Penn Fulbrighters for 2022-23

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The Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (CURF) wishes to heartily congratulate Penn students and alums who have been offered Fulbright grants for the 2022-2023 academic year. The awards are announced on a rolling basis, determined by the host country. This list is current as of May 23. See this story for the 2021-22 Finalists.

Fulbright Study/Research Grant

Gavin Blasdel
GAS
Baltimore, MD (Research-Greece)

Gavin Blasdel has been awarded a Fulbright Grant to conduct research in Greece. Gavin is a PhD candidate writing about the inscribed honorific statue monuments of Athens during the Roman Empire, which he studies from a combined epigraphical, material, and spatial perspective. He has presented his work at conferences and invited lectures in the USA, Canada, Britain, Greece, Italy, and France. An active field archaeologist with a decade of experience in the eastern Mediterranean, especially at the port of Kenchreai near Corinth, Blasdel was previously a fellow of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and has studied at the British School at Athens. Prior to Penn, he received his B.A. from Loyola University Maryland and his M.A. from Vanderbilt University.

Sonali Deliwala
COL '22
Yardley, PA (Research-India)

Sonali Deliwala has been awarded a Fulbright grant to conduct research in India. Sonali is majoring in political science and economics with a minor in creative writing. A first-generation Indian-American passionate about fighting systemic injustice, she has gained extensive policy research experience at numerous organizations, including the DC Congressional Office of Representative Pramila Jayapal, the Brookings Institution, and the Council on Foreign Relations. She been heavily involved in the Philly-based grassroots organization #VoteThatJawn, working as a Teaching Assistant for the Academically Based Community Service Course "Writing and Politics," a Youth Leader, and a student reporter to get 18-year-olds registered to vote and first-time voters to the polls for the 2018 midterms and 2020 general election. Deliwala also founded SEAS Wellness, the Engineering school's only student-led group focused on SEAS students' mental health advocacy. As President of the club, she worked with administration and faculty to implement wellness-friendly academic policies and gave brief, informative presentations for hundreds of students in introductory courses to promote usage of wellness resources. Deliwala has held various positions in political science and economic research, a Spring 2021 Fellow for Penn's Program on Public Opinion Research & Election Studies (PORES), a Summer 2021 Fox Fellowship at Brookings, and serving as a research assistant for multiple Penn faculty. She was also awarded the 2019 Terry B. Heled Travel & Research Grant to document the lives of an indigenous community in her family’s hometown in India as well as the 2020-2021 U.S. Department of Education’s Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship. Deliwala is also a member of the Radical South Asian Collective, an organization formed to create awareness on social and political issues relating to the South Asian diaspora and advocate for the implementation of anti-caste discriminatory policies at Penn.

Alice Heyeh
COL '22
Chappaqua, NY (Study-UK)

Alice Heyeh has been awarded a Fulbright grant to study in the UK.  Alice is majoring in Communication with a concentration in Culture and Society, along with minors in Design and Consumer Psychology. Her coursework has covered digital inequalities, artificial intelligence, and technology in the Global South. At Penn, she was previously the Arts Editor for 34th Street Magazine, where she was awarded a Columbia Gold Circle Award for her design work. Heyeh has also served as an Emma Bowen Fellow, design intern for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Community Engagement Fellow at Civic House. At Civic House, she interned with the non-profit, Asian Americans United (AAU) through COVID-19 and the 2020 presidential election. At Penn, Heyeh has also been a member of the Asian American Studies Undergraduate Advisory Board and the Asian Pacific American Leadership Initiative (APALI). As a recipient of the US-UK Fulbright Arts Award, Heyeh will pursue a Masters degree in Communication Design at Northumbria University, where she will study the intersection of design and artificial intelligence. Through her research, Heyeh hopes to mitigate algorithmic bias through equitable design systems.

Shaila Lothe
COL/WH '22
Richmond, VA (Research-Mexico)

Shaila Lothe has been awarded a Fulbright grant to conduct research in Mexico. Shaila is pursuing a dual degree, majoring in political science in the College of Arts and Sciences, concentrating in behavioral economics in the Wharton School, and minoring in Hispanic Studies. Outside of the classroom, she served as the President of Wharton Undergraduates in Public Policy, Director of Trade and Foreign Policy for the Wharton Public Policy Initiative Student Group, and Digital Director for Penn Appetit. She also participated in behavioral economics research and served as a teaching assistant for two behavioral economics courses. She is a Wharton Research Scholar, Global Research & Internship Program participant, and Social Impact Research Experience participant. During her Fulbright year, she will work in a Mexican company and take business courses. Upon returning to the U.S., she plans to work in consulting in New York.

