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Fulbright Scholars, Hyenas, Medical Research in Taiwan:
Dedman College Students Gaining Worldwide Experience
 SMU
graduate Vedrana (Vecky) Juko (’06) is returning as a national scholar to
the land she fled as a 10-year-old. Juko was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship
to study emerging democracy in Croatia. Born in Bosnia, she and her family
vacationed every summer in Croatia until they left in 1993 to avoid
political unrest. Juko graduated from Hillcrest High School in Dallas, Texas.
A political science, economics, and
German major at SMU, Juko will spend 10 months at the University of Rijeka
in Croatia, where she will analyze the country’s transition from national to
local power. She will work with professors, non-government organizations,
and local politicians in Rijeka, one of two Croatian cities that has been
given the opportunity to plan its own economic development.
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Taiwan:
Cancer Therapy Research
Senior Omair Khan, one
of eight students selected nationwide by the
 National
Science Foundation to conduct medical research in Taiwan,
researched the use of nanoparticles in cancer gene therapy at
the Institute of Oral Medicine at National Cheng Kung
University’s Medical college in Tainan. A biochemistry major
with minors in Japanese, Chinese, and mathematics, Khan also
used the opportunity to enhance his Mandarin Chinese.
Romania:
Bringing Hope
Junior history major
Sommer Saadi learned peek- a-boo
is universal when she spent two weeks caring for orphans as a
Maguire and Irby Family Public Service intern with HUG
Internationally in Richardson, Texas. Saadi also helped to
organize fund-raising events, coordinate publicity, and work on
a sponsorship program for the nonprofit organization that has
established orphanages in Romania and India. More than 70,000
orphans reside in state run orphanages and foster centers in
Romania.
South
Africa: Saving the Hyenas
Senior engineering major and mathematics minor Taplin
Moore was one of 18 students selected nationwide for a two-week
research expedition sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund and
Nissan North America to study the brown hyena population at
Pilanesburg National Park in South Africa. His team used a
recording of pig squeals to attract the nocturnal carnivores in
order to audit their numbers and assess their condition.
According to Earthwatch Institute, only 1,700 brown hyenas
remain in South Africa. |
In 1991 Croatia declared its
independence from Yugoslavia, triggering the Croatian War of Independence.
The war ended in 1995, but Croatia remained an isolated country with a
struggling economy. In 2000 a coalition of six opposing parties took over
the governance of Croatia and began the process of decentralizing power.
“A willingness to increase the importance of local government is the right
path for Croatia,” Juko says. “This undertaking gives hope to other
countries that are transitioning to democracy.”
Juko brings a unique perspective to the study of democracy. After leaving
Bosnia her family moved to Germany, then the United States in 1998. She
became a U.S. citizen last year.
“Her intense curiosity and own life story make her look at the world in a
different way,” says Jim Hollifield, SMU professor of political science.
Juko, who was a student in his seminar on the immigrant experience, “has a
penetrating mind and a certain amount of intellectual boldness that comes
from living the immigrant experience.”
In addition to her own experience, Juko has completed two internships. As a
recipient of a Maguire Center for Ethics/Irby Family Public Service
Internship in 2004, she spent the summer in Bosnia with the Association of
the Elected Officials. She also worked as a public affairs intern for the
U.S. Department of Agriculture. At SMU she was a member of the rowing team,
the German Club, and the International Relations Club, and earned a Tower
Center scholarship for a semester abroad in Paris.
“Vecky is getting to do what some only dream about. She has the opportunity
to go back and study the society she came from,” Hollifield says. “She’ll
study a country that has gone through wrenching change to become part of
democratic Europe and learn how difficult it is to move from an
authoritarian system to a democratic system.”
The Fulbright Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, awards
6,000 grants a year that enable U.S. students, teachers, and scholars to
conduct research in more than 150 countries.
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