Three Seniors Awarded Fulbright Scholarships

Three Harvard seniors have been selected from almost 3000 applicants nationwide to receive Fulbright Scholarships.

David H. Chin '86, Robert M. Neer '86 and Natacha I. Barber '86 were notified last week that the Fulbright program will cover all of their expenses for a year of study abroad.

More than 700 U.S. students are granted the prestigious scholarships each year on the basis of their academic record, language proficiency, and proposed project of study.

The scholarships, which are supported by federal and private funds, send students to more than 50 countries annually.

Chin, a Quincy House resident, received the more prestigious ITT Fellowship of the Fulbright program. The ITT Corporation, a Fulbright sponsor, reviews all the applicants before the Fulbright board has access to them. ITT then chooses the most qualified students, offering them more lucrative awards.

Chin said he plans to study biological organic chemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technolgy (ETH) in Zurich.

Chin said he will work under Steve Benner, a former Harvard assistant professor under whom he studied here two years ago.

I'm So Excited

Neer, an Eliot House resident, said he was "really pleased and excited" to have received the scholarship.

Although he has not formally accepted the offer, Neer said the offer of a paid year of study abroad in Singapore presents "an interesting way to spend a year before going to law school."

If he accepts the award, Neer said he will "write a comparison of the transition of Singapore from a British colony to an independant nation with the pending transformation of Hong Kong from a British colony to a semi-autonomous region in China."

Barber, a Quincy house resident, could not be reached yesterday. Chin said Barber plans to study in West Germany.

The Fulbright selection process will continue through the spring, and many of the recipients have yet to be chosen, said Melinda S. Walsh, a counselor at the Office of Career Services who supervises Harvard's Fulbright applications.

The purpose of the Fulbright and the ITT fellowships is "to increase the mutual understanding between the people of the U.S. and the people of other countries," according to an informational pamphlet about the program.

The most common activities for Fulbright Scholars are university teaching, advanced research, graduate study, and teaching in elementary and secondary schools.