Thomas Marsland, of Wellington, is a Fulbright Science and Innovation Graduate Award winner and will use it to research artificial intelligence methods for antibiotic discovery at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, at Harvard University in Boston.
He graduated bachelor of science in microbiology from the University of Otago in 2018 and is completing a PhD at the University of New South Wales, in Sydney.
His research aims to find active antimicrobial molecules which could be refined into safe, effective medicines to cure infectious diseases.
He is one of two Otago graduates who are off to conduct innovative research in some of the top institutes and universities in the United States, after winning Fulbright Science and Innovation Graduate Awards.
She will research health psychology and breast cancer survivorship at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard University, in Boston.
She graduated from Otago with a bachelor of science degree in psychology and is now working towards a master’s degree and a post-graduate diploma, both in health psychology, at the University of Auckland.
The winners will spend up to two years at their respective institutes and receive between $85,000 and $140,000 to conduct their research.
The awards are for promising New Zealand graduate students to undertake postgraduate study or research at United States institutions in fields related to science and innovation.
Only seven of the awards are granted annually in New Zealand and are offered in partnership with the science and innovation group of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
They are targeted at graduates whose work will support New Zealand’s economic, social, environmental and cultural needs, and build international science connections.
New Zealand is in its 78th year as part of the Fulbright programme.
It has awarded more than 1900 scholarships to New Zealand graduate students, artists, academics and professionals.
