worldstudy.gov | Anne Allen: Conservation in Tanzania (5 of 8)

Moved by these experiences, Anne wanted to give something back to the country before she returned home. As the culmination of her program, she devised a study on the restoration of fragile coral reefs off the Tanzanian coast.

Anne's research experience came with an unexpected bonus. Although UCSD is on the quarter system, Anne's program in Tanzania gave her credit for a semester's worth of work, which her school accepted. The result: she received one-and-a-half times as much credit for her international adventure as she would have gotten if she'd stayed home and attended school for nearly the same amount of time in San Diego.

Before she went to Tanzania, Anne had imagined a kind of semester-long safari that would give her a unique chance to study African animals and ecosystems up close. But when you ask which experiences transformed her, she'll tell you about the pleasures of being invited to live with Tanzanian families. Anne's homestays lasted from just a few days to two weeks.

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[x] ANNE ALLEN'S RESEARCH PROJECT

Often, Tanzanian fishermen toss a stick of dynamite from their boats and scoop up dead reef fish that rise to the surface. It's a lot of food for little effort, but it can reduce an area of reef to rubble.

Before Anne's arrival in the country, a professor at the University of Dar Es Salaam had transplanted three varieties of coral in five dispersed test beds.

Anne collaborated with the researcher to determine which kind of coral thrived in the different ecosystems. The goal: transplant into each devasted area only the coral that has the best chance to survive.

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[x] ANNE ALLEN'S MONEY

Anne's Boren Scholarship provided $7,500. Through the International Center at UC San Diego, she was awarded $500. Her Tanzania program cost $12,000, which included tuition, housing, travel and most other expenses. There were also hefty additional expenses, for immunizations, travel gear, and so on, which added up to approximately $1,500. A summer job before she left helped pay for vaccinations and a lot of extras.

Resources		Expenses
Boren Scholarship	$7,500	Program	$12,000
International Center UCSD	$ 500	Immunizations	$ 1,000
Summer Job	$1,500	Travel Gear	$ 500
Parents and Miscellaneous	$4,000
TOTAL	$13,500		$13,500

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[x] ANNE ALLEN DESCRIBES HER SUPPORTERS

"The biology department at the University of California, San Diego was very supportive of my work in Tanzania. I had to provide them with detailed descriptions of what I would be doing. For the most part, they pre-approved credit for all of the courses.

"I wasn't just gaining credits toward graduation, I was gaining credits toward both my major and minor.

"As for my parents, definitely they were worried. Most parents I know would have that reaction to their only daughter traveling to Africa.

"My mother was most worried that I would come back emaciated, so she spent the summer trying to force feed me before I went to Africa."

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