The Fulbright Senior Specialists Program is designed to provide short-term academic opportunities (two to six weeks) for U.S. faculty and professionals. Applications for the Fulbright Senior Specialists Program are accepted on a rolling basis, and peer review of applications is conducted eight times per year." (from http://www.cies.org/specialists/). Nipper applied to become a member of the Fulbright Senior Specialists Roster earlier this year and was accepted in May. Once accepted, a person remains in the roster for 5 years, during which they can be selected for a short-term grant, if they are matched with a request for a particular kind of specialist by an overseas university. The grant entails airfare and an honorarium, and the host institution covers in-country per diem costs for lodging, meals and transportation. Dr. Ricardo Beira, director of the Estacióe Ciencias Mariñde Toralla (ECIMAT), University of Vigo, Spain, requested a senior specialist in environmental science and specifically mentioned my name. The request was analyzed and approved. Therefore Nipper will be spending three weeks in September at ECIMAT, discussing their academic and research program, giving lectures and working with faculty and grad students on a variety of issues of common interest. In addition to that, she has been informed that "recipients of a short-term grant (Specialist) are eligible to receive another short-term grant two years after the completion of the preceding short-term grant, AND recipients of a short-term grant are eligible to receive a basic (traditional Fulbright Scholar) grant two years after the date of completion of the preceding short-term grant."

Dr. Marion Nipper is a senior research scientist and specialist in Marine Ecotoxicology at the Center for Coastal Studies at TAMUCC. Her research focus is on the application of sediment and porewater toxicity tests to understand a variety of aspects related to the acute and chronic effects of contaminants to marine and estuarine organisms. In recent years she developed a keen interest on the effect of toxicants on coral reefs. Recent projects on this subject include toxicity assessments in the vicinity of coral reefs in the Flower Garden Banks, several Hawaiian islands, the Mexican Caribbean and Marinduque Island, Philippines. A project close to her heart is the assessment of toxic effects of African dust on marine organisms, as well as the connection between dust-associated contaminants and pathogens, regarding coral health. Her articles have been published in several international journals, and she has co-edited two scientific books on different aspects of marine ecotoxicology, one by SETAC Press here in the US and one in Brazil, where she originally came from. She earned her degrees from University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. After receiving her Ph.D., she worked for 9 years for a state environmental agency in Brazil, for 3 years for a consulting agency in New Zealand, and has been with TAMUCC for 10 years. Her international experience and love for being immersed in different cultures was a strong motivator for her application to the Fulbright Senior Specialists Program, and she is thrilled with the oportunity to put her professional expertise to use in this collaborative program with European colleagues.