Jasmine Olvany and Megan Lough Named Fulbright Finalist

ANNVILLE, PA (04/03/2017) (readMedia)-- Lebanon Valley College students Jasmine Olvany and Megan Lough have been named Fulbright Finalists and will spend the upcoming year living abroad. The prestigious Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.

Olvany will head to Budapest, Hungary, a place where she has previously spent a summer conducting research.

"I will work to create di-molecules that will be able to track the diffusion of individual molecules across a membrane," she said. "The long-term implications will help us determine how certain drugs interact with cells so we can figure out ways to passage them through easier and allow us to image the cell membrane in a way we haven't ever seen."

Her plans for after her Fulbright year include attending Case Western University, where she will work toward her Ph.D. After that, you can be sure to find her working with government agencies to continue international collaboration in the sciences.

Lough, received an English Teaching Assistant Fulbright and will travel to Bulgaria. Along with teaching English and literature to high school students, Lough plans to work with the BEST Foundation, a speech and debate organization run by Fulbright grantees. She will have the opportunity to coach students on debate skills and help them prepare for competitions where they analyze and interpret literature and poetry.

"My goal for my Fulbright grant is to use literature as a tool to expose my students to various backgrounds and experiences, and to use that literature as a way to start important conversations about our culture," Lough said.

After she completes her Fulbright, Lough plans to use her experiences and apply it to a career in teaching middle and high school students.

About Lebanon Valley College

Lebanon Valley College is a private, coeducational college founded in 1866 and dedicated to the liberal arts. The College offers 41 undergraduate majors plus self-designed majors and a range of minors, concentrations, and pre-professional options, as well as graduate degree programs in athletic training, business administration, music education, physical therapy, science in STEM education, and speech-language pathology.

The College has 1,602 full-time undergraduate students and 113 full-time faculty. Students can choose from more than 95 clubs and organizations, and 19 study abroad programs. LVC awards generous academic scholarships to those whose high school records demonstrate a commitment to challenge and achievement.