Brendan Lui
COL '22
Potomac, MD (Study-Germany)

Brendan Lui has been awarded a Fulbright grant to study in Germany. Brendan is a senior in the College majoring in Political Science with a concentration in comparative politics, and hopes to pursue a Master's in Political Science at the University of Cologne this fall. On campus, Brendan is a Wolf Humanities Undergraduate Fellow and an undergraduate grant recipient with the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy. For his senior honors thesis, Brendan conducted original, independent research on variation in construction trade union behavior towards migrant workers in the advanced industrial democracies. Outside the classroom, he works with the Philadelphia chapter of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), serving as an Organizing Fellow, a facilitator of the Worker Outreach Group, and a member of APALA's national Young Leaders Council. He has also spent time organizing with UNITE HERE Local 274, Philadelphia's service and hospitality workers union.

Amin Marei
GSE '23
Philadelphia, PA (Research-Jordan)

Amin Marei has been awarded a Fulbright grant to conduct research in Jordan. Amin is a third-year Ph.D. Candidate in Penn GSE’s Education, Culture, and Society program. Amin’s research explores the affordances and limitations of utilizing virtual environments to support high-quality learning experiences. Amin holds a Master’s degree from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Amin is a recipient of multiple awards and fellowships, including Penn’s Provost Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Innovation, Harvard’s Intellectual Contribution Award, and Harvard’s Public Service Fellowship.

Zonía Moore
PSOM MD
Bridgetown, Barbados & Sewickley, PA (Research-Mexico)

Rebecca Morse
COL '22
Acton, MA (Research-Switzerland)

Rebecca Morse has been awarded a Fulbright grant to conduct research in Switzerland at the University of Geneva, researching the effect of previous acute infections on COVID-19 vaccine responses. As a transfer student, Morse previously worked in Dr. Janice Knepper’s lab at Villanova, which studied a gene contributing to aggressive behavior in tumor cells. After transferring to Penn, she was selected to research in the Undergraduate Translational Research Immersion Program. During this experience, she studied women's health with Dr. Mary Regina Boland and published a paper characterizing postpartum depression and its risk factors. Currently, she is pursuing a thesis investigating the metabolism of T cell immunotherapies in Dr. James Riley’s lab. At Penn, she has advocated for transfer students as the VP of Admissions and Co-VP of Mentorship in the Transfer Student Organization, as well as served as a mentor through CURF's Research Peer Advisor Program and the Netter Center's GEAR UP tutoring program. Morse plans to pursue a PhD and career in immunology and virology research while developing a mentorship program for young scientists.

Wil Prall
GAS
Philadelphia, PA (Research-France)

Wil Prall has been awarded a Fulbright grant to conduct research in France. Wil is a PhD candidate focusing on mRNA in Arabidopsis Thaliana (a small flowering plant found in Eurasia and Africa). During his graduate studies Wil was a recipient of the Chateaubriand Fellowship, conducting part of his thesis work at The Universite Paris-Saclay. While at Penn Wil has been awarded the Teece Research Award and serves as the Mentor Fellow and program organizer for PennFERBS, a fellowship aimed on developing the next generation of premier scientists and STEM leaders through guided mentorship and education. FERBS a program focused on creating a more diverse and inclusive environment in the biological research sciences, is a collaborative effort supported through Penn First Plus, The Department of Biology, Biochemistry and Biophysics, and the Stravros Niarchos Foundation. Outside his graduate work, Wil is a passionate advocate for education equity and works with West Philadelphia-Based PALMS Solutions to coordinate community education and outreach. Awarded a Fulbright Fellowship, Wil plans to continue his thesis work in France at the Universite Paris-Saclay, at The Institut Des Sciences Des Plantes De Paris-Saclay in the Lab of Dr. Martin Crespi. Upon returning to the US, Wil plans to continue his education and training in a Post-doctoral research position.

