Mr Wykes is one of 23 Australians who were awarded a Fulbright scholarship last month.

Mr Wykes’ grandmother, June Wykes of Wellington, told the Wellington Times she was proud of her grandson and didn’t realise he was ‘so talented’.

Mr Wykes has fond memories of spending school holidays in Wellington and even remembers when the bridge fell down.

The American-Australian Fulbright Scholarship is the largest and one of the most prestigious educational scholarship programs in the world. It operates between the United States and more than 150 countries.

My Wykes is a PHD candidate at the Australian National University and will be working at the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles for a year.

His research aims to increase understanding of the subduction zones, which are places where one tectonic plate slides beneath another and sinks into the earth’s mantle.

He will examine how elements such as sulphur and lead cycle around the earth’s mantle and crust.

“I’m very excited to go, I have spent a year in the ULCA lab before when I did a graduate exchange in 2004/2005,” he said.

“This time I’m even more excited to go because I know how things work there, so I can hit the ground running.”

Mr Wykes has won a series of awards including the 2003 ANU University Medal and the Society of Economic Geology Student Research Grant, the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Student Bursary, and the WB Clarke Prize in Geology.

Mr Wykes is from Canberra and has worked in mineral exploration in Darwin and recently worked for a mining company based out of Orange.

“We did some work in Wellington so I spent a few weeks with my grandma, it was good to get back to Wellington,” he said.

“I would like to thank the Fulbright Commission and BHP for sponsoring the award.”