Daniel Choquet, laureate of the Fulbright France program

Created in 1946 at the proposal of the eponymous US senator, Fulbright is an international academic mobility program of the US government. The aim of the program is to promote educational and cultural exchanges between France and the United States.

Since its launch, 21,244 students from both countries have benefited from the program:
– 12,294 French students have gone to the United States of America,
– 8,950 Americans have come to France.

Daniel Choquet (director of research at the CNRS, director of IINS, the BIC and the BRAIN_2030 cluster of excellence, and team leader at IINS) has just been selected as a laureate of the Fulbright France program. He will be spending a 7 month sabbatical stay in Denver in 2024.

Why did you apply to the Fulbright France Program?

Daniel Choquet : I was getting organized to perform a 7 month sabbatical in Denver in 2022, in the lab of Pr. Mark Dell’Acqua. Given the cost of living in the US, I needed additional funding to support my stay. The Fulbright organization is a very prestigious academic mobility program of the US government and it was thus natural for me to apply, particularly given that there is a specific partnership with our region Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

What does it mean to you?

Well, it does mean a lot. First, in searching the Fulbright alumni file, I found out that both my parents were fulbrighters in the 50s while they did post-docs in Princeton, my mother with Albert Einstein. Second, I realized when I obtained this fellowship that when you enter a new family, the family of Fulbrighters, beyond the money, you enter a support network all over the US that will be both very interesting and valuable.

Will you take this opportunity to discover or develop a research topic?

Absolutely! The Department of Pharmacology of the University of Colorado in Denver that I’ll join hosts a large number of high profile neurobiologists that develop orginal cell biology approaches. We will join our forces with Mark Dell’Acqua and Matthew Kennedy to develop new methods and approaches to control receptor trafficking and visualization.

What do you think this program will bring you, both professionally and personally?

In addition to the funding that will help me living there, being a Fulbright fellow in the US is really recognized and will help me develop my network and meet many academics in various disciplines. Fulbright fellows also have a mission to be ambassadors of their country, and I certainly intend to introduce to colleagues to some French cuisine specialties!

Source : IINS