Graduate students benefit from research abroad

When you want to find out why a hybrid species of coral is beginning to emerge across the Caribbean, it’s hard to do it from a biology lab in Tallahassee.

But Nikki Fogarty, a biological sciences doctoral student at The Florida State University, got to study coral up close. She dove into the waters off the coasts of Belize and Panama, as well as the seas near the islands of Curacao in the Lesser Antilles and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Fogarty not only took small samples of coral but also was able to collect material culled from the actual spawning of coral. She hopes that this will give her insights into why these new hybrid species of coral are forming at a time when other species are decreasing in abundance. Healthy coral reefs are important because they serve as food sources, protect coastlines from storms, and provide habitat and nursery grounds for fish species, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

But Fogarty said she wouldn’t have been able to do this important research without the help of the International Dissertation Semester Research Fellowship, a relatively new program started by Florida State’s Graduate School (www.gradstudies.fsu.edu) that helps doctoral students spend time abroad.

“This particular fellowship has been wonderful,’’ said Fogarty, who hopes to finish her dissertation, which is also being funded with the help of a grant from the National Geographic Society, this summer. “It has allowed me to take two semesters off from teaching and go to these places and conduct this research.’’

Fogarty is just one of a group of advanced doctoral students who have won the fellowship. Students have used the fellowship — which comes with a $7,000 stipend and tuition waivers— to study the pearl trade in the United Arab Emirates, do research in Ethiopia, and study musical traditions in Uganda. Florida State’s Graduate School has so far given out two rounds of awards, which are funded through the Adelaide Wilson Bequest, an endowment set up to help graduate students. (Wilson earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the Florida State College for Women — predecessor of The Florida State University — in 1935.)

This new fellowship is just one of the ways that The Graduate School is trying to help those students whose participation is crucial in maintaining Florida State’s role as a major research university. Florida State is recognized by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as engaged in “very high research activity.” The university has approximately 8,500 graduate, law and medical students who play a key role in much of the research that goes on at the university.

The Graduate School assists these students in order to maintain the quality and integrity of the university’s graduate programs. Graduate programs are becoming even more important since advanced degrees are becoming a new benchmark in the competitive global marketplace.

“All we hear about is the new knowledge-based economy,’’ said Nancy Marcus, dean of The Graduate School. “More and more today, students need more than a bachelor’s degree. They need a master’s degree or advanced degree. It’s critical to the state of our nation.’’

Another recent initiative started by The Graduate School aims to foster interaction among graduate students across campus. The Fellows Society was started in 2008 as a way to bring together graduate students who hold universitywide fellowships. The society has held events designed to bring together graduate students from diverse fields, have them learn about leadership and give them a chance to meet students from different backgrounds. Marcus said one of the ideas behind the effort is to let Florida State graduate students leave college with more experiences than just the time they spent in a classroom or in a research lab.

“Hopefully when they leave the university they will remember us,’’ Marcus said.

Peter Hoesing will certainly remember his time at Florida State. Hoesing, a doctoral student in ethnomusicology, received an International Dissertation Semester Research Fellowship award that allowed him to spend time in the east African nation of Uganda.

He works with diviners and healers in the southern part of the country who rely on music in their diagnostic and therapeutic practices. He spent time watching the performances, talking to the performers, and observing how and where the music was played.

“These people and their performances are the center of my research,’’ said Hoesing, who spent most of the fall of 2008 and spring of 2009 in Uganda.

His work so far also has helped him land a second fellowship from outside Florida State to continue his field research in the coming year. Hoesing said none of that would have been possible if Florida State had not given him the first award.

“The money is crucial for travel, but more importantly, these fellowships facilitate time and resources for research,’’ he said.

Hoesing said the fellowship also sends another important message to graduate students.

“It means even in the hardest of economic times, FSU is committed to supporting graduate research,’’ he said.