Kaitlyn Rentala
COL '22
Rye, NY (Research-EU)

Kaitlyn Rentala has been awarded a Fulbright grant to conduct research via the European Union Schuman Program, studying the intersection of EU tech policy and political philosophy. Kaitlyn is majoring in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) with a concentration in globalization in the College of Arts and Sciences. At Penn, Rentala is a teaching assistant for LGST 100: Ethics and Social Responsibility in Wharton and co-director of The Signal, a student organization dedicated to promoting alternative career paths. As an Andrea Mitchell Center Research Fellow and a recipient of the Ruth Marcus Kantor Research Grant, Rentala is passionate about researching the intersection of technology policy and democratic theory as a vehicle for technological reform. She has worked in the technology policy space as an intern with the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and the think tank New America. In addition, Rentala is the author of The Public Sector Pivot: How Gen Z Will Lead a Renaissance in Public Service, a book about improving the public sector talent pipeline for college students. She has served as a consultant on public service recruitment issues to a number of non-profit and government organizations including the think tank The Volcker Alliance and the Department of Defense. Kaitlyn is a recipient of a Fulbright-Schuman research grant to the European Union and will spend the 2022-2023 academic year in Germany and the Netherlands conducting research at the intersection of EU tech policy and political philosophy. Upon returning to the U.S., she plans to pursue a JD/PhD in philosophy with the eventual goal of becoming a law professor.

Anyara Rodriguez
COL '22
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (Research-Germany)

Anyara Rodriguez has been awarded a Fulbright grant to study the sleep and circadian influences on memory retrieval in the laboratory of Dr. Martha Merrow at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Sheis majoring in Neuroscience and Political Science, with a minor in Chemistry. During her time at Penn, Anyara has had the opportunity to be involved in various research experiences. Since her freshmen year, she has been part of the Kayser Lab, studying sleep and neurodegeneration in a Drosophila model. She is completing her senior thesis in the lab, using sleep as a platform to study the genetic modifiers of TDP-43 toxicity. During her Junior year, Anyara was also a research assistant to Dr. Laura Gibson, studying the impact of privacy messaging on COVID exposure app downloads. She is also part of the Tiempo Juntos por Nuestra Salud (Time Together for our Health) team with Dr. Adriana Perez, a community-based health intervention for Spanish speaking Latinos with MCI. Outside of her research interests, Anyara is a valuable member of Penn's Artistic Swimming team and has had leadership positions in Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity.

Lily Snider
COL '20
Research-Portugal

Lily Snider has been offered a grant to conduct research in Portugal. Lily majored in English and Creative Writing. Whilst at Penn, she worked as Assignments Editor at 34th Street Magazine, and was a PennQuest Leader. Lily completed a Creative Writing Honors Thesis in her final year, and has continued with her creative pursuits post-grad while living and working Los Angeles, California. She will be completing a nonfiction research-based creative writing project in the Azores, Portugal, where her family of origin is from.

Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA)

Lilian Chen
NURS/WH '22
San Jose, CA (ETA-Taiwan)

Lilian Chen has been awarded a Fulbright grant to teach English in Taiwan. Lilian Chen is majoring Nursing and Healthcare Management through the dual degree program between Penn Nursing and the Wharton School. She is the recipient of the 2018 Aspiring Nurse Scholarship and a Johnson & Johnson Nursing/Wharton Impact Scholar. She has interned at various healthcare organizations such as Kaiser Permanente and Independence Blue Cross. Lilian was previously a member of the Kite and Key Society and gave campus tours to prospective students. She also was a Wharton Passion Project fellow where she created an initiative called Operation Ukulele and taught fellow classmates and children at the local library how to play the ukulele and experience its musical benefits. Lilian has a deep interest for learning languages and wants to become fluent in Japanese and Mandarin to be able to translate for patients in healthcare. She is also a servant in Renewal College Fellowship and enjoys organizing events and community group meetings for her church. Upon returning to the U.S., Lilian hopes to work as a pediatric nurse for a few years and plans to move abroad to work in medical missions.

Ria Chinchankar
WH '22
Dubai, UAE (ETA-Mexico)

Ria Chinchankar has been awarded a Fulbright grant to teach English in Mexico.  During her time at Penn she has been involved with the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, including facilitating the Asian Pacific American Leadership Initiative (APALI) through PAACH, taking Asian American Studies courses, and participating in the Radical South Asian Collective. She was also a member of the Penn Association for Gender Equity and the Wharton Council. For her senior thesis, she investigated questions of ethical artificial intelligence through the Wharton Research Scholars program.

Amira Chowdhury
COL/SP2 '22
Glendale, CA (ETA-Timor-Leste)

