{"id":10,"date":"2018-08-31T11:05:58","date_gmt":"2018-08-31T18:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2018\/?p=10"},"modified":"2020-04-02T10:44:41","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T17:44:41","slug":"fulbright-en-espanol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2018\/fulbright-en-espanol\/","title":{"rendered":"Fulbright en Espa\u00f1ol"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his lab at Harvey Mudd College, chemistry<\/strong> professor David Vosburg seeks to make medicinally useful molecules in new ways, especially biomimetic ways, using chemistry that imitates how such molecules are believed to be formed naturally in plants. This fall, Vosburg will continue his research with a new layer of complexity: He\u2019ll do it in Spanish.<\/p>\n

\"David
Chemistry professor David Vosburg and his children take a break from exploring their neighborhood in Guanajuato, Mexico.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The beneficiary of a Fulbright Scholar grant, Vosburg will spend the 2018-2019 academic year in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Guanajuato, Mexico. He will join the lab of Professor Roc\u00edo G\u00e1mez-Monta\u00f1o, an expert in green, multicomponent reactions, and the two will work to develop environmentally friendly methods of producing new molecules for medicinal, agrochemical, optical and educational applications.<\/p>\n

\"View
The city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, known for its colonial architecture and its annual International Cervantino Arts Festival.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vosburg, his wife and their three children arrived in Guanajuato in July and wasted no time getting to know their new neighborhood. \u201cWe\u2019ve walked around the city a lot, exploring various neighborhoods and some of the extensive tunnel network below the city. Soon we\u2019ll visit one of the famous silver mines,\u201d Vosburg says.<\/p>\n

Over the last year, the Vosburgs tried to incorporate Spanish into their daily lives as much as possible. Now in Mexico, the family is taking Spanish classes through the summer in preparation for full immersion when they start work and school in the fall.<\/p>\n

Vosburg made a point to study scientific Spanish as well, on top of the usual verb conjugations and conversational phrases.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found a Spanish translation of an American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute magazine, which has helped me work on my scientific Spanish,\u201d he says. \u201cI knew that a successful Fulbright application would also involve a Skype interview in Spanish, but I did not realize until just before it happened that it would be with five Mexican chemists and would include very technical questions. That interview was one of the hardest things I\u2019ve ever done, but somehow I did well enough to be selected for a Fulbright.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vosburg anticipates developing friendships and partnerships between Harvey Mudd and the University of Guanajuato, as well. \u201cI am certain that my sabbatical in Mexico will lead to personal renewal and professional flourishing,\u201d he says, \u201cand that it will greatly benefit both Harvey Mudd College\u2014which has a growing Latino student population\u2014and the University of Guanajuato beyond the duration of my own stay. My work on green, multicomponent reactions in the G\u00e1mez- Monta\u00f1o group will contribute to our global society as we develop new applications for bis-heterocycles and green chemistry in medicine, agrochemicals, optics and chemical education.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his lab at Harvey Mudd College, chemistry professor David Vosburg seeks to make medicinally useful molecules in new ways, especially biomimetic ways, using chemistry that imitates how such molecules are believed to be formed naturally in plants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faculty","tag-research-site"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}