Fulbrighters of 2019-2020
Meet our Fulbright grantees for the academic year of 2019-2020. Our grantees include master students, language teaching assistants, visiting researchers and professors, doctoral students and other professionals from a diverse range of educational backgrounds.
2019-2020 Belgians going to the United States
Nathalie Matthys obtained her Master of Arts degree in classical piano summa cum laude at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent in 2017, as a student of Vitaly Samoshko. She became a successful candidate in numerous piano competitions and participated in several national and international masterclasses. Alongside her classical performances, Nathalie is also active as a jazz pianist, jazz vocalist, and lyricist for jazz band Dr. Rhythm and jazz duo Common Ground.
Nathalie Matthys
Master's in Music at Indiana University
Tom Vandekerckhove holds an MSc in Engineering Physics from Ghent University. Having gained experience in the field of quantum optics, his goal is to contribute to the future quantum technologies by pursuing a research career. That is what leads him to follow the ME in Engineering Physics at Cornell University, providing the perfect opportunity to start building an international network. Besides his academic interests, he likes to explore new countries and has been a regular volleyball player for the past 12 years.
Tom Vandekerckhove
Master's in Engineering at Cornell University
Laura Adriaensens is 24 years old and graduated in law at Ghent University. Even though she comes from a small village, she has always had international ambitions. She lived one year in Argentina as part of a cultural exchange program, and spent five months in Shanghai during her law studies. She is passionate about human rights, volunteered for several NGOs, and was selected to represent Ghent University in the Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court Competition in Washington D.C. In the upcoming academic year, she will study an LL.M. program in International Legal Studies at New York University.
Laura Adriaensens
Master's in Law at New York University
Mattias enjoys philosophy, languages, extensive traveling and nature. He started his studies in both law and philosophy in 2013 at the Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles and is currently finishing a Master of Laws at the University of Antwerp, where he focuses on human rights and anti-discrimination law. Next year, he will pursue a degree at the University of California, Los Angeles as a preparation for doctoral research in feminist legal theory at the University of Antwerp and Ghent. His areas of interest lay at the intersection of law and gender studies, critical race theory, queer theory, and post-colonialism.
Mattias Decoster
Master's in Law at University of California, Los Angeles
Jennifer Granado Aranzana is an associate in employment law at Linklaters since 2015. She assists clients before court and advises on all aspects of employment law. Her main areas of practice include regulated sectors (banking sector, public sector), incentives, (multi-party) employment litigation, corporate restructurings, collective bodies, collective and individual dismissals, and union action. She is also a voluntary academic researcher at VUB and is doing research on the need to extend the scope of the class actions procedure to include workplace disputes. During her LL.M. at Berkeley, she will continue her research under the supervision of Professor Fisk.
Jennifer Granado Aranzana
Master's in Law at University of California, Berkeley
Born to a Belgian diplomat and a German artist, Clara led a nomadic childhood in Brussels, New York, Moscow, and Rome. Along this way, she acquired proficiency in English, Flemish, German, Italian and French. She is currently in her final year of an undergraduate law degree at the University of Cambridge. In her second year, Clara came top of her class with her Starred First winning her multiple awards for academic excellence. Clara is looking forward to commencing her LL.M. at Harvard Law School and specializing in both Public and Private International Law.
Clara von Thüngen-Reichenbach
Master's in Law at Harvard University (Boas Award)
Graduated as an archaeologist from UCLouvain (2012), Thérèse Claeys obtained a second Master in Conservation of Monuments and Sites from the Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation (KULeuven, 2015). Her combined research interests led Ms. Claeys’s to focus on the preservation of the Bronze Age archaeological heritage in Crete for her Ph.D. Her strong aspirations for international mobility and innovation triggered her decision to pursue her research at the Digital Archaeology Research Lab at the University of Washington in Seattle. There, she will work on the development of digital solutions aimed at disseminating the outcome of her Ph.D. research.
Thérèse Claeys
Visiting Student Researcher in Archeology at University of Washington
Zoë is an evolutionary biologist with a strong passion for bioinformatics. By studying the repeated evolution of wing dimorphism in beetles, she tries to understand how such an enormous and complex mechanism could have evolved several times independently. Recently developed techniques give her access to huge parts of the genome, allowing her to answer these research questions with unprecedented detail. Besides science, Zoë likes to emerge herself in culture. You will often find her visiting galleries, screenings, plays, and concerts.
Zoë De Corte
Visiting Student Researcher in Biology at University of Rochester
Machteld Joly is a Ph.D. researcher in environmental economics at the University of Leuven in Brussels, Belgium. She started her career in the financial sector, as a financial risk consultant for Ernst & Young. In 2015, Machteld took the opportunity to pursue an academic career at the KU Leuven. She has been awarded an FWO Ph.D. fellowship in 2018 for her work on the valuation of environmental externalities. These external effects, such as noise pollution or proximity to green areas, are typically excluded from the economic cost of projects. Her research interests go out to econometrics, valuation of non-market goods and urban planning.
