*EPF404 09/11/2003
Fulbright-Vijayashanker Memorial Exchange Fellowship Inaugurated
(Student Exchange Honors 9/11 Victim) (580)

By Phyllis McIntosh
Special to the Washington File

Malaysian and American students for years to come will have additional opportunities to study in one another's countries as a result of a memorial Fulbright fellowship established in honor of a young Malaysian who was one of the victims of the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

Vijayashanker Paramsothy, an exceptional student with a promising career, came to the United States in 1996. Within the next five years, he obtained both a Bachelor's and Master's degree from the College of Insurance in New York and at the time of his death was working as a financial analyst for Aon Risk Consultants, Inc.

To honor Shanker, as he was called by family and friends, the American Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, the Department of State and the Malaysian Fulbright Commission in 2002 established the Fulbright-Vijayashanker Memorial Exchange Fellowship to promote further study by Malaysians in the United States. Each year, the fellowship will make it possible for one additional Malaysian student to come to the United States under the Fulbright Program to study finance or a related field.

On the second anniversary of his death, Shanker's parents, S. Paramothy and N. Pathmawathy, pledged support for a reciprocal fellowship to send one additional American Fulbright student a year to study in Malaysia. In recognition of their son's age at the time of his death, they are pledging $23,000 a year for the next 23 years, for a total of more than $500,000. "This scholarship will commence in 2004, and we hope it will eventually reach beyond 2027," Paramothy said at a State Department ceremony to announce the fellowship.

Speaking at the ceremony, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Patricia S. Harrison said that Shanker "exemplified the spirit of the Fulbright Program in his academic ability, his professional promise, his intellectual curiosity, and his interest in mutual understanding."

"This is forever going to be a very emotional time of year for you," she told Shanker's parents, "but I hope through this establishment of the Fulbright scholarship it will also be one of promise that fulfills your son's dream and hope and opportunity through the lives of other people, both now and in years to come."

The first Malaysian recipient of the Memorial Fellowship, Ananthi al Ramiah, recently arrived in Washington, D.C., to begin Ph.D. studies in law and economics at Georgetown University.

"I remember when I received the scholarship in Kuala Lumpur it was with very mixed feelings, because I felt that in some way I had benefited from a very great tragedy," she said. "But I try to think of it in a more positive light and hope that through this sort of exchange program we can work toward creating a world in which these tragedies don't happen."

The Fulbright-Vijayashanker Memorial Exchange Fellowship is administered in Kuala Lumpur, by the Malaysian-American Commission for Educational Exchange, commonly referred to as the Fulbright Commission.

The Fulbright Program, managed by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Academic Programs, the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, operates in more than 140 countries and is considered the U.S. government's flagship international educational exchange program. Some 250,000 Fulbright students, teachers, faculty members, researchers, professionals and artists from the United States and other countries have participated in the program since it began in 1946.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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