Project Dragonfly master's student Margaurita Cueva awarded scholarship from Miami University's Global Initiatives to travel to the Amazon

2017 Apr 19

Maineville, Ohio, resident Margaurita Cueva has received a Summer Credit Workshop Study Abroad Scholarship from Miami University's Global Initiatives office to help fund travel on a summer 2017 Earth Expeditions course to the Amazon.

Cueva was one of three students selected from 61 applicants. An English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teacher, Cueva is a master's student in the Global Field Program from Project Dragonfly at Miami. This summer she will study avian and tropical ecology in the Amazon.

Cueva said she is interested in visiting the Peruvian Amazon rainforest and learning how communities are working to save this astonishing and irreplaceable ecosystem. The Amazon will provide Cueva with real-life examples of science and conservation -- themes she often uses to teach language concepts to her ESL students because they lend themselves to prior knowledge, context and reduced abstraction which can make language learning more difficult.

Miami's Global Initiatives scholarship committee asks applicants to explain how traveling abroad serves to advance their personal, academic and professional goals. The committee was impressed with Cueva's interest in connecting her profession as an ESL teacher to her master's work on studying global science issues, improving her ability to talk about global issues and critically thinking about her own ecological footprint.

The Amazon is home to more than 400 species of mammal, 1,300 bird species, 3,000 fish, 40,000 plants, and 2.5 million insect species and is under increasingly severe pressure, primarily from habitat loss. Cueva will join educators, researchers, and local communities to better understand the evolution and maintenance of biodiversity in this region.

Miami University's Project Dragonfly reaches millions of people each year through inquiry-driven learning media, public exhibits and graduate programs worldwide. Project Dragonfly is based in the department of biology at Miami University, a state university in Oxford, Ohio. Miami was established in 1809 and is listed as one of the eight original Public Ivies.

Miami's Global Initiatives office supports Miami University's global teaching, outreach and research missions. Global Initiatives supports and encourages Miami's commitment to dynamic and comprehensive internationalization, resulting in a diverse cultural and global learning experience for students.

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