ABOUT FULBRIGHT

My Fulbright Life

Transcript For: Current Fulbrighter Konstantine Rountos in Greece

Konstantine Rountos, a Fulbrighter currently in Greece, shares some of his experiences.

Konstantine

Schuyler: Hello and welcome to My Fulbright Life. I’m your host, Schuyler Allen, and today we’re joined by Konstantine Rountos, a Fulbrighter currently in Greece and he’s going to share with us some of his experiences while he’s been on his grant. Welcome Konstantine.

Konstantine: Thank you Schuyler, it’s a pleasure to be here. So as you said I am in Greece for the 2007-2008 grant period and actually am about 3 weeks away, 3 or 4 weeks away from the end of my grant. The field of study that I am doing here, where my research is focused here is oceanography. And my project is particularly focused on looking at the direct and indirect effects that aquaculture, or fish farming, has on sea grass ecosystems that are in close proximity to these facilities.

Schuyler: Excellent. And, for the uninitiated, can you just give us a window into what a typical day in your life has been like while you’ve been in Greece on your grant?

Konstantine: Well, a typical day I would say is very much like a typical day of any grad student in the sciences, I would say. But there are a couple of very pleasant exceptions which include waking up a little but later because things tend to start a little bit later here, particularly at the universities. And you also get some nice fresh bread or some fresh produce that’s easily accessible in the morning. So the typical day is the same amount of work, very beautiful views, and, you know, a very relaxing lifestyle I would say.

Schuyler: And so… you sound pretty lucky, I have to say I’m a little envious that you have all those… the view and the produce really got my interest going right off the bat. Describe a highlight for us, if you will, of some of the things that maybe you didn’t anticipate would happen while you were on your grant but that you’re really thankful for.

Konstantine: Hmm, well to describe only one highlight… there’s just so many of them. But I can start with saying that one of the particular highlights that I have really come to appreciate and I’ve been really thankful for was being able to go out to public schools and other organizations and to be able to lecture to students ages 10 – 16 about the importance of this beautiful coastal ecosystem that they have at their disposable because a lot of times a lot of these schools do not have funding to teach basic environmental courses to young students. And it is very important, you know, that they are getting the message. So one highlight would definitely be being able to engage with the youth and being able to physically see that they are receptive to this message which gives me a lot of hope that in the future if they’re exposed to this information they will be able to make positive changes in the future.

Another very, very pleasant highlight was being selected to attend an EU NATO seminar which was held in Brussels. And this was a seminar for Fulbrighters currently working in all of the European Union and it basically was an introduction to the EU and NATO policies and we got to engage firsthand with EU and NATO officials and it was a really good experience to learn about our current US policies and really how we are viewed in a different light, which was a very interesting experience.

Schuyler: Just for the uninitiated, we’re talking about aquaculture here, can you just describe what that is for people who don’t really know what’s involved in aquaculture?

Konstantine: Sure. So, aquaculture just refers to any kind of use of the oceans or even fresh water to raise fish or shellfish in high densities. So basically, you have a cage. Fish farming is a very popular form of aquaculture. You have a net cage that’s suspended in the water. And inside the cage you have a certain species of fish that you want to grow. And you basically just feed them food and wait until they get to market size. And then you lift up the net, and you bring all those fish to the market. And what the negative impacts, or what needs to be addressed about aquaculture and has been addressed by many researchers already is that there are problems when you think about all the amount of food and feces that these fish, inside the aquaculture facility, that you have in a net pen, that you basically just feed a controlled source of food. You purchase the food, the farmers purchase what kind of food they want, and they throw it into the fish, and the fish, like goldfish, will go and eat these pellets and fatten up until they’re market size. One of the major problems with aquaculture that has a lot of environmentalists, particularly benthic ecologists, worried is that a lot of the feces from these fish and leftover fish feed begins to get accumulated in the sediments that are directly below and 10 – 20 meters away from the cages. And this direct input of organic matter, of very rich organic matter, is very bad because it makes bacteria replicate rapidly, consuming oxygen and also destroying a lot of the ecosystems below. And one of the major ecosystems that is destroyed by aquaculture, both directly let’s say when a cage is put above this ecosystem, are sea grasses. Because sea grasses, unlike fish or some shellfish, are not able to move. They have roots, they have rhizomes, you know, they have to deal with whatever we throw at them.