Amira Chowdhury has been awarded a Fulbright grant to teach English in Timor-Leste. Amira is majoring in Urban Studies and Political Science and minoring in Urban Education. She is also pursuing her Masters in Social Policy from the School of Social Policy and Practice. As a first-generation low-income Bangladeshi immigrant, Amira is deeply passionate about grassroots political advocacy and literacy education to uplift historically marginalized people. Amira is the founder and President of Penn Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) politics, a founding member of Penn Justice Democrats, program Director of Penn Model Congress, and writer/interviewer for the Penn Political Review. As a Penn Civic Scholar, Amira voluntarily tutored Bangladeshi Philadelphia students at the nonprofit Moder Pathshala and later pursued her Teaching Speakers of Other Languages certification from the UPenn Graduate School of Education with a scholarship from the Milken Institute. Amira has taught Philadelphia adults at the Community Learning Center and received the Hassenfeld grant to led her independent ethnographic research studying the language acculturation of Philadelphia adult immigrants. As an adult literacy researcher in the Penn Libraries Community Engagement team, she developed West Philadelphia's first conversation-based English language program, developed curriculum, and taught local adult immigrants. To explore her interests in public policy, Amira has interned with Congressman Dwight Evans, the Public Citizens for Children & Youth and the Center for Political Accountability. In the fall of her senior year, Amira participated in the Penn in Washington program, where she worked as a state fiscal policy intern in D.C. and learned Greek while studying abroad in Greece during the spring. Amira plans to attend law school in the future and advance social policy reforms through the legal field.

Luke Coleman
COL '22
Dayton, OH (ETA-Spain)

Luke Coleman has been awarded a Fulbright grant to teach English in Spain. Luke is majoring in philosophy, politics, and economics with a concentration in public policy and governance and double minors in Hispanic studies and survey research & data analytics. As a low-income student of color, Luke has become committed to improving the quality of public education, developing an education program at the Netter Center for Community Partnerships for tutors in West Philadelphia. Coleman serves as the co-leader of the anti-racism working group at the Netter Center, the Director of Tutor Education for the Penn Reading Initiative, the first DEI Chair of Alpha Kappa Psi, and a member of the Netter Center's student advisory board. A research assistant at both Penn Law’s Borders and Boundaries Project and the Penn Program for Opinion Research and Election Studies, Coleman is the recipient of the Zell-Lurie Real Estate Center's Award for excellence in public policy, the recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Involvement Award, a member of the Pi Sigma Alpha political science honor society, and a two-time recipient of the Netter Center's named intern award. As a recipient of the Fulbright, Coleman will teach English to students in Madrid and prepare them for competitions with the Model UN. He will dedicate his service project to refugee resettlement and advocacy for the unhoused. Upon returning to the U.S., he plans to pursue a dual degree in law and public policy and engage in criminal justice reform domestically.

Robin Hu
COL '22
Los Angeles, CA (ETA-Taiwan)

Robin Hu has been awarded a Fulbright grant to teach English in Taiwan. Robin will graduate in May with a bachelor's in communication, concentration in data & network science, and minor in chemistry. She was awarded a Fulbright to teach English in Taiwan. Robin has tutored immigrant and refugee youth in Philadelphia, tutored students based in Shanghai, and mentored youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities. On campus, Hu has been an undergraduate teaching assistant and TA trainer for two years, an undergraduate representative of the Student Health Advisory Board, and a resident advisor in Harnwell College House. An United Nations Millennium Fellow and Annenberg in Public Service Award recipient, Hu is also a College House Research Fellow and winner of the Class of 1980 Intern Award for her work with the Netter Center for Community Partnerships and Sayre Health Center. Hu has worked with the University of Botswana's eHealth Research Unit and the Atluri Cardiovascular Research Lab at Penn. After Fulbright, she will be attending Harvard Medical School.

J’Aun Johnson
COL '22
Bowie, MD (ETA-Colombia)

J’Aun Johnson has been awarded a Fulbright grant to teach English in Colombia. J’Aun Johnson is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences majoring in Dual Romance Languages, with a concentration in French and Hispanic Studies, along with a minor in Chemistry. A Questbridge Scholar, Penn College Achievement Program Scholar (PennCAP) and a Johnson Scholar, Johnson embraces his FGLI identity and has taken advantage of various opportunities that Penn has to offer in order to pursue a diverse curriculum in the humanities and natural sciences. His studies of modern languages was inspired by his desire for community engagement. He has worked with students in the classrooms of West Philadelphia Public Schools through CitySTEP, an organization whose outreach is dedicated to mentorship through dance, as well as through the Netter Center’s Francophone Community Partnership where he helps facilitate the instruction and discussion of francophone language and culture during a weekly after school program. He is a proud member of the Bollywood fusion dance team Penn Masti and a brother of Phi Delta Epsilon, a national fraternity for Medical and Pre-medical students. With the Fulbright Grant, Johnson intends to fulfill his obligations as an English teaching assistant while also volunteering in community clinics to continue his mastery of the hispanic language in a clinical environment.

