Colorado State University is one of the nation’s top producers of Fulbright U.S. Scholars — professionals, artists and scholars who usually hold faculty appointments — according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

For the upcoming 2023-24 academic year, the Institute of International Education recently announced eight faculty members from CSU as Fulbright U.S. Scholars.

Claudia Gentry-Weeks, associate professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, will be at the Universidad de Murcia in Spain in September. She will be examining the use of antimicrobial peptides (a natural immune response) and bacteriophages (bacterial viruses) to defend against/treat fish diseases.

Gentry-Weeks will be cloning genes that code for these antimicrobial peptides and isolating bacteriophages from fish farms. The fish industry in southern Spain is a critical part of their economy. Fish are cultivated in the ocean using large fish “farms” – gigantic nets containing fish. She explained that one of the problems with having fish together in these fish farms is that they are treated with antibiotics and this leads to antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can cause diseases that are difficult to treat.

“The Fulbright Foundation does incredible work with bringing together international communities to build collaborations and promote an understanding of different cultures and experiences,” she said. “They are extremely professional and organized and promote diversity and inclusion. I am very honored to be a part of this opportunity – it is transformative.”

Those who participate in this prestigious program engage in cutting-edge research and expand their professional networks, often continuing research collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for forging future partnerships between institutions. Upon returning to their home countries, institutions, labs and classrooms, they share their stories and often become active supporters of international exchange.