Six Rice University graduates have been named Fulbright Scholars this year, receiving grants to fund study abroad and teaching opportunities across the globe.
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers over 400 awards in more than 135 countries for U.S. citizens to teach, conduct research and carry out professional projects. These prestigious scholarships trace their history to 1945, when Sen. J. William Fulbright introduced legislation calling for the selling of surplus war property to fund the “promotion of international goodwill through the exchange of students in the fields of education, culture and science.” President Harry Truman signed it into law the following year.
The Rice Fulbright winners received support during the application process from the Center for Civic Leadership, which offers holistic advising for a range of scholarship and fellowship opportunities for graduate study, leadership programs and international travel and research.
The Fulbright recipients told Rice News how they’ll be spending their time abroad.
Alexander Cho
“During my Fulbright Award, I will be working with Dr. Alejandro Sosa at Fundación para el Estudio de Especies Invasivas based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I will be studying invasive aquatic plants in Argentina’s urban and wetland ecosystems as well as the biocontrol agents that control them in Argentina. I also hope to learn how they may be applied to ecosystems and waterways back in the United States, which also face problems with similar invasive species. As I work in Buenos Aires, I aim to continue gaining experience with Latin America and the Spanish language through cultural immersion and exchange. Through Fulbright, I’m looking forward to developing a multicultural perspective that helps frame my career and personal growth.”
Vanessa Chuang
“Through the Fulbright program, I received a yearlong grant to teach English in New Taipei City, Taiwan. I will be working in a school with limited access to English resources, so I am excited to be able to share American culture with my students and increase their opportunities to practice the language. I look forward to immersing myself in a new cultural environment and hope to gain a unique perspective on global education systems. My goal is to further develop my knowledge of both the teaching and policy sides of education, and my time in Taiwan will allow me to better understand solutions to address disparities in the U.S. education system.”
Zoe Katz
“This upcoming school year, I will be an English teaching assistant at Erzurum Technical University in Turkey. At Rice, I had the pleasure of being a teaching assistant for multiple courses in computer science and linguistics. I want to further develop my teaching skills, as I believe educating is an extremely important endeavor. Outside of the classroom, I hope to increase my proficiency in Turkish, explore different cities within the country and try as many new foods as possible! In the future, I would like to attend graduate school in linguistics with a focus on language documentation; I look forward to reinforcing my understanding of a new culture and language in order to help prepare me for my future endeavors.”
Abhinav Madduri
“My goal is to ultimately become a physician who bridges research with clinical practice and compassionately serves people of all backgrounds. To take the first step toward achieving this, I will begin conducting research in September 2024 with Dr. Tom Coenye from Ghent University in Belgium. We will study the genetic interactions that confer antimicrobial resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms, which often populate medical devices and inner tissues, causing various infections in patients. By living in Belgium for nine months, I aim to immerse myself in a new culture, broadening my worldview and developing a more nuanced understanding of health care.”
Sophia Peng
“I will be an English language assistant at IES Isaac Peral high school in Madrid, Spain. My career goal is to be a doctor for immigrant and/or limited-English proficiency families. Living in Spain, teaching language and bridging cultures will be an invaluable way to prepare for that goal. I’m also eager to explore Spain’s legacy of art as resistance. I’m a poet, and la generación 27 — specifically the poet Federico García Lorca — inspired my earliest epiphanies about the power of art to make change. I will visit la Plaza del Campillo and the Lorca memorials, writing my own poems in turn.”
Sumin Yoon
“During my Fulbright year, I will conduct medical anthropology research on the impact of repealing Indian Penal Code Section 377 on HIV/AIDS-related health in Hyderabad, India. By analyzing the successes and shortcomings of political and social interventions in global health, I aim to develop more effective strategies for addressing health disparities in the ongoing epidemic. I am excited to collaborate with Dr. Pushpesh Kumar from the University of Hyderabad and local HIV/AIDS organizations on this project. I also look forward to forming meaningful friendships within and outside my fieldwork.”