COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (April 28, 2004) – Tennessee Tech University biology professor S.K. Ballal will spend the summer visiting the equatorial island nation of Sri Lanka thanks to a grant from the U.S. Fulbright Scholar Program.

The assignment, which begins mid-May and runs through September, will require Ballal to present a series of lectures about cell biology and biotechnology to students and faculty at the University of Peradeniya located in the town of Kandy in the nation’s central highland area.

Ballal also received a Fulbright Scholar Award in 1998 to lecture in India, and during that time, he also had the opportunity to lecture at Komenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia.

“I feel very fortunate to have been chosen twice for such a selective program because that is a distinction made to few,” he said. “I am looking forward to meeting and working with the people of Sri Lanka.”

The nation is a former British colony with a population of about 25 million people located in the Indian Ocean.

The U.S. Fulbright Scholar Program, which is administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, has helped thousands of American scholars and professionals lecture and conduct research in more than 140 different countries.

Named for Sen. J. William Fulbright, the program was started shortly after World War II to help promote mutual understanding between people of the U.S. and those of other countries.

--Tracey LeFevre
This information posted 5 May 2004