Machteld Joly
Visiting Student Researcher in Economics at University of Southern California
Alexander Vervaecke, MD is an ambitious 25-year old Orthopedic Surgery Resident associated with the University of Antwerp. Stem cell therapy is a trending and upcoming modality and having been accepted as a research fellow at the Mount Sinaï Hospital in New York, he will investigate the use of it in shoulder tendon reconstruction. Having already worked on interesting subjects such as the use of 3D-printed guides for shoulder prosthesis, he hopes to use this research opportunity for a future Ph.D. project. When he isn’t working at the AZ-St Blasius hospital he can be found at the hockey- and tennis court or at a social activity in Antwerp.
Alexander Vervaecke
Visiting Student Researcher in Medical Sciences at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Liesbeth Vicca teaches Dutch and German to 15-17 year old pupils and coaches ex-OKAN pupils at two schools in Leuven. Liesbeth has worked in OKAN classes where she taught Dutch as a second language to children aged 12-18. In 2018, Liesbeth received the degree of Academic Teacher Education Cum laude (Dutch and German). In 2017, Liesbeth received the degree Master of Translation Cum laude; Dutch-German-Spanish. Liesbeth speaks Dutch, German, Spanish, French, English, Russian and Flemish Sign Language. Liesbeth gives Zumba classes. She is also licensed to teach Aqua Zumba. Besides her Zumba classes, she likes traveling, reading and singing.
Liesbeth Vicca
Foreign Language Teaching Assistant in Dutch at University of Michigan
Liesbet Notebaert obtained a Master’s degree in English and Spanish Philology in 2015. She spent one semester in Santiago de Chile where she got inspired for her dissertation about the use of the tag ‘you know’ and its Spanish equivalent ‘tú sabes’. After living in Spain for two years, she decided to add a teacher’s training to her résumé to share her passion for both linguistics and literature. Liesbet is currently teaching English to high schoolers, but ready to take on a new adventure at the University of Minnesota as a Dutch language assistant next school year.
Liesbet Notebaert
Foreign Language Teaching Assistant in Dutch at University of Minnesota
Alena is from Belgium and lives near Brussels. She recently obtained a master's degree in translation studies. As she discovered during her Erasmus exchange in Wales that she was interested in teaching, she is currently getting a degree in didactics and would like to become an English teacher. Alena has Russian roots, so she is a native speaker in French and Russian. She is looking forward to teaching the French language to American students and sharing her Belgian culture with them. Alena is friendly, curious, patient and passionate about foreign languages. She loves teaching, discovering different cultures, traveling, reading and painting.
Alena Kryvutsa
Foreign Language Teaching Assistant in French at Austin College
Ryan is a bachelor's student in Applied Electronics at the Haute École Francisco Ferrer in Brussels. He has a particular interest in new technologies, particularly drones and how these can be used for the public good, including for climate change research. Ryan is also involved at an international level and reached, with his team, second place in a European-wide competition on robots organized by the European Space Agency.
Ryan Danenberg
SUSI Student Leader at University of Massachusetts Boston
Thibault Fontanari was awarded a fellowship by the FRESH-FNRS and received his Ph.D. in anthropology from UCLouvain University. In his doctoral research, he described the building of mountain roads and pathways in Hunza Valley (Northern Pakistan) and analyzed their sociocultural impacts. As a Fulbright Visiting Scholar in the Music Department of Harvard University, he will pursue his research in Hunza in the anthropology of landscape and roads, through the study of local poetries. This project will be based on a collaborative ethnography and on walking as a method.
Dr. Thibault Fontanari
Research in Anthropology at Harvard University
Stipe Odak is a researcher at the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium) and a lecturer at the Université Catholique de Lille (France). He holds a Ph.D. in Political and Social Sciences and a doctorate in Theology. His research focuses on the intersections of religion, conflicts, and collective memories. In 2019-2020, he will be a Fulbright fellow at Columbia University, developing a theory of post-conflict memory as a form of performative justice.
Dr. Stipe Odak
Research in Political Science at Columbia University
Eveline Pinseel is a Master in Biology and is currently finishing her Ph.D. thesis. In her Ph.D., she focused on the diversity and geographic distributions of unicellular algae in the Polar Regions. This research interest has seen her traveling to the Arctic and Antarctic Regions to collect samples and has fueled a strong interest in the history and diversity of life on Earth. In her role as a board member of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists in Belgium, she has also been involved in many outreach activities concerning the Polar Regions.
Eveline Pinseel
Researcher in Biology at University of Arkansas
Sam Poppe is a geologist-researcher with a passion for Volcanology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His current Ph.D. research focuses on deformation of the Earth’s crust induced by magma intrusion. He also has expertise in volcanic hazard assessment in populated areas. He combines analog modeling with fieldwork in Europe and Africa, 3D imaging techniques, structural analysis, physical volcanology, and geochemical rock analysis, and is often visible in the media to comment on current volcano news. He is currently developing a new method to image analog sandbox models that helps us understand better why volcanoes deform the way they do.
