Game changing research on quantum nanoscience, greenhouse gas emissions, managing wild dingos and finding a cure for cerebral palsy are among the achievements that have won 2013 Fulbright Scholarships for one University of Sydney staff member, two PhD candidates and three alumni.

The six recipients, including honorary research fellow Dr Thomas Newsome, PhD candidates David Waddington and Craig Roussac, and alumni Iona Novak, Allan Young and Dr Tessa Boyd-Caine have all won Fulbright Scholarships, which will allow them to pursue their studies in the US.

The prestigious Fulbright program is the largest educational scholarship program of its kind, and aims to promote mutual understanding through educational exchange. Founded by US Senator J William Fulbright in 1946, the program operates between the US and 155 other countries.

Dr Thomas Newsome

Dr Thomas Newsome, Honorary Research Fellow, School of Biological Sciences: Fulbright New South Wales Scholar

Thanks to his Fulbright Scholarship, the re-introduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park will give Dr Thomas Newsome new inspiration for his research on dingo management in Australia.

Sponsored by the NSW government and universities, Dr Newsome's scholarship will take him to Oregon State University where he will collaborate with local researchers to determine whether or not there would be benefits for Australia in using similar measures with dingoes in areas where they have become locally extinct.

"Research on the dingo is important for two reasons," Dr Newsome says.

"Wild dogs, including dingoes, cause millions of dollars of damage to agricultural productivity annually. However, recent studies suggest that the reintroduction of the dingo into areas from which it has been made locally extinct could be the key to restoring Australian ecosystems decimated by introduced predators such as the feral cat and European red fox."

Dr Newsome completed his Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and PhD at the University of Sydney. Along with working as an honorary fellow in the Desert Ecology Research Group in the School of Biological Sciences, he is also a senior ecologist at the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation.

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Six research leaders win Fulbright scholarships

Former Minnesota prep Gus Bradley was recently hired as an NFL head coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Minnesota high school football will have two of its alumni serving as head coaches in the National Football League during the upcoming season.

Marc Trestman, who played at St. Louis Park and Paul Casey Gus Bradley, who prepped at Zumbrota, will coach the Chicago Bears and Jacksonville Jaguars, respectively.

Trestman was a quarterback at St. Louis Park under coach Bob Roy a former Ponies three-sport standout and NDSU Bison and SCVAA Hall of Famer. Trestman played football at Minnesota for a couple of years before transferring to Minnesota State-Moorhead. Trestman became a coaching nomad with stops as a quarterbacks coach at the U of Miami, two stints with the Vikings and had coached for eight different teams in the NFL.

The University of Minnesota passed over Trestman a couple of times so he looked for greener pastures north of the border when he landed in Montreal in the Canadian Football League in 2008. He spent the past five years there and won a pair of Grey Cup titles.

Those Grey Cup victories are like Super Bowls to the CFL bunch.

Trestman looked good to Chicago because of his extensive background coaching quarterbacks. I think the Bears were looking for someone who could get max results from Jay Cutler.

I will be pulling for Trestman because of my 48-year friendship with Bayports Bob Roy, a fellow NDSU Bison and the fact that Trestman never lost sight of his dream of being a head coach in the NFL.

Gus Bradley steered a slightly different course in pursuit of his job in the NFL. He was a standout at Zumbrota High School for good pal Ken Belanger and landed a scholarship to dear old NDSU. Ponies all-metro players Eric Thole and Tony Grilz were also recruited to the Bison and were teammates with Bradley.

Grilz was his roommate for three years and I got to know Gus when he visited our house.

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Thole: Former state preps pave coaching path to NFL