Wheaton student wins Fulbright

Andrea Christoforou, a Wheaton College senior majoring in pre-med and mathematics, has been awarded a highly competitive Great Britain Fulbright scholarship to study bioinformatics next year. Only 17 students are selected nationally for this award, which is administered by the U.S. Fulbright Program. Three other Wheaton scholars have been honored with other Fulbright awards to this year, and Wheaton students also have been awarded both the Rhodes and British Marshall Scholarships.

A resident of Lynn, Mass., Christoforou will spend nine months in England earning a master's degree in bioinformatics, an area of pharmaceutical research that focuses on the drug discovery process with the aims of accelerating the rate at which new drugs are discovered and decreasing their costs. Upon her return to the U.S., Christoforou plans to pursue a doctorate in bioinformatics.

"The Fulbright Scholarship will allow me to study bioinformatics and would provide me the instrument with which I will harmonize my love for mathematics, my interest in medicine, and my aspiration to contribute to society," Christoforou wrote in her Fulbright application. "I plan on becoming a leader in bioinformatics research, not only as it relates to the discovery of new pharmaceuticals, but to also meet the 21st century needs for cost-efficient, globally accessible, life-saving medical breakthroughs."

Christoforou has enjoyed a successful career as one of Wheaton's premier scholar-athletes. In addition to receiving the college's highest academic honors as a Balfour Scholar, Presidential Scholar, Dean's List Top Ten and Phi Beta Kappa, she is a top-ranked goalie on the lacrosse team. She tutors fellow students in ancient Greek, math and statistics, serves as an athletic trainer, and is a member of the American Chemical Society Student Affiliates and the Mathematical Association of America.

Previously announced 2001 Fulbright winners at Wheaton include:

• Laura Steele, a senior majoring in French and psychology, has been awarded a French Government Teaching Assistantship through the Fulbright program, and she plans to teach in Francenext year. Only 35 students are selected nationally for this award; last year two Wheaton students received the prestigious award.
• Wheaton Professor of History Alexander Bloom has also been awarded a Fulbright to teach overseas. Bloom, regarded as an expert in American intellectual history and the pop culture of the 1960s, will teach American intellectual history at the University of Rome next spring.
• Assistant Professor of Music Matthew Allen will study harmony in Irish folk and art music, thanks to his Fulbright award to Ireland. The ethnomusicologist hopes to spend time "listening to tunes and playing them with people," as well as lecturing at University College Cork.

The Fulbright Program was created in 1946 to foster mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchanges. Senator J. William Fulbright, sponsor of the legislation supporting the program, saw it as a step toward building an alternative to armed conflict. Today the Fulbright Program is the U.S. Government's premier scholarship program, enabling U.S. students, artists and other professionals to benefit from unique resources in every corner of the world. The Fulbright Program is funded by an annual congressional appropriation and contributions from other participating countries.

Wheaton College, located in Norton, Mass., is a selective college of the liberal arts and sciences with a student body of 1,500. It is a member of the Twelve College Exchange, which also includes Amherst, Bowdoin, Connecticut, Dartmouth, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Trinity, Vassar, Wellesley, Wesleyan and Williams.