NORTHERN TODAY 15 FALL 2015 STUDENT NEWS “I FELL IN LOVE WITH THAT AREA OF THE WORLD,” said Kerbaugh, a recent NSU graduate. Now, Kerbaugh has gone back – this time, as the recipient of a prestigious J. William Fulbright Scholarship. Kerbaugh will be an English teaching assistant in Vietnam from August through June 2016. She is the first NSU student in recent years to receive a grant from the Fulbright program, a U.S. governmentsponsored scholarship program that promotes international educational exchange. Before the trip, the Harwood, N.D., native said she was excited to experience a part of the world that a lot of people from the Midwest haven’t visited. “I’m looking forward to just experiencing a new culture and being immersed in it for 10 months,” she said. Kerbaugh, 23, graduated from NSU in December 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in instrumental and vocal music education. Last semester, she taught elementary and middle school music for the Warner School District. Excited for international teaching While looking forward to learning the culture in Vietnam, she’s also excited for the international teaching portion. “This is the launching pad for my career in international education,” she said. She has wanted to teach overseas since she went to Spain on a school trip at age 17. She looks forward to being around people who have a different culture and language, but who share the same passion for education and learning through cultural differences. “I think we have a lot to learn from international education, and I think more people should be looking into the benefits it provides society,” Kerbaugh said. It unifies people of different nations, and that’s the purpose of the Fulbright program, she said – promoting the United States’ relationships with other countries. Encouraged by faculty member Kerbaugh applied for the Fulbright opportunity while still a student at NSU, after taking a course with NSU’s Dr. Alyssa Anderson, assistant professor of biology and one of the Fulbright scholars among the Northern faculty. Anderson said she could tell Kerbaugh was enthusiastic, motivated, driven and personable. With those qualities, along with her career goals, she seemed like the ideal candidate for the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant program. She’s confident Kerbaugh will embrace this opportunity and take advantage of all the experience has to offer. The program is much more than the primary teaching or research obligations. “It’s about becoming part of the society of the host country – sharing perspectives from our culture and bringing back and relaying experiences from the host country are central to the success of the Fulbright program,” Anderson said. ‘One of the greatest things I have done’ Anderson received her Fulbright research grant as a graduate student, traveling to Norway to study at the Norwegian Institute of Science and Technology. There, she was able to expand her graduate research and learn new skills, including DNA barcoding and morphological taxonomic techniques that allowed her to describe three new insect species. “The experience was incredible and ended up being one of the greatest things I have done – I ended up loving the research and I made so many new friends and connections, and got to experience so much more of the world,” Anderson said. “Most importantly, I tested my limits and developed a much stronger confidence in my abilities – I hope Chelsea can say the same when she comes back to the States.” Northern State University graduate receives Fulbright Scholarship to teach in Vietnam After Chelsea Kerbaugh traveled to China on the Northern State University 2013 band tour, she knew she wanted to return to Asia someday. state-of-the-art equipment, such as the spectrometer and the confocal microscope. If Marcott’s research is successful, she could potentially produce an organic fungicide as a gardening product. But she said marketing it to the agricultural industry would require a lot more testing. Marcott is double majoring in business management and biology with a biotechnology certification. NSU provides students a lot of opportunity to blend disciplines, said Dr. Jon Mitchell, assistant professor of biology and Marcott’s research advisor. “I think we do that well,” he said. Love of plants grew at NSU Originally from Champaign, Ill., Marcott has lived in Aberdeen for over six years. Her love of plants started in childhood, when she said her father “immersed me in the world of nutritional health and botanical medicine.” She has since become an organic horticulturist and environmental advocate. That love of plants has continued to grow at NSU. Now working with Mitchell and Dr. Jodie Ramsay, professor of biology, she’s gotten to learn about different aspects of plants, including their chemical makeup. She would like to pursue botany and/or plant physiology. Marcott’s project also started because of her own troubles with fungus when growing her own plants. She’s very interested in alternative, organic solutions. It was important for her research to reflect that, even if the concept is somewhat controversial in the scientific field. “Scientists are not all of the same mindset,” she said. And although she is a selfproclaimed “organic junkie,” Marcott said biotech is also important. She and Mitchell, a biotech proponent, work well together. “There’s room for both,” Mitchell said. Chelsea Kerbaugh “This is the launching pad for my career in international education.”
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