Henry McDaniel, a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and current Fulbright Scholar in Moldova, has been selected as a Princeton in Asia fellow for the 2026–2027 fellowship cycle. McDaniel, who is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will serve as an English Professor at Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Rai, Thailand.
Princeton in Asia is a fellowship program that places recent graduates and young professionals with organizations throughout Asia. Fellows contribute to educational, nonprofit, governmental, and community-based initiatives while developing professional experience and cross-cultural understanding.
At Penn, McDaniel was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar who earned a Bachelor of Arts in Russian and East European Studies and Diplomatic History, graduating magna cum laude. His academic work focused on the political and security challenges facing Eastern Europe and the former Soviet space. His senior thesis, “An Uncertain Future for EU Enlargement: Russian Hybrid Warfare in Georgia, Moldova and Serbia,” examined how Russian hybrid warfare influences European Union enlargement efforts in Eastern Europe and was awarded with the Council of European Studies 2025 Undergraduate Paper Prize.
McDaniel complemented his coursework with research, language study, and international experiences. In 2024, he was named a Hertog Foundation Security Studies Fellow. He also received a Global Research Internship grant in 2023 to study wine, heritage, and hospitality at a winery in Porto, Portugal. Earlier, he interned with the Penn Museum’s Center for Cultural Heritage, where he helped create a database used to document the destruction of cultural heritage sites in Ukraine. He also studied Russian in Narva, Estonia, through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth.
Beyond the classroom, McDaniel served as a Perry World House Student Fellow, a Penn Abroad Leader, and a resident advisor in Riepe College House. He was also an active musician, performing as a tenor saxophonist with Penn Jazz.
McDaniel is currently serving as a 2025–2026 Fulbright Scholar in Moldova. Through educational outreach, public engagement, and cultural programming, he works to strengthen connections between the United States and Moldova. At Ion Creangă Theoretical Lyceum in Bălți, he leads an English conversation club for students, while his work with Ukrainian refugees and America House Bălți supports English-language education, cultural exchange, and U.S. Embassy initiatives. He also participates in the Reach the World exchange program, connecting Moldovan experiences with classrooms in the United States.
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