Erinn Finley
Contributing Writer
[email protected]

The Fulbright Specialist Program has chosen a Murray State professor for its research project selection process. 

Bommanna Loganathan, professor of environmental and analytical chemistry, will be on the Fulbright Specialist roster for the next four years. 

“Fulbright Specialists address critical global issues in all disciplines, while building relationships, knowledge and leadership in support of the long-term interests of the United States,” Loganathan said. “Fulbright alumni have achieved distinction in many fields, including 60 who have been awarded Nobel Prizes, 88 who have received Pulitzer Prizes and 39 who have served as a head of state or government.”

Leaders of the Fulbright Specialist Program send American faculty and professionals to serve as researchers and expert consultants at overseas academic institutions. These professionals advise on curriculum, faculty development, institutional planning and related subjects.

“Acceptance to the program places my candidacy among a competitive pool of candidates who are eligible to be matched with projects designed by host institutions in more than 160 countries around the world, at any time during their four-year tenure on the roster,” Loganathan said. 

Loganathan matched with a project titled, “Persistent Organic Pollutants in the Environment.” This project was located at the Universidad Ean in Bogata, Colombia. 

This specific Fulbright Specialist Project seeks to understand the historical contamination of highly toxic persistent organic pollutants by using sediment cores. This involves taking samples of sediment and tracking data such as dates and temporal trends. Temporal trends are long-term, historical change in pollution by persistent, toxic chemicals. 

Sediment cores are collected using a one-meter long hollow tube pushed in the bottom of a lake. It is then brought to a lab where they cut it into two-centimeter segments; each segment is then analyzed for pollutant levels and age.  

These persistent organic pollutants are called “forever chemicals.” These are highly toxic chemicals that are not easily biodegradable. They are transported through the air and cause environmental and health problems for both wildlife and humans.  

Loganathan said forever chemicals include agricultural pesticides, industrial chemicals and some pharmaceutical and personal care products. 

Through the Fulbright Specialist Program, the Universidad Ean in Bogota, Colombia offered a position on this project for a professional to help solve polluted soil issues. The Fulbright Program posted it on their website and allowed professionals to apply. 

 “Among the pool of submitted applicants, Universidad Ean selected my application as their top choice to their project dealing with persistent organic pollutants in the environment and compound specific radionuclide sediment finger-printing,” Loganathan said. 

 Loganathan says the Fulbright project lasted two weeks. He says the Universidad Ean has a beautiful campus with a state-of-the-art building, classrooms and laboratory facilities. Loganathan said it is roughly the size of Murray State with approximately 10,000 students. 

 “It was a great honor for me to visit such a beautiful city — population 8 million — and interact and work with Universidad Ean students, faculty, professionals and administrators, including elected officials from Colombia,” Loganathan said.

During this time, Loganathan says he delivered lectures, conducted workshops and participated in panel discussions. He also engaged in dialogues with faculty and administrators at Universidad Ean and Murray State, leading to long-term teaching and research collaborations between the two universities.

“I am very proud of Dr. Loganathan and his many teaching and research accomplishments,” said President Bob Jackson. “He brings great pride to the University and his Fulbright Specialist designation recognizes his research, work with students, teaching and expertise in his field.”

Loganathan says he also attended Colombian cultural programs, visited the Botero Museum and Monserrate Mountain, but communication was challenging as he does not speak Spanish.  

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, most activities at the university had a hybrid format with some people in-person and others participating via Zoom or similar programs.

In May, the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board announced the Fulbright Specialist Program award. Recipients are chosen based on academic and professional achievement, leadership in their field and potential to foster long-term cooperation between institutions in the United States and abroad.   

Loganathan and his students have been conducting research on these chemicals for more than two decades. Based on their results, they could describe environmental behavior and the long-lasting effects of these chemicals in the environment. They also could find ways to prevent exposure and harmful health effects. 

A few years ago, Loganathan says he and his students collected sediment samples from Kentucky Lake and analyzed them for persistent organic pollutants. They dated the sediments through radio-chronology.

Radio-chronology uses radioactive isotopes, which are different forms of a chemical element, to determine the age of sediment, soil or fossils. For example, the radioisotope method is used to date dinosaur skeletons.

Using this data, Loganathan and his students described the temporal trends of these pollutants in the lake. This process is identical to the one he used in his Fulbright Specialist Project for the Universidad Ean. 

Loganathan has been teaching at Murray State for 24 years. He taught for three years as a postdoctoral fellow and 21 years as a professor. This semester, he is teaching both undergraduate and graduate level courses. At the undergraduate level he is teaching Introductory Chemistry and Senior Research. At the graduate level he is teaching Thesis Research. 

“Murray State offered me all the necessary opportunities during the last 24 years to attain the level that is needed to be selected as a Fulbright Specialist,” Loganathan said. “I am thankful to the Fulbright Specialist Program, Fulbright World Learning, Fulbright Commission Colombia, the Colombian Institute for Education Credit and Technical Studies Abroad, Universidad Ean and my home institution, Murray State University for all the support and encouragement.”  

 For further information about the Fulbright Program visit the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’s page on the Fulbright Specialist Program website at eca.state.gov/fulbright.

To view Loganathan’s published works, click here.