Sam Poppe
Research in Geology at Pennsylvania State University
Sina Van den Bogaert is a Legal Officer at the European Commission. She is a former Research Fellow of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg. Her doctoral dissertation on Segregation of Roma Children in Education examined how the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (Council of Europe) and the Racial Equality Directive 2000/43/EC (European Union) have contributed towards desegregation of Roma children in education in Europe. Sina has also published several articles on European Non-discrimination Law. With her postdoc Fulbright grant she wants to study how U.S. desegregation injunctions can be of inspiration for European judges when they seek to establish a proportionate, dissuasive and effective sanction mechanism in cases of school segregation.
Dr. Sina Van den Bogaert
Research in Law at University of Michigan
Torsten Feys obtained his Ph.D. in History at the European University Institute (Florence, 2008). His dissertation and FWO-postdoc research analyzed the commercialization of transatlantic migrant transport from a business perspective. It especially discloses the impact of shipping companies on migration governance by uncovering how they influenced the enactment, enforcement, and evasion of migration laws. He worked on various public history projects, including the Red Star Line Museum (Antwerp). Since 2015 he coordinates, as a postdoctoral fellow (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), the IMMIBEL project on Belgian immigration patterns and policies (1830-1914). His research centers on expulsion practices, transport infrastructure, and migration governance.
Dr. Torsten Feys
Research and Lecturing in History at Texas State University (SIR Program)
Benoit Delhauteur is the editor-in-chief of Les Sports, a sports newsroom providing content for two Belgian national newspapers (La DH and La Libre) and three websites (DH.be, LaLibre.be, LesSportsPlus.be). He started his career in 2002 as a sports reporter for La Dernière Heure Les Sports. He covered the two last soccer World Cups in Brazil and in Russia, following months of preparation in designing a multimedia strategy. In 2018, he managed a large-scale project of a new sports-only paywall website, one of the first of its kind in Europe.
Benoit Delhauteur
Journalism Scholarship at University of Missouri
Born in Indonesia, based in Belgium, Elisabeth Ida Mulyani graduated in 2010 from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent. Elisabeth does interdisciplinary work and uses various media including video, installation, and performance. She has exhibited in Indonesia, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, and the USA. Her first book “Inside Embassies” (2015) captures the presentation of identity of countries, seen through their embassy offices. Her recent artistic work and research handles the subject of Indonesia’s 1965 genocide and its succeeding brainwash, which is partly shown in “Artivism: The Atrocity Prevention Pavilion” during the 2019 Venice Biennial.
Elisabeth Sri Unggul Ida Mulyani
Research in Arts at University of California, Los Angeles (Flemish Artist Initiative)
2019-2020 Luxembourgers going to the United States
Tom is currently enrolled in a professional Master’s Degree in tax law at Pantheon Assas University in Paris. He is going to pursue his studies with an LL.M. degree in international taxation at New York University. In addition to his studies, he works as a tax adviser for the Kering group. In his leisure time, Tom is passionate about photography, hiking and running.
Tom Bleser
Master's in Law at New York University
Felix Hennico holds a Maîtrise from Sorbonne Law School and is currently enrolled in a Master in law at the University Paris II Panthéon-Assas. Felix also holds a Maîtrise and is presently enrolled in a Master in philosophy at the University Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. Felix participated in the Cornell Law School Paris Summer Institute and the NYU Summer School. He completed internships in law firms such as Clifford Chance and Elvinger Hoss. Felix is a former Secretary of the Luxembourg Students’ Association in Paris, holds the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and studied the saxophone at the Luxembourg Conservatory.
Felix Hennico
Master's in Law at Cornell University
As part of a 2-year Master in Management, Luca will be spending one year at Yale University, where he will focus on analytics and computer science within the field of business. Luca’s curiosity to discover new countries, cultures, and lifestyles has encouraged him to study in an international environment (the UK where he completed his Bachelor in Civil Engineering and France where he undertook his first year of Master) and has led him on many backpacking trips, such as through the Ecuadorian Andes, along the Silk Road, or across the Himalayas. His extracurricular interests include outdoor sports, in particular, skiing, trekking, and alpinism.
Luca Kopf
Master's in Management at Yale University
Dr. Henderika (Herie) de Vries graduated at University Sorbonne Paris Cité. Dutch from origin, raised in Luxembourg, she is fluent in 5 languages. Inspired by cultural differences, she was earlier a research assistant for the world-renowned expert Prof. Geert Hofstede. Currently, she is a lecturer at Université Paris-Descartes, and she pursues post-doctoral studies at the University of Yale on culture, emotions, and creativity. She held several International Managerial Positions as at Temenos, a World-leader in the Banking Software Industry, and also served as Educational Psychologist for the European Schools Institutions. Her aim is to foster creativity regardless of cultural background.
