CONWAY, Ark. (March 30, 2009) -- Ben Lownik loves bikes. As a cyclist himself, Lownik knows the joy of life on two wheels. Now, as a Watson Fellow, Lownik has twelve months and $28,000 to explore the worldwide impact of bicycles on culture and economics.
“The bicycle is a pretty simple machine that can be adapted really easily, which is of interest because people’s needs vary so widely throughout world based on their socioeconomic status,” he said. “This trip is an exploration of how cool the bike is, and how transformative it can be in people’s lives.”
Lownik was among the 40 national recipients of the renowned Watson Fellowship. The award provides each Fellow $28,000 for a year of independent exploration and study outside the United States. Hendrix senior T.C. Elliott, a biology major, also received the fellowship.
Lownik, who designed his own Political Economy major at Hendrix, will visit Africa, China and Europe in order experience a range of developed and developing countries. The bicycle improves lives in each area, he said, but in very different ways. He plans to split his time fairly evenly, spending about four months in each region.
In Europe the bicycle is considered “a path to a higher life, a fun-filled, athletic life,” Lownik said, as well as a progressive way to combat global warming. Lownik will “blitzkrieg through the continent,” visiting the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Denmark, Germany and Hungary. He will attend conferences, interview city planners and live in some of the world’s most bicycle-friendly cities.
The bicycle has revolutionized simple development programs in Africa, playing an important role in microfinance and agrarian economics. Lownik will travel to Rwanda, Ghana and South Africa, to meet with and assist various non-governmental organizations.
His time in China will be less structured, focusing on an independent exploration of the country, including a month-long bike trip. Chairman Mao’s early enthusiasm for bicycles has made them indispensable there. Bicycles have been a necessity in Chinese cities for nearly half a century, Lownik said.
He plans to travel as environmentally-responsibly as he can, using train transportation as much as possible. He also allotted part of his grant to buy carbon emissions offsetting for his international flights.
Lownik’s jumping-off point is Madison, Wis., his hometown and the source of his passion for bikes. In the 1940s, a law was passed there that required every country road leading to a dairy farm be paved. The law was intended to keep milk shipments from spoiling, but has resulted in miles of beautiful paved roads with virtually no traffic. During his high school years, Lownik would bike those country roads every afternoon.
“Biking was a pleasure of mine in high school, but in college I realized there were a lot of really huge issues – from women’s rights in Africa to global warming to the peak oil crisis – for which bicycles were a really appropriate solution,” he said.
That realization formed the basis for Lownik’s Watson application. By his junior year at Hendrix he had decided to apply for a Watson to study bicycles. He polished his application last fall, while he was studying abroad in rural Nepal. Although phone access required a 20-mile hike to the next town, Lownik kept in contact with Britt Murphy, Hendrix’s Watson liaison.
“Britt Murphy was a guardian angel through the whole application process,” Lownik said. “I was calling her house at 11 o’clock and midnight because of the time difference, and she was happy to talk to me then even though she has young kids.”
In order to submit his finalized application, Lownik hiked for four days to reach Kathmandu, the capital city and the closest source of computers with Internet access. On the way, hiking through the night, he got lost in a canyon. Once he reached the city, a military-imposed curfew and power shortages tried his patience.
“It was an investment,” Lownik said. “It was definitely worth it, now that it’s panned out. The Watson is the closest you‘ll be able to come in real life to finding a magical genie lamp that lets you do whatever you want. It’s a really phenomenal fellowship, and it’s huge asset to Hendrix to be able to nominate students for it.”
Only 47 private liberal arts colleges and universities are eligible to nominate Watson Fellows. Hendrix is the only institution in Arkansas eligible to do so.
When Lownik returns from his travels he will spend at least a month at home, “so my family doesn’t kill me,” he said. He doesn’t know what will come next.
“I’m also interested in getting into a more political field, like going into Wisconsin politics. So maybe I’ll go to law school.”
Hendrix, founded in 1876, is a selective, residential, undergraduate liberal arts college emphasizing experiential learning in a demanding yet supportive environment. The college is among 165 colleges featured in the 2009 edition of the Princeton Review America’s Best Value Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.