Highlights
Student Profile: Juan Javier Negri Malbran
Buenos Aires, Argentina and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania are more than 5,000 miles apart, but the outstanding reputation of one professor was more than enough reason for Juan Negri Malbran to make the trip.
Negri Malbran, a Fulbright Scholar, knew of Barry Ames, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Comparative Politics and chair of the Department of Political Science, long before ever meeting him. While pursuing his undergraduate studies in Argentina, Negri Malbran concentrated on Latin American politics. It was during this time that the work of Ames, a renowned Latin Americanist, caught Negri Malbran's attention.
But it would be four years after completing his political science degree in Argentina in 2001 until Negri Malbran began his graduate work in Ames' department at the University of Pittsburgh in September 2005. During this time, Negri Malbran gained hands-on experience working for the Buenos Aires' Electoral Institute, where he played an integral role in helping to coordinate the city's first attempts at electronic voting. For a political scientist with a particular interest in the relationship between the legislative and executive branches of government, this proved to be an extraordinary learning opportunity. In addition, Negri Malbran honed his teaching skills as a lecturer at Universidad de Buenos Aires and Universidad Torcuato Di Tella where he taught courses in Latin American and Argentinean politics, political institutions, and political parties.
As he began to firm up his plans for graduate school, Negri Malbran received good advice from a friend who was also studying political science in the United States. Says Negri Malbran, "He had received a Fulbright Fellowship and he encouraged me to apply for one as well."
His friend's advice proved to be right on target.
"I met with the head of the Fulbright Commission in Argentina and representatives from the State Department to discuss my research and how my particular research interests could be most effectively pursued by studying in the United States," recalls Negri Malbran.
The Commission awarded Negri Malbran with a Fulbright Fellowship to support his studies for two academic years. In addition, the School of Arts and Sciences provided him with full-tuition scholarships for both of those years.
Negri Malbran anticipates that his studies will keep him in Pittsburgh until 2008, after which he would like to return to Argentina, at least for a few years.
"My research has focused on institutions in Eastern and Western Europe as well as Latin America," offers Negri Malbran. "I would like the opportunity to apply what I learn at the University of Pittsburgh back home."
