Press Releases

May 13, 2002
Southampton College Student Rebecca Langlois Awarded Prestigious Fulbright Scholarship

Langlois is College's 36th Winner in the Past 27 Years

Contact:
Patricia Conway (PR@southampton.liu.edu)
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081

Rebecca Langlois, a senior at Southampton College of Long Island University, has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for Graduate Study Abroad. The 36th Southampton College student to receive this prestigious award, Langlois will spend the 2002-2003 academic year at the Ocean Studies Institute in Kiel, Germany.

Langlois, 22, the daughter of Pierre and Suzette Langlois of Alstead, NH, will graduate from Southampton College on May 19th with a B.S. in marine science.

"I'm very excited about this opportunity," said Langlois. She will work under the supervision of Dr. Julie LaRoche at the Institut researching the nitrogen cycle, specifically the role that iron plays in nitrogen fixing organisms. "Dr. LaRoche's research looks at the changes in enzymes of phytoplankton under iron deplete conditions, and her experience will aid me with the nuances of iron deplete culturing and analyzing."

"I will use my ten months in Germany to culture at least one strain of Trichodesmium, a unique and ubiquitous member of the plankton community, in different concentrations of iron, which I will have access to in La Roche's lab," Langlois continued. "I learned how to culture phytoplankton in artificial media during an internship I took part in, and I plan to use molecular techniques that I learned in classes taken at Southampton College."

In the past 27 years Southampton College has produced 36 of the Fulbright scholars. The College's marine and environmental programs, considered among the top in the country, emphasize hands-on research and experience in the chosen field. As an undergraduate Langlois participated in SEAmester, a Southampton College semester at sea aboard a 131-foot schooner, worked with sea turtles

at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium as part of a cooperative program sponsored through the College, and took part an internship at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego with Dr. Brian Palenik, a well-published marine biology researcher. She wanted to do another internship at Julie LaRoche's lab, but was encouraged by Professor Larry Liddle to apply for a Fulbright. She wrote and submitted her work on environmental conditions of the nitrogen cycle and was awarded the Fellowship.

Langlois had kind words for Professor Liddle's encouragement. "He helped to point me in the right direction," said Langlois. "In LaRoche's lab I will be working alongside researchers from many countries, allowing me access to many ideas, techniques, and equipment that I would not have elsewhere."

The annual competition for Fulbright grants sponsored by the United States Department of State, the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and the Institute of International Education, support graduate study or research abroad in academic fields. The grants are used to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries through the exchange of people, knowledge and skills.

Langlois' undergraduate career and experiences at Southampton College will guide her throughout her academic career. After her stay in Germany she has kept her options open but plans to eventually pursue a doctoral degree in biological oceanography. Asked about taking a summer break after her graduation day and before she leaves for her Fulbright studies, Langlois explained that she is going to be studying the environmental conditions of brown tide in Southampton College Professor Chris Gobler's lab. "That's my break," she smiled.