ITHACA, N.Y. -- When Anisa Draboo receives her master's degree in International Development from the College of Architecture, Art and Planning on May 29, she will be the first Cornell University graduate among a new group of dedicated international students studying ways to make the most troubled areas of the world more livable.

The students in the group know some of the world's worst problems firsthand -- and they have an extra dose of motivation to find the solutions.

Draboo, who came to Ithaca from India's conflicted region of Kashmir in 2003, is one of six Cornell students on a fellowship from the Ford Foundation's International Fellowships Program (IFP). Concerned with the marginalization of women in India and especially in Kashmir, Draboo was interested in gender issues and human rights as they pertain to community planning.

Without a scholarship, Draboo would have had a hard time affording a graduate degree from a college in the United States. But the IFP fellowship, designed for the most promising individuals from the most underrepresented communities, made it possible.

Created in 2000 with a mission to "strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation and advance human achievement," the IFP grants scholarships to students from 22 countries and territories in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The grants cover tuition and living expenses for up to three years of graduate study at any university in the world.

Draboo chose Cornell for its strong reputation in international development issues. "In India, planning is all about physical planning -- towns and cities and infrastructure," she said. "It is all about buildings and nothing about people. But there is this ongoing conflict -- how can we turn a blind eye to it?"

Five other Cornell IFP students are following in her path.

Also from India, Anamika Priyadarshini, Deepthi Kolady and Chandra Kumar Purohit are working toward graduate degrees in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Junyun Yang from China is studying plant breeding, and Salomey Yeboah of Ghana is studying development and gender issues.

The IFP is administered by the International Fellowships Fund, a supporting organization to the Institute of International Education.

To qualify, applicants must have an undergraduate degree, three years' experience working in their field and must demonstrate leadership and social commitment. Since the IFP was launched in 2000, 1,500 students have received fellowships, and about 250 have finished their degrees.

"Of those alumni, about 80 percent are in their home countries," said IFP executive director Joan Dassin. "Ninety percent are first-generation college students. They are the pioneer generation -- people who have overcome enormous obstacles that motivate them. We're very proud of these people."

Next month, Draboo will attend a human rights conference in The Hague. Then she will head back to Delhi, where she will work on domestic violence and gender issues. "I want to be in the field for a few years, get some experience [and] see how things are done," she said.

Kolady, Priyadarshini, Purohit, Yang and Yeboah will be back in the fall, when they will be joined by a new group of IFP fellows. Six IFP applicants have been admitted to Cornell for 2005-06, and five others are awaiting decisions.

Junyun Yang, who will return to China to work in agriculture when she finishes her master's degree in plant breeding next year, said she's finding Cornell challenging -- but she is grateful for the chance to be here.

"My purpose is to serve my people and my home country," she said. "It's very tough, but my family are proud of me."