Thando Khumalo ’19 Awarded Fulbright Grant to Italy for COVID-19 Research
Rivers alum Thando Khumalo ’19 was selected as a Fulbright scholar to Italy for the 2023–2024 academic year. Her project, “An Investigation of Selenium-based Compounds that Inhibit SARS-CoV-2,” will utilize computational research to discover new selenium compounds that can be used to treat COVID-19. Khumalo will partner with Brookhaven National Laboratory and a research team of faculty and students at the University of Padova. The Italian Fulbright Commission awards 16 grants for open study/research per year for U.S. students.
But what exactly is computational research?
As Khumalo explained, computational research is often the first step in the drug discovery process. The objective is to predict new molecular structures of drugs containing the mineral selenium, with the larger intent of testing them as new therapies to treat COVID-19.
Khumalo will be doing this computationally, with software. Once the computational work is finished, the next step will be to send the work to a wet lab for additional research and testing.
“I like applying computer science to chemical problems,” Khumalo elaborated. Her Fulbright grant allows her to do this and bring together languages, medicine, and computer science in a complementary way in a field with great potential impact.
Since graduating from The Rivers School in 2019, Khumalo has been pursuing a double major in computer science and Italian and a minor in chemistry at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Now a senior, she is currently completing an honors thesis on computer science concepts as applied to Italian language (English title: “A Computational Understanding of Emotional Psyches and Order in the Decameron's Ballads: Stylometry and Natural Language Processing.”)
“I always knew I wanted to study language at college,” shared Khumalo, who studied Spanish at Rivers with Prof. Sacristán. She also cites Ms. Enright’s AP European History course and its unit on the Italian renaissance as a deciding factor for her study of Italian in college.
Khumalo shares she also had a strong interest in pursuing medicine, and initially intended to complete pre-med requirements in college. After taking her first computer science class in her first year at Bowdoin, however, she was hooked, and chose to major in computer science with a minor in chemistry.
Khumalo’s Italian studies led her to study abroad at the University of Padova, where she was able to take engineering and computer science courses and also continue her study of art history. She will be returning in the fall to complete her Fulbright research, staying with the same host family she stayed with during her year abroad.
And what is the first thing she will do upon her return to Italy?
Shares Khumalo, “my host family has little grandchildren, so I’ll probably play some soccer with them.”
On behalf of everyone at Rivers, congratulations, Thando! We look forward to hearing more about your Fulbright year and research as the year progresses.
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