Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Academics Caroline Casagrande and U-M International Institute Fellowships and Grants Coordinator Melissa Vert

The University of Michigan is proud to once again be among the U.S. colleges and universities that produced the most 2019-20 Fulbright U.S. Scholars and Fulbright U.S. Students. U-M students and recent graduates received 21 student awards, and faculty and administrators at the three campuses were awarded 11 grants.

On February 18, 2020, the State Department honored the University of Michigan and other Fulbright Top Producing Institutions at a reception in Washington, DC.

The full list of grantees for both types of Fulbrights are below, and additional information about some of the 2019-20 grantees can be found on the Global Michigan website. The International Institute advises students and faculty through the application process. For more information about the programs and how to apply, visit the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program and Fulbright U.S. Student Program pages on our website.

2019-20 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Grantees

(Name, department, country, project/program)

Christine Aidala, Physics, Italy, “Developing a Comprehensive Program to Explore Spin-Dependent Phenomena in Strong Nuclear Interactions at the Large Hadron Collider Beauty Experiment”

Laura Balzano, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Portugal, “New Regularizers for Low-Dimensional Modling of High-Dimensional Data”

Amy Conger, Office of the Provost, Japan, US-Japan International Education Administrators Program

Daniel Davis; Language, Culture, and Communication (U-M Dearborn); Philippines; “Philippine and American English: The Linguistic Legacy of the United States in Southeast Asia”

William DeGenaro; Language, Culture, and Communication (U-M Dearborn); Jordan; “The Writing Classroom as Site for Transcultural Exchange”

Sara Duvall, Library Services, India, Libraries and Librarians in India

Peter Hitchcock, Opthalmology and Visual Sciences, Spain, “Experimental Stem Cell-Based Therapies to Cure Blindness”

Mark Moldwin, Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, Norway, “The Fine-scale Structure of Birkeland Currents: And Understanding Differences in US and Norway Institutional Programs Promoting Equity and Inclusion”

Anna Muller, Social Sciences (U-M Dearborn), Poland, “Life Stories: A Microhistory of Villages in Northwestern Poland, 1944-2004”

Amira Shourbaji, English Language Proficiency Program (U-M Dearborn), Bahrain, “Curriculum Theories, Language Arts, and Multicultural Education”

Sapna Thwaite, Education and Human Services (U-M Flint), Germany, “US-Germany International Education Administrators Program”

2019-20 Fulbright U.S. Student Program Grantees

(Name, grant, country)

Brianna Borrello, English Teaching Assistantship, Taiwan

Katherine Browne, Study-Research, Mauritius

Courtney Caulkins, English Teaching Assistantship, Brazil

Anne Creighton, Study-Research, Peru

Rachel Epperly, Arts, South Korea

Lenard Foust, Arts, China

Arooshe Giroti, English Teaching Assistantship, Cyprus

Alesha Kotian, English Teaching Assistantship, Spain

Michael Kuntz, Study-Research (Fulbright-University of Strathclyde Award), United Kingdom

Jonathan Overstreet, English Teaching Assistantship, South Africa

Sreehari Panicker, Study-Research, India

Moniek van Rheenen, Study-Research, Indonesia

Griffin St. Onge, English Teaching Assistantship, France

Kimberly Sanchez, Study-Research, Mongolia

Timothy Sell, English Teaching Assistantship, Andorra

Athena Stavropoulos, English Teaching Assistantship, Greece

Amy Trenh, English Teaching Assistantship, Taiwan

Michael Ward, English Teaching Assistantship, Taiwan

Brianne Yeskey, English Teaching Assistantship, India

Maryellen Zbrozek, English Teaching Assistantship, Poland

Yimeng Zhao, Study-Research, Russia


“We are delighted to see that the colleges and universities we are honoring as 2019-2020 Fulbright top producing institutions reflect the geographic and institutional diversity of higher education in the United States,” said Marie Royce, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs. “We are committed to the Fulbright Program’s goals of creating lasting professional and personal connections by sending passionate and accomplished U.S. students, scholars, and professionals of all backgrounds to study, research, or teach in communities throughout the world. Fulbright alumni are leaders in business, government, and academia around the globe, advancing knowledge across communities, and improve lives around the world.”

The Fulbright Program was created to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Over 2,200 U.S. students and over 900 U.S. college and university faculty and administrators are awarded Fulbright grants annually. In addition, some 4,000 Fulbright Foreign Students and Visiting Scholars come to the United States annually to study, lecture, conduct research, or teach their native language.

Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright Program has given over 390,000 passionate and accomplished students, scholars, teachers, artists, and professionals of all backgrounds and fields the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to important international problems. The global network of Fulbrighters fosters mutual understanding between the United States and partner nations, advances knowledge across communities, and improves lives around the globe.