The University of Pennsylvania’s Class of 2018 includes 19 Fulbright Award recipients: 17 undergraduate students and two graduate students who will conduct research, pursue graduate degrees, and teach English in countries including India, Brazil, Colombia, and China.
In all, 34 Penn students and alumni were offered Fulbright awards this year. It is a record number for Penn, and the University is among the top institutions in the United States for producing Fulbright Students.
The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. Penn’s applicants are supported by the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships.
Penn’s Class of 2018 who have been honored with Fulbright Scholarships include:
Graduating Seniors:
- Alisa Feldman from Newton, Mass., will be conducting an ethnographic study on in vitro fertilization and infertility in Israel.
- Ari Lewis from Los Angeles will be pursuing her master’s degree in international film business at the University of Exeter and the London Film School.
- Brian J. Liu of San Francisco will use his Fulbright to research China’s soft power campaign in Africa.
- Meghana Nallajerla from Atlanta will use her Fulbright to conduct research on intergenerational trauma among Tamil families who survived the civil war in Sri Lanka.
- In Mongolia, Kristen Pearson of Norwich, Vt., will analyze archaeological textiles from an anthropological perspective, using macro- and microscopic textile evidence to better understand the society and ecology of mobile pastoralists in ancient Inner Asia.
- Kate Sohn of Princeton, N.J., will travel to South Korea to conduct research on understanding the diverse experiences of Korean breast-cancer survivors as they make the transition from patient to survivor.
- In Brazil, Sharonya Vadakattu of Dublin, Ohio, will analyze a home-visitation pilot program in São Paulo which seeks to improve child neurodevelopment and holistic maternal-child health.
Graduating seniors with Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Grants and the countries to which they are headed include:
- Joshua Jordan of Warrington, Pa.--India
- Jodi Marcus from Los Angeles--India
- Amanda Nart of Houston--Colombia
- Farah Otero-Amad from Berkeley, Calif.--Argentina
- Haley Rugh of Middletown, Conn.--Germany
- Reece Sisto from Crystal River, Fla.--Colombia
- Karis Stephen of Tyler, Texas--Malaysia
- Sarah Tang from Saratoga, Calif.--Malaysia
- David Thai from Philadelphia--Vietnam
- Shirin Vetry of Houston--Colombia
Graduate Students (Class of 2018):
- Julia Slater will earn a degree from the Graduate School of Education and plans to use her Fulbright to teach in Mexico.
- Christopher Yao, a 2017 alumnus of the College of Arts and Sciences, will earn a master’s degree from Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine and will use his Fulbright to study epidemiology and etiology of cleft lip and palate birth defects in China.
Other Penn affiliates offered Fulbright grants this year:
- Kevin Berry, a Ph.D. candidate in architectural history in the School of Design, will conduct Fulbright research in Germany.
- Petra Creamer, a Ph.D. candidate in art and archaeology of the Mediterranean world will also pursue research in Germany.
- Gabriel Delaney, a 2015 alumnus of the College of Arts and Sciences, will be a teaching assistant in Colombia.
- Lacy Feigh, a Ph.D. candidate in history, will conduct research in Ethiopia.
- Amber Henry, a Ph.D. student in anthropology and Africana studies, will conduct her Fulbright research in Colombia.
- Caroline Kim, a 2017 alumna of the College of Arts and Sciences, will teach English in Indonesia.
- Amalia Lund, a 2016 alumna of the College of Arts and Sciences, will teach English in Brazil.
- Julia Miller, an alumna of the Graduate School of Education, will use her Fulbright to conduct research in Finland.
- Kristina Nielsen, a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology, will pursue research in India.
- Sara Ray, a Ph.D. candidate in history and the sociology of science will conduct her Fulbright research in the Netherlands.
- Ivan Sandoval, a 2017 alumnus of the College of Arts and Sciences, will teach English in Germany.
- Drew Starling, a Ph.D. candidate in history and a 2013 alumnus of the College of Arts and Sciences, will conduct research in France.
