Seventeen Penn Arts and Sciences Students and Alumni Offered 2017-18 Fulbright Grants

Seventeen Penn Arts and Sciences students and alumni have been offered Fulbright U.S. Student Awards and Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Awards for 2017-18. The Fulbright Program, which operates in more than 160 countries, is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the United States government. It is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people in the U.S. and other countries.               

Nine students and recent alumni have accepted Fulbright U.S. Student Awards for 2017-18 to conduct independent research or pursue graduate studies abroad:

Caitlin Clements, a doctoral student in psychology, will conduct research in Sweden at the Karolinska Institutet. Her project is “Identifying Predictors of Severe Depression Using Genomic and Registry Data.”

Elizabeth Dresselhaus, a senior from Boulder, Colo., is a Vagelos Scholar and University Scholar studying physics. She will research “Quantum Computing Theory of Majorana Fermions” at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. When she returns to the U.S., she will pursue doctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Matthew Kelemen, a senior from Ridgefield, Conn., majoring in East Asian area studies, will pursue a master’s degree in Korean studies at Yonsei University in South Korea.

Sonita Moss, a doctoral student in sociology, will conduct dissertation research in France focusing on black American expatriates in Paris. Her project is titled “In Search of a Dream? Black American Expatriates in Paris.”

Harrison Schley, a doctoral student in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, will conduct research in Japan. His project is “Merchants and the Art Market: Authorship and the Movement of Edo Period Ceramics.”

Thomas Tearney, a doctoral student in Germanic languages and literatures, will conduct archival research in Austria for his dissertation, “Wege der Verheißung: Time and Prophecy in Franz Werfel and Joseph Roth.”

Sarah Winton, a senior from Edina, Minn., majoring in economics and international relations, is a member of the Benjamin Franklin Scholars Program and Phi Beta Kappa. She will travel to Jordan to research “Remittances: The Decision-making Process for Determining End Uses.”

Jordi Rivera Prince has worked at the Smithsonian Institution since graduating with her bachelor’s in anthropology in 2016. She will conduct research in Peru for her project “Recuperación de Voces Perdidas: Bioarchaeology of the Moche People.” At Penn, Rivera Prince was a University Scholar. She plans to continue her studies of bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology at Michigan State University after her Fulbright year.

Priyanka Varma, who graduated in 2014 with bachelor’s degrees in international relations and South Asia studies, works at the Brookings Institution. She will conduct research in India for her project, “Analyzing High Primary School Dropout Rates Amongst Dalit Children in India.”

In addition, eight students and alumni have been awarded Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Awards to teach English abroad in 2017-18:

Stephanie Felt, a senior from Scarborough, Maine, will teach in South Korea.

Michaela Kotziers, a senior from Fleming Island, Fla., will teach in Germany.

Sophie Litwin, a senior from Rumson, N.J., will teach in Mexico.

Sofia Medrano, a senior from San Clemente, Calif., will teach in Spain.

Leora Mincer, a senior from New York City, will teach in India.

Jonah Rosen, a senior from Potomac, Md., will teach in Russia.

Jesus Fuentes, who completed his bachelor’s in the biological basis of behavior in 2015 and has since been teaching in South Dakota through Teach for America, will be a Fulbright ETA in Mexico next year.

Jessica Williams, who graduated from Penn with a bachelor’s in English in 2008 and a graduate degree from the Graduate School of Education in 2013, will teach English at a high school in southern Italy.

Penn has been repeatedly recognized as a top producer of Fulbright Program student award recipients. The University’s Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships assists students in applying for Fulbrights and other fellowships and scholarships.