PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — For the third year in a row, students and recent graduates of Brown University earned more Fulbright scholarships than those at any other university in the nation, according to data released by the Fulbright Program on Monday, Feb. 11.

Thirty-five Brown undergraduates, graduate students and recent alumni received Fulbright awards for the 2018-19 year. Awarded by the U.S. Department of State, the grants fund research or teaching abroad for up to one year.

Brown’s 2018-19 Fulbright recipients represent approximately 2 percent of the University’s 2018 graduating class, a significant number that reflects Brown’s focus on global and community engagement, said Rashid Zia, Brown’s dean of the college.
 
“We are so proud that Brown continues to have the largest cohort of U.S. Fulbright recipients...” Zia said. “This diverse group exemplifies the very best of Brown's Open Curriculum. These dedicated scholars have actively defined their own education to prepare them for lives of purpose and action. Through their research, teaching and community engagement, they have been actively involved in creating, sharing and applying knowledge here on campus and around the world.”
 
Selection for the Fulbright program is made based on a variety of factors including the strength of the application, personal qualifications, academic record and the extent to which the candidate and their project will help to advance the Fulbright mission of mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.

While applicants learn of the awards during the spring, the Fulbright programs publishes data each February on the top producers of Fulbright scholars and students. In 2017-18 and 2016-17, the two previous years in which Brown led the nation, 39 and 30 members of the campus community earned awards, respectively.

Brown’s 2018-19 Fulbright winners are now mid-way through their year of research or teaching in 26 different countries. The program’s English teaching assistantships range from teaching elementary school children in rural villages to assisting with university-level language teaching in major cities. Over the past three years, research projects by Fulbright recipients have spanned the disciplines, focusing on a range of subjects from the building of a major bus rapid transit project in Jordan to early childhood education in Finland to black LGBTQ activism and community-building in Brazil.

Ella Cohen, who graduated from Brown in 2018, is currently in Morocco performing research with a pediatric oncologist at Rabat Children’s Hospital. Her work focuses on the sociocultural impact of Islam on the perception of palliative care among parents of terminally ill children.

Cohen credited Brown’s Open Curriculum and the University’s fellowships office for providing her with the perspective and support she needed to submit a successful Fulbright application that brought together several of her academic pursuits.

“The Open Curriculum allowed me to explore so many different interests at the same time, which helped me to figure out ways in which I could combine many of them into something more cohesive,” she said upon receiving the award. “And the fellowships office here is incredible. I couldn’t have asked for more support.”

The 2018-19 undergraduate and recent graduate Fulbright Scholars are:

Oyindamola Akingbile (South Korea)
Trevor Anesi (Samoa)
Katherine Armstrong (Taiwan)
Ryan Bahar (Czech Republic)
Erika Banuelos (Spain)
Marjo Beltoja (Denmark)
Jonah Blumenthal (Bulgaria)
Akira Camargo (South Korea)
Natalie Chapkis (Sweden)
Margot Cohen (Ecuador)
Ella Cohen (Morocco)
Spencer Darveau (Taiwan)
Alexandra Dolido (Germany)
Ibtihal Elfaki (Switzerland)
Alana Felton (Belarus)
Erin Gallagher (Germany)
Benjamin Gladstone (Israel)
Ciara Hayden (Montenegro)
Timothy Jeng (Spain)
Joshua Kurtz (Romania)
Andrew Linder (Czech Republic)
Alexander Mezoff (Spain)
Grace Molino (the Netherlands)
Brenda Morales (Spain)
Amalia Perez (Colombia)
Jaime Ramirez (Brazil)
Anna Schwartz (Norway)
Nicole Ubinas (Dominican Republic)
Jordan Waller (Uzbekistan)
Jeanelle Wheeler (France)
Michelle Zabat (Philippines)
 

The 2018-19 graduate student Fulbright Scholars are:

Edward Wildanger (Germany)
William Skinner (Barbados)
Watufani Poe (Brazil)
Katherine Freeze (Tajikistan)