21 Stanford affiliates awarded Fulbright grants

Twenty-one people with Stanford affiliations are among this year’s recipients of grants from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. The awardees include several members of the Class of 2020, as well as other recent Stanford alums, according to an announcement by the Bechtel International Center.

The Fulbright recipients affiliated with Stanford have been offered the opportunity to travel to 17 countries, including Spain, Indonesia, Taiwan, France, Colombia and Norway to carry out individually designed study and research projects or take part in English Teaching Assistant (ETA) Programs during the 2020–21 academic year.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the U.S. State Department has delayed the start date of several components of the 2020–21 Fulbright U.S. Student Program until after Jan. 1, 2021.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is designed to build lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The program, which is open to both undergraduate and graduate students, has awarded grants to more than 1,900 U.S. citizens who will pursue special projects in more than 140 countries.

Stanford’s 2020–21 Fulbright recipients and the countries to which they will be traveling are:

Brandon Bergsneider, (BS in Human Biology, ’20) the United Kingdom, will pursue an MSc in Bioinformatics and Theoretical Systems Biology at Imperial College London, focusing on software development for modeling biological systems and interpreting biomedical data.

Ellen (Ellie) Bowen, (BS in Symbolic Systems, ’20) Spain ETA, will teach English in Madrid, Spain. As a supplementary project, she plans to lead a girls coding club.

Michelle Chang, (BA in Psychology, ’20) Norway, will identify Norwegian mindsets about death and design trainings based on these mindsets to center diverse understandings of death and bereavement.

Clayton Ellington, (BS in Bioengineering, ’20) France, will develop technologies to track mosquito-borne diseases at Institut Pasteur, while pursuing an MSc in Interdisciplinary Life Sciences at CRI/Université de Paris. He is also excited to try skyrunning in the Alps.

Hannah Joy-Warren, (PhD in Earth Systems Science, ’20) Sweden, will use autonomous underwater vehicles to measure atmosphere-ocean carbon exchange during winter in the Southern Ocean. She will be working with Professor Swart at the University of Gothenburg.

Fulbright National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellowship Recipient
Erin Semine Kökdil, (MFA in Documentary Film, ’18)Guatemala (Fulbright Nat Geo), will produce a documentary film that explores the traditional art of backstrap weaving, revealing intimate portraits of the indigenous Maya women who practice this cultural activity and shedding light on the forces that threaten its survival.

Christopher (Chris) LeBoa, (BS in Human Biology, MS in Epidemiology, ’20) Indonesia, will work with the Indonesian Ministry of Health to understand the spatio-temporal patterns of tuberculosis in Indonesia and to help Indonesia reach its goal of tuberculosis elimination by 2030.

Xóchitl Longstaff, (BS in Bioengineering, ’20)Colombia, will explore the attitudes and behaviors of physicians around the HPV vaccine in Cali and Barranquilla in the aftermath of a mass psychogenic illness that caused vaccination rates to decline.

Emily Luo, (BS in Human Biology, ’20) Taiwan, will research the sensitization of glioblastoma tumors to radiation therapy using focused ultrasound. She also wants to join the Taipei Sports and Social Club for weekly open gyms and learn about competitive volleyball internationally.

Laura Luo, (MA in Education, ’18)Taiwan ETA, will teach English in Taiwan. She hopes to learn more about education in Taiwan and ways to support English learners to continue growing in her own practice as an educator.

Kaylana Mueller-Hsia, (BA in International Relations, ’19) Indonesia, will research the opportunities and challenges posed by digital technologies to the National Commission on Human Rights in Indonesia from September 2020 through May 2021 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Stephanie Niu, (BS in Symbolic Systems, MS in Computer Science ’20) Australia, will research the experience of Christmas Island’s Chinese mine laborers and produce a series of self-guided, augmented reality walking tours to share with islanders and tourists alike.

Claudia Pacheco, (BA in Economics, ’20) Spain ETA, will be an English teaching assistant in Madrid, Spain. She also plans to work with immigrants, refugees and the elderly sharing her passion for music and sustainability.

Noah Pape, (BS in Mathematical and Computational Science, ’20) Turkey, will pursue an MA in International Relations and Political Science focusing on international finance, political economy, and emerging market multinationals.

Sofia Patino-Duque, (BA in History and German Studies, ’20) Germany ETA, will teach English in Germany. She hopes to create a book club that highlights female and immigrant voices and hold salsa workshops for her German acquaintances.

Robyn Radecki, (BA in Human Biology, ’20) Belgium, will research social exclusion, mood disorders and brain structures in transgender persons at Ghent University. Robyn also plans to engage socially and culturally with the LGBT+ community in Belgium.

Clara Romani, (BA in History and French, ’20) France, will pursue a master’s degree in history at the Université de Cergy-Pontoise in the Université Paris Seine consortium, continuing her current studies and research on the French Middle Ages.

Jason Seter, (BA in English and History, MA in English, ’19) Croatia, will work with the Academy of Dramatic Art at the University of Zagreb to conduct a historical, theoretical and auto-ethnographic study of Zagreb’s stand-up scene.

Pio Thompson, (BA in Art History, ’19) Brazil ETA, will teach English in Brazil and hopes to explore and engage with the many facets of Brazilian culture, in addition to starting a photography club for students.

Victoria Yuan, (BSH in Biomedical Computation and Minor in Classics, ’20) Italy, will research hemodynamics and clot formation in the Berlin Heart EXCOR, an external pulsatile ventricular assist device, for infants and children with heart failure at the Politecnico di Milano.

Joanna Zou, (MS in Structural Engineering, ’20) Netherlands, will conduct research at TU Delft in predicting weather-related damages to civil infrastructure using vibration data. Her work will enhance structural monitoring techniques to improve urban resilience to natural hazards.

Rising seniors, graduate students and recent alumni are eligible to apply for the Fulbright U.S. Student Grant Program. Stanford’s application deadline is Wednesday, Sept. 9. For more information about the scholarship, visit Stanford’s Bechtel International Center.

Stanford students interested in overseas scholarships and Stanford faculty interested in nominating students for such awards should contact Diane Murk, manager of the Overseas Resource Center, at dmurk@stanford.edu, of the Bechtel International Center.

Editor’s note: In an earlier version of this story, Pio Thompson’s major was incorrectly reported as history. Thompson’s major is art history.