American Participants in the UK
Postgraduate Scholars
Presca Ahn
Alistair Cooke Journalism Scholar, London School of Economics and Political Science
Presca is from New York City. She attended the Brearley School before studying English at Yale, where she was the editor-in-chief of the online feminist journal Broad Recognition. At Yale, she also acted and designed for plays; regularly gave the talk "The Concept of the Theatrical" at the Yale University Art Gallery; directed a documentary film; and served on the Yale Women's Center board and the Dean's Advisory Committee for Student Grievances. She was a recipient of the English Department’s Schoenberg Prize, the Women’s Center’s Rossborough Fellowship, the Light Fellowship for Study and Travel in East Asia, and the Kilborne Memorial Traveling Scholarship for independent research in English literature. As an undergraduate, she interned in the editorial departments of Vogue Magazine, the Yale University Press, and the New Haven Advocate. From 2008 to 2009, she left Yale to work for NBC and then for CNN Presents, the documentary film division of CNN. She graduated cum laude with distinction in the English major, winning the Ralph Paine Memorial Prize for her senior essay on Henry James and for fine work in the major. As a Fulbright scholar, she will study Politics & Communication at the London School of Economics.
Kara Apland
Human Rights, London School of Economics and Political Science
Kara grew up in St Paul, Minnesota. She graduated magna cum laude from Brown University, where she studied political science with a focus on human rights and international relations. After graduating, Kara completed Yale Law School's Arthur Liman Public Interest Fellowship at the International Center for Transitional Justice in New York City. She has been significantly involved in Liberia's transitional justice process through her work as an intern and statement taker for The Advocates for Human Rights. In 2008, Kara received the International Public Service Fellowship from Brown University to support her work with the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Monrovia, Liberia. She is currently working on the UN Monitoring Team at the International Service for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland. As a Fulbright scholar generously sponsored by Sir Robert Worcester, Kara will study Human Rights from legal, philosophical and sociological perspectives at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Kaitlyn Bankieris
Psychology of Language, Fulbright-Edinburgh University Scholar
Katie attended Emory University and the University of Melbourne majoring in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology and minoring in Linguistics. During her senior year, she received funding to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying non-arbitrary sound-to-meaning pairings in language. Upon completing this honours thesis, she graduated with highest honours and Phi Beta Kappa from Emory. Outside of the lab, Katie volunteered with the Best Buddies Autism partnering programme, led the Club Volleyball team as Vice President and Captain and served as a study abroad peer advisor. During her Fulbright year, Katie will pursue a Master's in the Psychology of Language at the University of Edinburgh and will research language from the perspective of synaesthesia.
Rebecca Belisle
Engineering, University of Bath
Whether climbing a volcano in southern Chile, train-hopping across India, or researching biological materials at Olin College, Rebecca brings an adventurous spirit to everything she does. As a recent graduate from Franklin W Olin College of Engineering, where she studied Engineering with a concentration in Materials Science, Rebecca is eager to bring this spirit and her research experience to the University of Bath. As a Fulbright scholar studying at the University of Bath, Rebecca will research the material properties of a polymer produced by a Colletes halophilus, a bee native to the United Kingdom. In her project entitled ‘The Next Bioplastic: Investigation Into The Nest Cell Linings of Colletes Halophilus’, Rebecca hopes to characterise this biological material and use this knowledge to develop novel biomimetic plastics that are both non-petroleum based and biodegradable. Though she has lived in South America and Asia, Rebecca has never been to the UK and is very excited for this opportunity. Now she only has to figure out how to fit a beekeeping veil and climbing harness into her luggage. 
Paul Bisceglio
Philosophy and Literature, Fulbright-Warwick University Scholar
Paul grew up in Glastonbury, Connecticut. He graduated from Haverford College in 2009 with a degree in English and Philosophy. At university, he ran cross country and track and co-headed Street Outreach, a weekly volunteer service programme that makes and distributes sandwiches to Philadelphia’s homeless. After graduating, he worked for City Year Greater Philadelphia at Hopkinson School, where he assisted in teaching 7th-grade reading and organised afterschool programmes for 3rd-8th graders. Paul will spend his Fulbright year pursuing an MA in philosophy and literature at Warwick University. 