Dr. Henderika de Vries
Research in Psychology at Yale University
2019-2020 Europeans going to the United States
For nine years Stefan has worked as a human rights lawyer in a variety of settings: with the European Court of Human Rights, the Romanian Government and the European Roma Rights Centre, a major anti-discrimination NGO. His work has included litigation on access to education, housing, and healthcare, in Romania and across Central and Eastern Europe. During his current Ph.D. at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, Stefan focuses on the regulation of political speech on digital platforms, in particular efforts to address the spread of misinformation.
Stefan Luca (Romania)
Visiting Student Researcher in Law at University of California, Berkeley
Gianluigi M. Riva is a Marie Curie Ph.D. fellow in Privacy, Ethics and New Technologies at the University College Dublin, School of Information and Communication within the TEAM– ITN (H2020), with a project on invasive technologies and consent-manipulation. He represents Ireland at the EU COST Action no.16207 on Problematic Usage of the Internet. Currently, he is a visiting researcher at Telefonica Innovaciò Alpha in Barcelona, Spain, to develop Ethics and Privacy by Design guidelines in Human-Computer Interaction. Before joining academia, he was an attorney at Law, a certified Data Protection Officer, and an ADR qualified mediator.
Gianluigi Riva (Italy)
Visiting Student Researcher in Law at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Jérôme Nicolaï, a French citizen, is a joint Master of Arts in Transatlantic Affairs candidate at the College of Europe and at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where he will conduct his research project on transatlantic common interest-building in emerging biotechnologies. He is also an alumnus of Sciences Po Paris. He was a trainee at the Court of Justice of the European Union and will be a 2019 summer trainee at the OECD. He is passionate about emerging technologies, admires the entrepreneurial spirit of the American society, and is committed to the strengthening of the transatlantic community.
Jérôme Nicolaï (France)
Master's in International Relations at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
Tobias received his Master’s Degree in Journalism and Political Communication from Aarhus University and the University of Amsterdam. After working as a journalist for several years in Amsterdam and Brussels, Tobias decided to continue his academic career at the European University Institute in Italy. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Political Science, researching populist communication and the causes and consequences of emotions in European and American politics.
Tobias Widmann (Germany)
Visiting Student Researcher in Political Science at The University of Wisconsin at Madison
Diana is a Ph.D. researcher at the European University Institute in Florence. She is interested in social and educational inequality but also discrimination. For a few months this year she was a visiting scholar at The French Institute for Demographic Studies in Paris. She holds a Master's Degree in Sociology from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor degree in Sociology from Goldsmiths, University of London. She is very excited to start her next academic chapter at Yale University from the end of August.
Diana Galos (Romania)
Visiting Student Researcher in Sociology at Yale University
Daniel Gros is Director of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) since 2000. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago. Daniel initially worked at the IMF, then at the European Commission as economic adviser to the Delors Committee that developed plans for the EMU. He has been a member of high-level advisory bodies to has provided advice to numerous central banks and governments, including Greece, the UK, and the U.S., at the highest political level. He taught at several leading European Universities and has published extensively on international economic affairs, including on issues related to monetary and fiscal policy, exchange rates, banking as well as climate change.
Dr. Daniel Gros (Germany)
Research and Lecturing in Economics at University of California, Berkeley
Born in Germany, Danilo Scholz has studied history and philosophy at the University of Cambridge and the École normale supérieure in Paris. He specializes in the history of modern political thought and European intellectual history. His Ph.D., which he completed at the École des Hautes études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), investigated concepts and critiques of the state in twentieth-century French thought. As a Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, he began work on an intellectual biography of the Hegelian philosopher and influential European bureaucrat Alexandre Kojève (1902-1968).
Danilo Scholz (Germany)
Research in History at Columbia University
Federica Bressan is a Fulbright scholar and Marie Curie alumna. Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University, Belgium, and appointed Professor of Digital Humanities at the University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia. She holds an MD in Musicology and a Ph.D. in Computer Science. The vision underlying her research concerns the co-evolution of technology and culture. Her main expertise is in the field of multimedia preservation, with a special attention for audio and interactivity. She is active in science popularization, and she is the host of the podcast Technoculture.
Dr. Federica Bressan (Italy)
Research in Arts at SUNY, Stony Brook University
Dr. Ingi Iusmen is a lecturer in Governance and Policy within Politics and International Relations at the University of Southampton. Her research tackles key questions about the European policy process, protection of international children’s rights, EU human rights policy, and democratization of Central and Eastern Europe. Her research projects examined the protection of the Roma in Europe, the EU’s children’s rights policy, and more recently, she has researched the impact of Brexit on the protection of unaccompanied migrant children in the UK. Currently, she conducts research on the protection of unaccompanied children in the EU and the U.S.