Schuyler: And when you give your lectures to students, are you giving them in Greek or are you giving them in English? And have your lectures been received positively or do you find that people are still maybe perhaps not so aware of some of the issues that people are facing or that are present with aquaculture at its current state right now?

Konstantine: Well, great question Schuyler. I actually have given lectures both in Greek and in English and I’ve been really amazed at the receptiveness of the students, at their amazement and I would say their intrigue into a world that they maybe never have thought of. The title of my lecture that I have given most predominately is titled, “Are there forests in the sea?” And the forests are referring to sea grasses because sea grasses serve a fundamental role in the oceans just as forests serve for us. They are a major nursery for many juvenile fish and shellfish that are commercially important for us and they also are important for holding food for other organisms, and they’re important because they prevent sediment re-suspension, which keeps our coastal waters relatively clear which we all like when we go swimming.

Schuyler: Sure. The work that you’re doing sounds absolutely amazing, but have you faced any challenges that you didn’t anticipate while you’ve been on your grant and if so, how did you address them?

Konstantine: Sure. Of course, there are always challenges and every grad student should have a good method of working through challenges. Now one of the challenges that I didn’t really anticipate when I first got here was a) where were my sites going to be? I knew that there were some fish farms that my affiliated advisor had gone to, although he was not interested in sea grasses at all; his focus was on something else. So one of the challenges, first, going to these sites, and of course to go to a site that’s three hours away from the university. A challenge that came up was finding transportation. And what I eventually had to do was to invest in a used car that has thankfully gotten to my sampling points successfully.

Schuyler: So that said, from that experience or that challenge, would you then offer sort of any kernels of advice to candidates who are thinking of applying for the 2009-2010 season?

Konstantine: I can give candidates a lot of advice. I will keep it simple. And this is advice from talking with other current Fulbrighters that I’ve met as well and we all seem to agree on these fundamental things. One of the first I would say is that if people wish to apply, prospective Fulbrighters wish to apply for the Fulbright award the first thing they need to do is really be honest with themselves. It is a big opportunity but it is also a big commitment. And one of the things that you do not want to do is to get a Fulbright to come over to your country to study and then to not get the most out of it. So I would first say that candidates need to be honest with themselves and make sure that this is a commitment that they want to do.

The next would be, and I think this is of utmost importance, particularly to my fellow scientists that are planning on applying, is to make sure that they have their proposal reviewed by as many faculty or people in as many different disciplines as possible. We in the sciences sometimes get lost in our own vocabularies and this is not good for potential Fulbright proposals. The proposals need to be clear, and everybody needs to be able to understand them. A good way to think about this is to make sure your grandmother can understand what you want to do.

Schuyler: I think that’s excellent advice Konstantine. So what skills, now that you’re just about ready to wrap up your program, do you hope to employ as you look to the next phase or step of your life after your Fulbright.

Konstantine: Well, the skills that I will definitely be able to employ are communication skills, from meeting different people, different faculty which has really made my communication skills a lot better.

Schuyler: What do you, what are your future plans after Fulbright?

Konstantine: Well, I definitely want to finish a PhD and to become a professor and to teach at a university. I am very interested in becoming a professor that is able to get students interested in the ecological sciences because that is how I got engaged in sciences. It was a very distinct moment that I can remember where I was a pre-med student and I found out that I could serve the world better being an environmental scientist. I would definitely say the Fulbright experience has re-enforced my passion for teaching about the environment to students, it has re-enforced my passion to research about the environment, and it has re-enforced my passion to continue to teach the public about the environment. In the future, I also plan on returning to Greece, at some point. I have had meetings with a couple of non-profit organizations here that have already offered me positions which I am really thankful for. So, the Fulbright experience has really been great to me and I’m very lucky to have had this opportunity.

Schuyler: Excellent. Thank you so much Konstantine for your time and giving us just a little smattering of your experiences. I want to go to Greece right now!

Konstantine: Well, the weather is very nice over here, I can tell you that.

Schuyler: OK.

Konstantine: OK, thank you very much.

Schuyler: Thanks so much Konstantine.

Konstantine: Bye.

Schuyler: Thank you.

Konstantine: You’re welcome.