help hiim determine how to best set up a study abroad exchange between India and Tech.

The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The program was established in 1946 and operates in more than 155 countries worldwide.

 

 

 

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