May 21 , 2006
Gunawardena, of Sri Lanka, receives Steinbrecher Fellowship
to support mapping project
Worcester, Mass. - Clark University junior Niluka S. Gunawardena, of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and nine other undergraduates received fellowships to pursue independent scholarly and creative activities over the summer and during the upcoming academic year.
Gunawardena was awarded one of the first Steinbrecher Fellowships to support her research project "Malaria Risk Mapping in the Uva Province of Sri Lanka." She plans to spend the summer mapping areas vulnerable to malaria in the Uva Province using Geographic Information Science (GIS) and remote sensing technology. The fellowship funds she received will be used for transportation and equipment costs she will use for her study.
Eugenio Marcano, assistant professor of International Development Community and Environment (IDCE), said Gunawardena's project "is a topic of great importance for her country."
"Sri Lanka is in dire need of the expertise she is learning here and she is very interested in using the knowledge learned at Clark University to help solve problems of the rural communities in her country," said Marcano.
GIS involves primary research on the manner in which knowledge is acquired from spatially referenced data. Clark University has been a leading institution in the development of GIS since the mid-1980s.
Gunawardena majors in geography and economics at Clark, where she is also a Presidential Scholar. She has been involved with the Model U.N., Worcester Global Action Network (WoGAN), Peaceworks, and the Black Student Union at Clark. She is the past recipient of the Strabs Award for Excellence and recently won second honors and a prize in the second annual Hervey Ross '50 Oratorical Contest held on campus in April for her delivery of the address, "Strike Against War."
Gunawardena is the daughter of Tissa and Chandrika Gunawardena, of Dehiwela. She is a 2002 graduate of the Colombo International School.
This is the first year of the Steinbrecher Fellowship Program, which was created by Phyllis and Stephen '55 Steinbrecher in memory of their son David C. Steinbrecher '81. The Steinbrecher Fellowships are modeled on the Anton Fellowship Program, which was established six years ago by a gift from Barbara '56 and Thomas '56 Anton. Both of these Fellowships are designed to spark students' excitement about the pursuit of intellectual ideas and public service and to stimulate discussions within the Clark community. The Anton and Steinbrecher Fellowship Program is directed by Professor Sharon Krefetz.
"We at Clark are so fortunate to have alumni and friends of the University like the Steinbrechers, who through their generous gifts make it possible for undergraduate students to pursue fascinating and important research and community service projects," said Krefetz. "The first group of Steinbrecher Fellows are doing terrific projects all over the world, that will really make a difference in their lives and in the lives of many, many other people."