A special gift arrived at The University of Memphis this semester in the form of three special people with special purposes. Each is here to enhance their fields of study on the campus via the Fulbright Scholars award.
The people, Evghenii Florea, Kaushik Majumdar and Musa Abubakar, are visiting recipients of the award and are being hosted by The U of M. Each year some 800 faculty and professionals worldwide receive the Fulbright grants to advance research and lecturing at universities across the U.S.
Kaushik Majumdar is here as visiting faculty concentrating on neurodynamics research.
Majumdar said that this is his first visit to the States and that he is scheduled to be here for nine months.
"I have already got an excellent start," he said. "I am getting to know the field and the experts working in it."
Majumdar came to The U of M from India. He received his doctorate in computer science with an emphasis on dynamical systems in 2003. After that, he worked as a research associate of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of the Government of India, "the most prestigious national-level postdoctoral fellowship in India," according to Majumdar. During this time, he worked on modeling the genesis of tropical storms and the evolution of tumor in human tissues.
Next, he worked as a fellow in theoretical computer science at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Madras, India.
The Mathematical Sciences department is hosting Majumdar while he works with The University's Institute for Intelligent Systems and Division of Computer Science.
While residing here, he is teaching a graduate level computational intelligence course and offering guidance to graduate students in the computational neurodynamics lab.
In addition to the postdoctoral fellowships he has received, Majumdar was awarded the Norbert Wiener Prize, which is a $5,000 award given each year for outstanding contributions to mathematical science.
Although Majumdar will be contributing to the campus he also hopes to get something in return.
"(I look forward to) a new experience, new outlook and a new career," he said.
Abubakar's field of study is the popular west-African language of Hausa. He will be teaching it in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures while being hosted by the African and African American Studies Program.
Although his career is young, only coming to this field three to four months prior to his arrival, Abubakar hopes to bring a greater insight into the language to students. He also looks forward to learning a few things himself during his stay.
"(I am) fascinated by the power of language and the significant role it plays in our lives," he said.
He added that he hopes to gain a high proficiency in the English language and American culture and is currently taking American literature courses.
The Fulbright Scholarship is Abubakar's first award and this is The University's second year hosting a Fulbright instructor in the Hausa language.
The third scholar, Evghenii Florea, is a professor of criminal law and criminology. He comes to The U of M from Moldova State University and is being hosted by the Cecil B. Humphreys School of Law. Florea will conduct research on bank fraud crimes in the U.S.
