Star-Bulletin writer wins Fulbright scholarship
Star-Bulletin reporter Susan Essoyan has been awarded a national Fulbright Scholar grant to conduct research in Japan during the 2006-2007 academic year.
She received one of two Fulbright awards that were available nationally for U.S. journalists to do research in Japan, according to the U.S. Department of State and J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
Essoyan, who has worked for the Star-Bulletin for nearly four years, will research and write articles on traditional Japanese farmhouses, known as minka, and the efforts to adapt them to modern life. The century-old homes, made with huge wooden beams without a single nail, are being rebuilt in Japan and as far away as Massachusetts, according to Essoyan.
She is among 800 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel to 150 countries over the next academic year through the Fulbright Scholar Program. Her husband, Gary Gill, and two children will accompany her to Tokyo.
Fulbright Scholars are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement and because they have demonstrated extraordinary leadership potential in their fields, according to the State Department.
Before joining the Star-Bulletin in 2002, Essoyan reported for the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times. She graduated from Stanford University and earned a master's in public policy from Harvard University.