Idaho State University Professor Chikashi Sato receives Fulbright Scholarship to teach, conduct research in Nepal

Improving the water quality in Nepal is the goal of Idaho State University environmental engineering Professor Chikashi Sato, who has received a Fulbright Scholarship to teach and conduct research in Nepal for seven months.

Sato hopes to contribute to the teaching of the importance of water quality and how to treat water in a cost-effective manner during his stay from January through July 2012.

"This is a big challenge," Sato said. "Because of the Himalayas and a tropical to arctic climate, Nepal has vast water resources, but because of rapid population growth and the way water is managed, the quality has deteriorated."

At Tribhuvan University in Prithvi Narayan Campus, Pokhara, Sato plans to spend about 80 percent of his time teaching students environmental science and engineering by addressing issues of water quality and proposing possible solutions to improve water quality and human health standards in their country. He will devote the rest of his time to initiating research activities in the development of sustainable water treatment in collaboration with Idaho State University.

"I am very happy and honored to receive the Fulbright Scholarship," Sato said. "I also have had several students from Nepal, and those students and their families are very excited I have received this award."

Sato is a native of Iwaki City, Japan, and is a U.S. citizen. He has spent the last 16 years at Idaho State University, where he is director of the Environmental Science and Management program.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Fukushima National College of Technology; a Master of Science degree in environmental health engineering from the University of Kansas; and a doctorate in environmental engineering from the University of Iowa.

The Fulbright is the second prestigious international faculty award that Sato has received. In 2002-2003, he received a fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to spend 10 months working on water-quality issues at the Public Works Research Institute (PWRI) in Tsukuba, Japan.

Sato recently published the second edition of Handbook for Scientific English Writing in Japan. This book lists more than 5,800 useful scientific English expressions in environmental science and engineering with user-friendly features. He has served on the organizing committee for ISU's Intermountain Conference on the Environment chair since 2000. He serves as book editor and a member of the editorial board for International Journal of Environment and Waste Management (IJEWM), and handling editor and a member of the Editorial Board for International Journal of Environmental Engineering (IJEE).

As a Fulbrighter, Sato will join the ranks of distinguished alumni of the program.  Fulbright alumni have become heads of state, judges, ambassadors, cabinet ministers, CEOs, university presidents, journalists, artists, professors and teachers.  They have been awarded 37 Nobel Prizes.  Since its inception more than 60 years ago, approximately 300,000 Fulbrighters have participated in the program. 

The program, named for the late Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, is the U.S. government’s flagship program in international educational exchange.

For more information in general on the Fulbright program, visit http://fulbright.state.gov/ or http://us.fulbrightonline.org/home.html.

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