Mrs Burgess (33) will travel with her husband, Mitchell, and their 2-year-old son, Samuel, to Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts for six months to research a component of her PhD project - the structure of thermophilic biofilms and their link with spore formation.
Biofilms are the main source of bacterial contamination of the final products in dairy manufacturing plants. Preventing biofilm growth would result in extended manufacturing time and hence more product, as well as improved product quality.
Mrs Burgess grew up in Palmerston North and completed a BSc at the University of Otago in 2001, majoring in microbiology and chemistry. Studying in Dunedin was a "great experience", she recalled.
At secondary school, she enjoyed chemistry and mathematics but it was not until she got to Otago that she discovered microbiology. The university had "such a wonderful" department, she said.
She also studied French and taught English in France for a year when she finished her undergraduate studies.
She gained an MSc in microbiology from Massey University in 2006 and has been working on her PhD through Massey since 2009.
What she was now researching was a "really exciting" area that was applicable not just to the dairy industry but also to everyday life. She was grateful for the support of Fonterra in her research.
The Fulbright scholarship allows New Zealanders and Americans to study in each other's countries. Since it was established, more than 1300 New Zealanders - including writers Bill Manhire and Michael King, playwright Roger Hall and former prime minister Bill Rowling - have travelled to the US to study.
She was "thrilled" when she discovered she had been awarded the scholarship, which was presented at a function in Wellington last week.
A life member of the Massey University Alpine Club, she recently gave up Toastmasters to prepare for her trip to the US.