Fulbright gives send-off to Iceland’s best and brightest

I had the pleasure of joining newly-minted Minister of Education and Culture, Illugi Gunnarsson, in bidding farewell to the latest crop of Fulbright grantees going to the U.S. to attend school, teach, and conduct research.  The group was very impressive and it included artists, scholars, and students:  Dr. Þorgerður Einarsdóttir will conduct Gender Studies research at Rutgers University; Margrét Björnsdóttir will be the Scholar-in-Residence at Green River Community College; Ásdís Ólafsdóttir will earn a Master’s in International Relations at New York University; Egill Bjarnason will earn a Masters in Social Documentation at the University of California, Santa Cruz;

Friðrik Ársælsson received the Boas scholarship to attend Harvard Law School; Friðrik Árni Friðriksson Hirst will attend Harvard Law School; Guðmundur Kári Stefánsson, will earn a PhD in Astrophysics at Penn State University; Hólmfríður Arnalds will earn a Masters in Psychology at the University of North Texas; Klara Thórhallsdóttir will earn a Masters in Museum Studies at the California College of Fine Arts; and, Rut Thorsteinsdóttir, will attend the Summer Institute on Environmental Stewardship at Kansas State University.  It is quite overwhelming to think about the enormous benefits that this program will bring to the United States and Iceland.

Fulbright Exchanges establish lifelong connections between Iceland and the U.S.

The U.S.-Iceland Fulbright Commission hosted its twice-a-year seminar where U.S. Fulbright scholars and students brief the public about their research activities and their experiences in Iceland.  We were treated to a series of brief presentations on the study of modern Icelandic for literary translation, marine and coastal resource management, poetry, psychology, geological rifts, and Obsidian-Perlite specimens in Iceland.

The presentations were a reminder of how important Fulbright is to the friendship between Iceland and the Unites States.  The experiences of these young artists and scientists in Iceland have left a deep imprint in their lives and the lives of the Icelanders they met during their stay.  They not only advanced science and the arts but they established lifelong friendships that will keep our two countries close.