Dr. Ingi Iusmen (UK and Romania)
Research in Social Sciences at Harvard University
Eftychia Stamkou is a social and cultural psychologist. She completed her undergraduate studies in psychology at Panteion University of Athens (B.Sc. in 2008; summa cum laude) and her postgraduate studies in social and organizational psychology at the University of Amsterdam (M.Sc. in 2011; cum laude). She conducted her dissertation research at the Department of Social Psychology of the University of Amsterdam (Ph.D. in 2018). In 2014 she was a visiting scholar at Columbia University, Columbia Business School. Since 2016 she has been working as an assistant professor of social psychology at the University of Amsterdam.
Dr. Eftychia Stamkou (Greece)
Research in Psychology at University of California, Berkeley
Dr. Edita Stefanic was born in 1962 in Osijek, Croatia, where she spent the larger part of her life and subsequently the majority of her formal education. She has attained her Ph.D. at the University of Osijek, College of Agriculture, where she holds now the position of a Full-time Professor. She is a Plant Ecologist. Her research work is mainly focused on invasive weeds, and has published multiple research articles in scientific journals. So far she has been involved with numerous international research groups. She is a former Fulbright student at NC State University, married and mother of two.
Dr. Edita Stefanic (Croatia)
Research and Lecturing in Agriculture at North Carolina State University
2019-2020 Americans going to Belgium
Noela Botaka has earned a Fulbright Research Award to study at Ghent University in Belgium for 9 months. As a graduate of the University of Louisville, Noela plans to continue studying prenylation, a modification where lipid groups are added to proteins and explore its role in plant defense, specifically the plant jasmonate response. The goal of her research is to further characterize the biological relationship between prenylation and the jasmonate signaling network, to potentially lead to greater crop productivity and plant defense. At the end of her Fulbright year, Noela plans to attend the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
Noela Botaka
Student Researcher in Biology at Ghent University
Rianne "Rae" Delacruz is a 2019 graduate of The College of New Jersey, with a major in Public Health and minors in Arabic and Sociology. Her work has focused primarily on palliative care access for cancer patients aged 15-39. In 2018, her findings were accepted for poster presentation at the American Public Health Association's National Conference in San Diego. As a 2019-2020 Fulbright scholarship recipient, she will conduct research on palliative care integration for recognized refugees at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Post Fulbright, she plans to pursue an MPH at the University of Pennsylvania, focusing on epidemiology.
Rianne Delacruz
Student Researcher in Public Health at VUB
The recipient of a Fulbright scholarship to Belgium, West Poindexter will spend the 2019-2020 academic year completing a Master of Philosophy at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Graduating from the University of West Georgia with degrees in Philosophy and Psychology, he looks forward to courses covering the intersection of philosophy and anthropology, philosophy and psychology, phenomenology and neuroscience, and phenomenology and critical race and gender studies. Additionally, he is looking to find a teacher in the community with whom to continue piano lessons as this will give him the opportunity to advance his understanding of local culture, and piano and language skills.
West Poindexter
Master's in Philosophy at KU Leuven
As the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship to Belgium, Katherine Sepulveda will spend the 2019-2020 academic year conducting research in philosophy and religion at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Her research explores the implications of experiences of chronic pain for philosophical and religious understandings of embodiment and intersubjectivity. Katherine is a doctoral student at Villanova University.
Katherine Sepulveda
Student Researcher in Philisophy at KU Leuven
Evan Rosato is a 2019-2020 Fulbright Open Research Finalist to Belgium. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drawing/Printmaking from The University of Central Florida, Evan has worked as an Assistant printer at UCF's Flying Horse Editions, a collaborative research studio and fine art print publishing house. Evan will research non-toxic printmaking techniques from Marnix Everaert at the Academie Voor Beeldende Kunst in Ghent, Belgium. His research was inspired by his experience of having a brain tumor and becoming cognizant of the toxicity of materials he uses in his artmaking practice.
Evan Rosato
Student Researcher in Visual Arts at the Academy for Visual Arts in Ghent
Born in Ithaca, New York, Julian is a recipient of the Fulbright scholarship in Belgium to pursue a Master's Degree in Global Studies from Ghent University and the London School of Economics. He is the Founding Editor in Chief of the Brown University Journal of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE), a journalist, and a public speaker. He has published more than 35 articles and essays in 15 publications and has conducted interviews with Bernie Sanders, Paul Krugman Noam Chomsky, Peter Hitchens, Tom Perez, and Reza Aslan among others. For over a year, his work has focused on emerging technology and the effects of artificial intelligence on US income inequality and American democracy. His research on the topic was used to support his senior thesis, supervised by political economy scholar Mark Blyth.
Julian Jacobs
Master's in Global Health at Ghent University
Delaney Smith is a 2019-2020 Fulbright scholar who will be conducting structural biology research in Ghent, Belgium. She recently graduated summa cum laude with an honors bachelor's degree in Biochemistry and Biophysics and an honors bachelor's in Education. Delaney is excited to study the cellular pathways leading to tissue inflammation, take courses in Dutch, volunteer at the local hospital, and play her clarinet in a community orchestra.
