OSU professor receives Fulbright Fellowship

Professor Jeffery White was recently awarded the prestigious Fulbright Fellowship and is currently

conducting collaborative research in Poland, which will be useful in the creation of multi-component

polymeric materials and composites to be used in products from automobile and aerospace structural

panels to artificial bone and joints.

Via e-mail interview, White said: "My research focuses on materials, and we ask many questions about

why things work like they do in materials composed of very large molecules, how can we create new

materials with beneficial properties through self-assembly of components, and how the answers to

some of these questions apply to other areas, like biological materials …."

Fulbright offers programs for students and scholars that are extremely competitive. According to

fulbright.state.gov, the Fulbright Program has been integral to U.S. foreign relations since its

inception in the 1940s.

Recipients of Fulbright awards spend time in other countries either collaborating on projects

with local scholars or as exchange students in a variety of fields. The primary goal of the

Fulbright organization is to fuel collaborative projects and inter-country communication for

the purpose of bringing countries together academically.

Concerning his reaction to winning the Fulbright, White said "I was very pleased to receive the Fulbright

Research Scholar Award, primarily since the peer review process critically evaluated the merit of the

research first and foremost … As a scientist, you "live and breathe" based on critical evaluations from

peers across the nation and around the world, and this usually occurs in the context of scientific journal

publications or research proposals. The Fulbright adds an extra dimension in that it gives us a chance to

share some of our research ideas with a research group in another country, receive benefit from their

complimentary expertise as well, and form lasting relationships which benefit OSU."