Jordyn Kaplan
COL '22
Media, PA (ETA-Spain)

Jordyn Kaplan has been awarded a Fulbright grant to teach English in Spain. Jordyn will graduate in May with a bachelor's degree in American history and minors in urban education and political science. As a seventh grade literature teacher with Breakthrough Collaborative, a tutor with West Philadelphia Tutoring Project, and a teaching assistant with Community School Student Partnerships, Jordyn has developed a pedagogical approach that empowers students to actively engage in their learning. At Penn, Jordyn serves as the Vice President of External Affairs on Class Board 2022 and as the Outreach Chair for The Kite & Key Society, Penn’s tour guide organization. She has amplified teachers’ voices on Research for Action’s National Lead Teacher Certification project and has volunteered in leadership roles within Penn Hillel and the Beta Alpha chapter of Chi Omega. Jordyn is eager to help students in Madrid develop a love of learning and to immerse herself in Spain's rich history and culture. Upon returning to the United States, Jordyn intends to pursue a master's degree in education and secondary teaching certification to teach high school history.

Erin Kraskewicz
COL '22
Elizabethtown, PA (ETA-Spain)

Erin Kraskewicz has been awarded a Fulbright grant to teach English in Spain. Erin Kraskewicz is double-majoring in International Relations and History with particular interests in international law and organizations, human rights, and U.S.-China relations. Erin is the Vice President of the International Affairs Association, working to promote international relations education, programming, and community to Penn students and Philadelphians more broadly. She is passionate about academic publication, serving as the Deputy Print Editor and Co-Online Editor for the Sigma Iota Rho Journal of International Relations and working as an office assistant for the Penn Law Review. Erin spent summer 2021 working as a human rights intern for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, furthering her desire to work in international human rights post graduation. In the fall, Erin studied history for a semester at the University of Cambridge, further honing her critical thinking and academic writing skills. For the past six years, Erin has also worked as a swimming instructor in Philadelphia and in her hometown. Erin's favorite parts about being a swim teacher are being able to grow a swimmer's confidence, develop their fine motor and attention skills, and promote water safety. Erin hopes to continue teaching, researching, and learning in this next chapter of her life.

Becca Lee
COL '20
Pittsburgh, PA (ETA-Taiwan)

Becca Lee has been awarded a Fulbright grant to teach English in Taiwan. Becca graduated with a major in biochemistry and a minor in sociology in 2020 from the College, and with a master's degree in chemistry in 2021 from the School of Arts and Sciences. As a student, Lee was deeply involved in genetics research and volunteering with pediatric patients and their families at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She is currently working at Penn as a research specialist and serves as an English teaching assistant for the immigrant and refugee populations of Philly at the Nationalities Service Center. She has been accepted to medical school in New Jersey and plans to attend upon her return.

Avneet Randhawa
COL '21
Houston, TX (ETA-Spain)

Avneet Randhawa has been awarded a Fulbright grant to teach English in Spain. Graduating Phi Beta Kappa, Avneet majored in English with a concentration in twentieth and twenty-first century modernisms. She was the recipient of the Pincus-Magaziner research grant and Wolf Humanities fellowship. At Penn, Avneet was also involved with the Slought Foundation, Institute of Contemporary Arts Philadelphia, and Penn Book Center (People’s Books and Culture).

Stefan Tomov
COL/WH '22
Las Vegas, NV (ETA-Taiwan)

Stefan Tomov has been awarded a Fulbright grant to teach English in Taiwan. Stefan is graduating from the College of Arts and Sciences with an International Studies major and a Chinese language certificate, as well as from the Wharton School with a concentration in Business Analytics. During his time at Penn, Stefan previously served as Treasurer of the Wharton Asia Exchange (WAX), co-Chair of Operations for the Penn Indonesian Conference, and a consultant in Penn International Impact Consulting. He is also a TA in the OIDD department. Stefan spent previous summers working in Jakarta and remotely in Shanghai, as well as studied abroad in Hong Kong at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He completed his senior honors thesis with Chang Sun Term Professor and Director of the Lauder Institute's Global Program Regina Abrami on the patterns of national recovery from supply chain crisis. In his career, Stefan plans to continue to bridge his interests in operations and international studies and will be going into consulting after graduation.

Chloe Zhou
GSE '22
San Jose, CA (ETA-Taiwan)

Chloe Zhou (@penngse 2022), has been awarded a Fulbright grant to teach English in Taiwan. Chloe is currently in the Urban Teaching Apprenticeship Program and is getting certified to teach English in secondary classrooms and hopes to teach high school English in Philadelphia. As a queer womxn of color, they are passionate about promoting equity in their classrooms and being culturally responsive and anti-racist in their practice.

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