Kansas State University's Paul to study arsenic awareness and knowledge in Bangladesh

MANHATTAN -- Kansas State University's Bimal Paul, associate professor of geography, has received a fellowship to study a health threat to millions of people in Bangladesh. The $15,000 fellowship is from the American Institute of Bangladesh Studies and will be used to study arsenic awareness and knowledge among rural residents in Bangladesh.

"More than 70 million people in Bangladesh, mainly living in rural parts of the country, are drinking water pumped from tube wells that is contaminated with high levels of naturally occurring arsenic, a poisonous element," Paul said. "An extensive irrigation program intensified the pollution and now many people are suffering from a skin disease because of the arsenic."

Thus far, the Bangladesh government has identified more than 9,000 cases of arsenic cancer. Additionally, more than 1,000 people have already died from arsenic-related skin cancer, Paul said. "The number of people dying from skin cancer will increase in the near future," he said. "My study may help encourage rural Bangladesh residents to drink water from alternative sources. Most alarming is the fact that people suffering from arsenic-related cancers are usually not even aware they are affected."

Paul will conduct his research over the summer and during K-State's winter holiday break. He plans to visit 20 villages in two different parts of the country. It's the second time in the last four years that Paul has received a fellowship from the American Institute of Bangladesh Studies to study a health problem in his native Bangladesh. In 1997 he received a fellowship to study the country's infant mortality rate. The institute only grants two or three fellowships a year to professors in the United States who are researching social problems in Bangladesh.

Paul is an award-winning researcher. In addition to the fellowship he received this year, he also has been awarded the 2001 Distinguished Service Award by the Asian Geography Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers. It's the second time Paul has received the honor, which he also was awarded in 1996. Paul is the first individual at the associate professor level to receive the award twice. He was the first associate professor to receive the honor in 1996.

The award recognizes Paul's numerous research publications and his involvement with the Asian Specialty Group, which he served as director of for three years and organized seven sessions for the annual meetings of the Association of American Geographers during that time. He also currently serves as the editor of the group's newsletter, Bulletin of Asian Geography.

Paul also is a member of the Medical, Population Geography and Hazards specialty groups of the Association of American Geographers. In addition, he belongs to the American Geographical Society, Population Association of America, Kansas Academy of Science, Bengal Studies Society and Bangladesh Environmental Network

He has presented his work at numerous international seminars and conferences in the United States, United Kingdom and Bangladesh. Paul joined K-State in 1990 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 1996. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh, a master's from the University of Waterloo and a doctorate from Kent State University.