Nine recent Emory University alumni and three PhD students have been selected as Fulbright finalists to teach English, pursue graduate study and conduct research abroad during the 2021-2022 academic year.
The dozen were selected for the U.S. government’s flagship international exchange program from a record 11,700 applicants.
The finalists will study, conduct research and teach abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. They also work to support the Fulbright mission of building mutual understanding between the U.S. and more than 160 partner nations.
Awardees are selected based on their academic merit, ambassadorial skills and leadership potential.
“We are proud of Emory undergraduates, alumni and graduate students for contributing their work to this important cross-cultural understanding,” says Megan Friddle, director of Emory College’s National Scholarships and Fellowships Program. “Their accomplishments reflect our scholars’ commitment to servant leadership.”
Eight of the alumni selected for the latest Fulbright round are graduates of Emory College, including two Oxford College continuees. One graduated last year from Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health.
The PhD students, who all were selected for research grants, come from the anthropology, history and religion programs of Emory's Laney Graduate School.
Emory’s U.S. Fulbright research grantees for 2021-2022 are:
- Georgia Brunner, a PhD student in history, who will study and research gender, labor and identity between 1918-1985 in the building of Rwanda.
- Bridget Hansen, a PhD student in anthropology, selected for her research project in creating psychiatry and transforming doctors in the Sultanate of Oman.
- Brittany Landorf, a PhD student in religion, selected for her project, “Training the Soul, Cultivating the Gendered Self,” in Morocco.
- Karishma Mehrotra 16C, international studies and journalism, now a reporter at The Indian Express in New Delhi, selected for the Fulbright-Nehru Open Study/Research Award in Urban Studies in India, to research the pandemic lockdown’s impact on the decision-making of migrants.
- Jesse Steinman 21C, history and German studies, selected for the Fulbright Community-Based Combined Award in History for a project developing an interreligious educational program about Graz, Austria’s Jewish history.
- Julie Wechsler 21C, psychology and linguistics, selected for a linguistics research award to study the impact of a national registry of interpreters and translators of Indigenous languages in Peru.
- Awa Youm, a 2021 MPH graduate in global health, who received a public health research award to study reproductive coercion and gender-based violence in Mauritius.
Those selected to serve as Fulbright English Teaching Assistants in countries around the world are:
- Megan Johnston 21C, applied mathematics and environmental sciences, Madagascar
- Louise Liu 19Ox 21C, English and psychology, Taiwan
- Demitra Papakostas 21C, mathematics and computer science, with a minor in East Asian studies, Taiwan
- Kaleb Roderick 21C, Spanish and linguistics, Brazil
- Rose Tehrani 19Ox 21C, biology and Spanish, Spain
Four additional Emory alumni were named alternates for the both the Fulbright English Teaching Award and research grants. They are Anna Crossley 21C, English and creative writing, to teach in South Korea; Alana Giarrano 20C, political science, to teach in Laos; Madelyn Haden 19Ox 21C, human health and Middle Eastern and South Asians studies, for anthropology research in Morocco; and Piper Spooner 21C, Chinese studies, to teach in South Korea.