Delaney Smith
Student Researcher in Biochemistry at Ghent University
Karen Williams is the recipient of a 2018-2019 Ghent University Fulbright grant. Karen’s research interests include understanding how regional, national, and supranational identities are impacted by study abroad experiences. Through her research, she hopes to create programming and policies that support student re-entry to their home campus after studying abroad. Karen’s professional background is in the field of International Education, and is a doctoral candidate in Education at Drake University in Iowa.
Karen Williams
Student Researcher in Education at Ghent University
Rachel Beran is a 2019-2020 Fulbright Teaching Assistant to Belgium. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and French from St. Olaf College, she spent the summer working at a French immersion camp in Minnesota. Rachel will be placed at l’Université Saint-Louis in Brussels, and looks forward to working with the USL Model United Nations team.
Rachel Beran
English Teaching Assistant at University of Saint-Louis
Isabel McGrory-Klyza is a 2019-2020 Fulbright English Teaching Assistant to Belgium at Thomas More hogeschool in Mechelen. Isabel received her BA in History from Columbia University in 2017, and spent the past two years working at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, DC. She looks forward to helping to teach English and communications at Thomas More, learning Dutch, furthering her lifelong study of ballet by taking classes at a Belgian dance studio, and getting to know the community of Mechelen.
Isabel McGrory-Klyza
English Teaching Assistant at Thomas More
Lauren Ottaviani is a 2019-2020 Fulbright English Teaching Award Grantee to the University of Antwerp. After graduating from Allegheny College, she completed a master's degree in English literature at Durham University. In addition to her responsibilities inside the classroom, Lauren looks forward to engaging with the local community through music and plans to join a choir.
Lauren Ottaviani
English Teaching Assistant at University of Antwerp
Nola Peshkin is a 2019-2020 Fulbright English Teaching Assistant to Belgium. She recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Washington, and has spent her time since working as an outdoor and environmental educator in Seattle. In addition to her ETA work in the classroom at Hasselt University, Nola looks forward to taking courses in Dutch, bettering her French, and engaging with the community through volunteering on local farms and environmental protection projects, as well as participating in local outdoor recreation activities.
Nola Peshkin
English Teaching Assistant at Hasselt University
Sangeetha Ramakrishna is a 2019 - 2020 Fulbright English Teaching Assistant to Belgium. She has a bachelor's degree in German from Washington and Jefferson College, and a master's degree in foreign language and TESOL education from New York University. Sangeetha is currently an elementary ESL teacher in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In addition to her work as an ETA to Ghent University, Sangeetha is looking forward to engaging with the community through volunteering or participating in exercise classes.
Sangeetha Ramakrishna
English Teaching Assistant at Ghent University
Allie Weis is a 2019-2020 Fulbright English Teaching Assistant to Belgium. Allie is from Baltimore, Maryland and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Philosophy from Loyola University Maryland in the Spring of 2019. After spending six months studying and interning as an English Tutor in Leuven, Belgium in 2018, Allie is thrilled to have the opportunity to return to the Belgian classroom as an ETA at Howest Hogeschool in both Kortrijk and Brugge. She looks forward to cultivating her teaching skills in an international context while building meaningful connections with native residents of the Flanders region.
Allie Weis
English Teaching Assistant at Howest
Michael Skidmore is a 2019-2020 Fulbright grantee to Belgium, where he will serve as an English Teaching Assistant at the Université catholique de Louvain. He is interested in the different linguistic communities which comprise Belgium, as well as how language and culture facilitate communication -- particularly in situations like humor. He studied physics and French at the University of Oregon Clark Honors College. He intends to work on international scientific literacy and outreach at UC Louvain. Since graduation, he has worked in a second-grade classroom and volunteered with the local high school debate program in his hometown of Ashland, Oregon.
Michael Skidmore
English Teaching Assistant at UC Louvain
Ngenyi Stephanie Beja is a 2019-2020 Fulbright English Teaching Assistant to Belgium. Ngenyi recently graduated from Northeastern University in Boston, MA with a bachelor's degree in International Affairs and minors in Economics and French. Ngenyi is excited to improve her French speaking skills while living in Brussels and plans to engage with the community through dance classes.
Ngenyi Beja
English Teaching Assistant at Go Atheneum and Serge Cruz
Suzanne Mapatano is a 2019-2020 Fulbright Teaching Assistant to Belgium. She recently graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a degree in Psychology. She is excited to embark on this new adventure in the classroom. She is looking forward to improving her French and learning Dutch.
Suzanne Mapatano
English Teaching Assistant at OIRD and Jean Absil
Brian Sandberg is a Fulbright Research Scholar in Belgium during 2019-2020. Brian is a Professor of History at Northern Illinois University who works on religion, violence, and political culture during the European Wars of Religion. He has published Warrior Pursuits: Noble Culture and Civil Conflict in Early Modern France (2010), War and Conflict in the Early Modern World, 1500-1700 (2016), and other works. He will conduct archival research and writing in Belgium on a book project concerning gender and violence in the French Wars of Religion and collaborate with scholars studying gender and war at the Université catholique de
Louvain.
