09-06-2021
The Fulbright Program grants are a unique opportunity for Portuguese students, researchers, and professors to study, teach or carry out research in the United States of America. Fulbright Portugal has announced the 2021 Portuguese and American recipients of the Fulbright Portugal Awards. Bruno Guerreiro and Rafael Rippel, PhD students at the Chemistry Department, are among the Portuguese grantees selected for the Fulbright Program in Portugal and will go for six months to the University of California, Berkeley, funded by a Fulbright Grant for research with the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia support.
Bruno Guerreiro is a PhD student in the Biochemistry Doctoral Program, at the Biochemical Engineering Lab at UCIBIO-NOVA, and Rafael Rippel is a PhD student in the Sustainable Chemistry Doctoral Program, at the Molecular Synthesis Research Group at LAQV-NOVA.
As read in the Fulbright website:
“Bruno Guerreiro is a Ph.D. student researching cryopreservation of biological systems. His thesis is titled “Cryobiophysics: structure-function-property-design interplay of biopolymers in crystal binding”. As a visiting student researcher at The University of California, Berkeley, Bruno is going to gain expertise on cutting-edge isochoric cryopreservation technology using biopolymeric cryoprotectants, under the supervision of Dr. Boris Rubinsky, with around 50 years of expertise in the field. His stay in the USA will greatly impact Bruno’s work by enabling collaboration with like-minded passionate individuals that nurture ideas from distinct schools of thought.”
“Rafael Rippel is doing a Ph.D in Sustainable Chemistry with specialization in Organic Chemistry. As a visiting researcher at the Department of Chemistry at UC Berkeley, Rafael will have the chance to work under the supervision of Dr. Richmond Sarpong to develop novel small molecules for lung cancer treatment. His stay in the USA will greatly impact Rafael`s expertise as a synthetic organic chemist. Moreover, the opportunity to work in a multicultural environment and collaborate with like-minded individuals will be a major step towards the fulfilment of his personal goals and ambitions.”
This year, a total of 56 grantees, of which 41 Portuguese and 15 American, were selected for the Fulbright Program in Portugal. This outstanding group of students, researchers and professors reflects the diversity of both the U.S. and the Portuguese society. The Commission highlights the diversity of the grantees’ fields of study, from Anthropology to Biology to Aerospace Science, and of their regions of origin and placement.
For 75 years, the Fulbright Program has given worldwide hundreds of thousands of passionate and accomplished students, scholars, teachers, artists, and professionals of all backgrounds and fields the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to complex global challenges.
