American Fulbrighters

2012 AMERICAN FULBRIGHT GRANTEES

 William Balée
Home Institution: Tulane University 
Host Institution: UKM

William Balée is an anthropology professor at Tulane University. He is interested in historical ecology, cultural anthropology, and ethnobotany. He has been studying  resource use and management by indigenous groups of tropical forests in the greater Amazon region for more than thirty years. He has worked in Brazil, Bolivia, and Argentina. Now he plans to apply research methodologies he has developed in Amazonia to a highly specific study of arboriculture among Orang Asli of central peninsular Malaysia, in collaboration with colleagues from the Universiti  Kebangsaan Malaysia, where he is a visiting scholar.

 Figure caption for picture: William Balée (right) with Orang Asli elder,  Krau River valley, Pahang

Alan A. Lew
Home Institution: Northern Arizona University
Host Institution: UiTM Shah Alam

Alan A. Lew is a Professor in the Department of Geography, Planning, and Recreation at Northern Arizona University where he teaches courses in geography, urban planning and tourism development.  For his Fulbright visit to Malaysia he is affiliated with the Faculty of Hotel and Tourism Management, UiTM Shah Alam, and its branch campuses in Sabah and Terengganu, from January to June 2012.  His research focus is on community resilience in island and coastal areas of Malaysia. 

Dr. Lew’s research interests focus on tourism in Asia, particularly China and Southeast Asia.  In addition to many research articles and book chapters, he has published Tourism in China (1995 and 2003), Sustainable Tourism: A Geographical Perspective (1998), Tourism and Gaming on American Indian Lands (1998), Companion to Tourism (2004), and Seductions of Place (2005), Understanding and Managing Tourism Impacts: An Integrated Approach (2009), and World Regional Geography (2010).  Professor Lew is the founding editor-in-chief of the journal, Tourism Geographies and is a Fellow of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism. (Additional information can be found at http://AlanLew.com)

 Jedediah Brodie
Home Institution: University of Montana
Host Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sabah

I have been interested in animals and plants for as long as I can remember. I grew up in California, backpacking and exploring the myriad ecosystems there. I did my undergraduate degree in Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.  My PhD work at the University of Montana was on the impacts of wildlife poaching on tropical trees in Thailand that depend on the hunted animals for dispersal of their seeds.  I have also worked or traveled in South and Central America, Alaska, Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. 

               Currently I live with my family in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysian Borneo, on a Fulbright Research Program. I am using motion-triggered "camera traps" to study a variety of mammal species across multiple sites in Sabah and Sarawak.  I am assessing both basic patterns of distribution and abundance across wide geographical areas, and also the responses of different species to human-caused disturbances such as selective logging and hunting. 

 Aaron Paige
Home Institution: Wesleyan University
Host Institution: Universiti Malaya

Aaron Paige (B.A. Wesleyan University, 1999; M.A. Wesleyan University, 2007) is a third year Ph.D. candidate in ethnomusicology at Wesleyan.  He will be conducting dissertation research in Kuala Lumpur from Jan. 2012-Nov. 2012.  This project explores issues of transnationalism, language ideology, interculturalism, and ethnicity in Malaysian-Tamil popular music.  While in Malaysia, Aaron will be affiliated with the University of Malaya's Culture Center where he will be working under the guidance of Dr. Mohd Anis Md Nor.

Alex Smolak
Home Institution: Columbia University
Host Institution: Universiti Malaya

Alex Smolak is a Fulbright fellow researching HIV among fishermen in Malaysia, in partnership the Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA) at the University of Malaya.  He is also a doctoral candidate at the Columbia University School of Social Work.  Prior to this, he completed an NIH funded traineeship in clinical and translational research at the Columbia University Irving Institute.  His research focuses on HIV prevention and the social determinates of health.  His work has been published in leading journals such as Schizophrenia Research and Culture, Health, and Sexuality.  He has also presented his research at leading scientific conferences such as the American Public Health Association, Society for Prevention Research, and Society for Social Work Research. 

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