Dr. Brian Sandberg
Research in History at UC Louvain
Erik Hadley, a lecturer in the Department of History at Boise State University, was awarded a 2019-20 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Research Grant to study in Belgium for six months beginning in January 2020. Erik’s research focus is “Wallonian Folkloric Festivals: Historical Memory, Commemoration and Identity.” He will be examining the Old Regime origins, structure, and character of these community rituals, their re-emergence and re-imagining in the mid-19th century, and the 20th-century standardization and commemorative efforts that have sanctified these festivals as authentic cultural artifacts.
Dr. Erik Hadley
Research in History at University of Namur
Dr. Gutierrez received his PhD in Engineering and MD degrees from Case Western Reserve University, with residency training in Internal Medicine and a Fellowship in Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine the University of Michigan. He is Professor (Tenured) of Medicine, Anesthesiology and Engineering at The George Washington University, where he also serves as Director of the Pulmonary Division. He is a Fellow of the American Physiological Society, the American Thoracic Society, the American College of Physicians and the American College of Chest Physicians. His research interests involve the application of artificial intelligence to data obtained from mechanically ventilated patients.
Dr. Guillermo Gutierrez
Research in Medical Sciences at ULB
As a Fulbright scholar in Belgium, Joan Gross will spend 2019 conducting research on the contemporary marionette theater of Liège. Joan is an anthropologist who teaches courses in language and culture, folklore, and food anthropology at Oregon State University.
Dr. Joan Gross
Research in Linguistic Anthropology at University of Liege and Museum of Walloon Life
During her time as a visiting scholar based at American University Brussels, Tessa Jolls will conduct research in media literacy policy as a tool for strategic defense, which has the potential to impact all departments of government (e.g., education, defense, communications regulation, culture, health). Research findings will be disseminated in a series of white papers and concrete policy recommendations. In addition to her research, Ms. Jolls will deliver lectures to students at American University Brussels and UC Louvain and will work with the Fulbright Commission in Brussels to develop media literacy trainings for professionals, including educators, policymakers, and Fulbright grantees.
Tessa Jolls
Research in Media Literacy (NATO Security Studies)
2019-2020 Americans going to Luxembourg
Melissa Hendrickson is a 2019-2020 Fulbright research/study grantee to Luxembourg. She will pursue an interdisciplinary Master’s degree in Learning and Communication in Multilingual and Multicultural Contexts at the Université du Luxembourg. Her research is concerned with museums and public art institutions, specifically looking at strategies for diversifying museum audiences and engaging communities through relevant, accessible and meaningful museum interpretation. Melissa graduated with a Master’s degree in Museum and Exhibition Studies in 2017, where her research focused on developing community-driven cultural opportunities in immigrant and refugee communities. After graduating, she spent two years as a Fellow at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.
Melissa Henderickson
Student Researcher in Museum Studies at University of Luxembourg
Kate Heintzelman is a 2019-2020 Fulbright English Teaching Assistant to Luxembourg. In 2019, she graduated from Mount St. Mary's University with a bachelor's degree in English, French, and Theology. In addition to working as an ETA, Kate is looking forward to taking English and French literature classes at the University of Luxembourg.
Kaitlyn Heintzelman
English Teaching Assistant
Alexis Gjurasic is a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant for the 2019-2020 academic year at the University of Luxembourg. She graduated from Willamette University, Class of 2019, where she received a bachelor’s degree in both Anthropology, and French and Francophone Studies, as well as a minor in Studio Art. Following graduation, she worked for the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. Apart from completing her duties as an ETA, Alexis looks forward to taking courses in German and volunteering with a community garden.
Alexis Gjurasic
English Teaching Assistant
Gillian Coyne
English Teaching Assistant
Evelyn Adams
English Teaching Assistant
Jamie Truax is a 2019-2020 Fulbright English Teaching Assistant to Luxembourg. In addition to teaching in the classroom, she hopes to take a course in Luxembourgish and engage with the community by volunteering at a local nonprofit organization. Jamie recently graduated from St. Olaf College with a Bachelor’s degree in French and Political Science in 2019 and spent this summer working at a French immersion camp in Minnesota.
Jamie Truax
Student Researcher in Museum Studies at University of Luxembourg
Ingrid Brandt was an ETA in Luxembourg last year (2018-2019) and is now continuing onto a second year as the first Mentor ETA in Luxembourg. She looks forward to carrying on with sharing her Oregonian culture with her students, and is excited to learn about the multilingual Luxembourgish school system in order to bring more multilingualism into the US educational system. She will continue to sing in a local choir and hopes to start learning German. A native of Eugene, Oregon, she graduated from Dickinson College in May 2018 with a degree in Italian Studies and French & Francophone Studies.
Ingrid Brandt
English Teaching Assistant (Mentor)
2019-2020 Americans going to Europe
Hera Brown is a 2019-2020 Fulbright-Schuman Research Grantee to Belgium, Malta, and Lithuania. Hera graduated as a Baker, College, and Haslam Scholar from the University of Tennessee with a self-designed degree in Socio-Cultural Anthropology and Migration Studies.
