Shirin Karsan
Fulbright Student Scholar to the United Arab Emirates 2009-10
Critical Language Enhancement Award (CLEA)
Project Manager, School of Biomedical Engineering
Getting the Fulbright is truly an honor and a privilege, for which I am very grateful. Going through the application was a great learning process! It helped to revisit and clarify my own personal goals and to determine in what direction I want to steer my educational endeavors.
I will be in the UAE for the academic year 2009/10 to conduct research in Bioethics, specifically on the Ethics of Emerging Sciences and Bio/Nanotechnologies. My research area will focus on Neuroscience and Neuroethics, as well as Assisted Reproductive Technologies, from a cultural and religious perspective.
I have also received the CLEA (Critical Language Enhancement Award) to study Arabic, which I will be doing concurrently, either in the UAE or in Jordan. It is very exciting to conduct research in an area where there is not much prior work done, and I look forward to the opportunity to create a new knowledge base. Although my application was submitted through University of Pennsylvania, I truly appreciated the support and encouragement Rona provided me in helping to manage what might otherwise be a rather daunting task.