Hera's research, work, and advocacy on refugee rights and protections have spanned three continents and taken root with groups like Joseph R. Biden and his Foundation in Washington, D.C., the American University in Cairo, Egypt, and Catholic Charities’ Refugee Youth Program in Nashville, Tennessee. Hera will apply a Critical and Systems approach to Immigrant Investor Programs (IIPs) during the Fulbright Grant and hopes to build upon this multi-sited research in the near future with a dual J.D./Ph.D. of Anthropology program.
Hera Brown
Student Researcher in Anthropology at Aditus Foundation (Malta), Transparency International EU (Belgium), Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania)
Susannah Dibble is the recipient of a Fulbright-Schuman research grant to the European Union and will spend the 2019-2020 academic year in Brussels, Belgium; Belfast, Northern Ireland; and Bilbao, Spain. Her research looks at how the European Union responds to peace processes within its own borders. In particular, she is interested in comparing the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Northern Ireland to Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) in Basque Country, Spain. Susannah graduated with a bachelor’s degree in International Politics from Georgetown University.
Susannah Dibble
Student Researcher in International Relations at UNU - CRIS (Belgium), Belfast (Northern-Ireland), Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
With a dual-degree in Pathobiology and Allied Health sciences, Kim’s undergraduate work prepared her for a future career in epidemiology, studying the One Health Initiative. As a 2019-2020 Fulbright scholarship recipient collaborating with St. Andrew’s University (Scotland) and the Marine Institute (Republic of Ireland), her work will explore current successful efforts in the EU which preserve cultural coastal fishing communities. The results will be shared with domestic fisheries partners and marine conservation experts who seek to expand sustainable fishing practices.
Kim Sawicki
Student Researcher in Biology at Marine Institute (Ireland), Saint Andrew's University, (Scotland)
Bhavya Jha is a 2019-2020 Fulbright Research Scholar to the European Union. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in International Politics and certificate in International Development from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, Bhavya spent two years working in Environment, Health, and Safety at Tesla. Bhavya will spend time in Brussels, Berlin, and London throughout her Fulbright year researching lithium-ion battery recycling and and related policy development and implementation at the EU and member-state levels.
Bhavya Jha
Student Researcher in Environmental Studies at Transport & Environment (Brussels), Euromines (Tervuren), Ertico-ITS( Brussels), Technische Universitaet (Braunschweig), Technische Universität (Berlin), Hertie School of Governance (Berlin), The Faraday Institution (UK)
John Sherwood is a historian with U.S. Navy’s Naval History and Heritage Command. As a Fulbright-Schuman fellow, he will be working on the subject of EU and NATO naval migration related operations. While in Europe, he will divide his time between two host institutions: the Institute for the Security Policy at Kiel University and the Hellenic National Defence College in Athens. John holds a PhD in history from The George Washington University, and has authored six books in military and naval history.
Dr. John Sherwood
Research in History at ISPK, Kiel University (Germany), Hellenic National Defence College (Greece)
Rosalee Wolfe is a 2020 Fulbright-Schuman European Union Affairs awardee and will be visiting Greece, Belgium and Germany. She is currently a Professor in the School of Computing at DePaul University and the lead researcher of DePaul’s American Sign Language Avatar Lab. Her research explores non-invasive ways to improve communication between Deaf and hearing communities. She looks forward to learning Greek and German Sign Languages while acquiring a better understanding of the priorities and concerns of Deaf communities throughout Europe.
Dr. Rosalee Wolfe
Research in Computer Science at Institute for Language and Speech Processing (ILSP / "Athena" R.C/ Greece.), University of Hamburg (Germany)
As a recipient of a 2019-2020 Fulbright Schuman European Union Affairs award, Renee Hsia will spend the 2019-2020 academic year conducting research on how undocumented migrants access healthcare in Spain and Italy. She will be based at the University of Alicante. She obtained her undergraduate degree from Princeton University, Master's of Science from the London School of Economics and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and medical degree from Harvard Medical School. She completed her residency in emergency medicine at Stanford University. She is currently Professor of Emergency Medicine and Health Policy at the University of California San Francisco.
Dr. Renee Hsia
Research in Public Health at University of Alicante (Spain), Research Division, Task Force on Migration, Diversity & Equity, Regional Health Unit, Emilia-Romagna (Italy)
Ruth Siboni is a 2019 Fulbright Scholar with the German Aerospace Agency (DLR), where her research will focus on project assessment strategies employed by national space agencies under the Horizon2020 program. She is particularly interested in the way technical requirements are employed in predicting cost impacts. She received a Ph.D from the University of Oregon and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. She works at NASA Headquarters as a life scientist in the Space Life and Physical Sciences Research Division.
Dr. Ruth Siboni
Research in Public Policy at German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Copyright 2019. Commission for Educational Exchange between the United States, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
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