Alex Brooks
Book Conservation, West Dean College
A first generation college graduate, Alex studied Creative Writing at the University of Kentucky. Since graduating in 2003 he has worked as a waiter, freelance writer, construction worker, teacher, press mechanic, artist and pedi-cab driver. Since 2008 he has been owner and operator of Press 817, a small letterpress print shop and book bindery, where he makes posters, invitations and hand printed and bound special edition books. The print shop contains restored presses and machines that date from 1887 to the 1960’s. In his free time he travels, builds and rides bicycles, makes woodcut prints, gardens and plays bike polo. During his Fulbright year he will be studying book conservation at West Dean College.
Tiffany Chezum
Archaeology, Oxford University
At age fifteen, Tiffany commenced her undergraduate studies at Augustana College where she studied Classics and French and was named the 2008 Anderson Scholar in Art History. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude, she enrolled at Queen’s University in Canada, from whence she graduated in 2010 with an MA in Classics. Her extracurricular experiences include archaeological excavations in Italy and Jordan; backpacking in Western Europe, Israel, and Egypt; and three months studying Celtic culture in Ireland. Her primary academic interests include the cross-cultural nature of ancient art, and the issue of cultural repatriation in modern museum studies. During her Fulbright year she will begin a DPhil programme in Archaeology at the University of Oxford, which she believes will well prepare her for a career dedicated to the preservation of the treasures of human culture. 
Marc Fialkoff
Sustainability, Fulbright-Leeds University Scholar
Marc graduated in 2010 from Gettysburg College with a Bachelor’s degree in political science and minor in chemistry. While at Gettysburg, he was an Eisenhower Institute Undergraduate Fellow, which enabled him to focus on issues such as infrastructure, the environment, and nuclear non-proliferation. Awarded an undergraduate research grant from the College’s Mellon Foundation grant, he was instrumental in developing a “Green” Organic Chemistry laboratory manual as well as authoring numerous articles on issues relating to Constitutional Law. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa as well as Sigma Chi and enjoys walking around the battlefield at Gettysburg in his free time. In March 2010, he was the lead delegate for the US delegation to the Student Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty hosted by the Osgood Center and was successful in obtaining a final document for review. The team was awarded Most Outstanding delegation at the Conference. As a Fulbright scholar, he will read for an MSc in Sustainability (Transport) at the University of Leeds.
Carlos Fierro
Design for Development, Kingston University
Carlos was born in Santiago, Chile. He attended the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencia y Educacion where he studied visual art with a President's artist scholarship. Later he pursued a degree in Industrial Design at the Universidad Tecnológica Metroplolitana where he worked on a wide range of projects. Since immigrating to the United States in 2002, he has focused on designing interactive exhibitions for science and children’s museums, NGO action centres, cultural institutions and sustainable furniture. Throughout his academic and professional experience, Carlos has been driven by a desire to connect with people through design and, in turn, for his design to be informed by human needs and societal demands. As a Fulbright scholar in London he will research and design a Communication Toolkit that facilitates communication and bridges cultural barriers between doctors and patients in multicultural contexts. Carlos’s other interests include the exploration of visual arts and photography, kite surfing, and travelling.
Jeffrey Gangwisch
TV Production, Fulbright-University College Falmouth Media Scholar
Jeffrey was born in Pennsylvania. He studied film production at the University of New Orleans and International Cinema Studies at Charles University in Prague. During this time he collaborated on many productions, participated in several film festivals, and volunteered with several filmmaking organizations. He has since filled a variety of positions on productions in New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. As a Fulbright scholar he will study Television Production at University College, Falmouth. Jeffrey’s free time is most often spent developing projects for the CineNovus Media Company and struggling to better play his violin.
Adam Grasch
Engineering, Fulbright-Bristol University Award
Adam was born in Lexington, Kentucky and graduated with distinction from Duke University in 2010 with a BSE in Mechanical Engineering. While at Duke he performed research under Dr Earl Dowell on the aeroelasticity of extremely high-aspect ratio wings as a Pratt Undergraduate Research Fellow and NAE Grand Challenge Scholar. He has also worked on forklift, military helicopter and inflatable aircraft design and been avidly devoted to the pursuit of aerospace engineering and aircraft design since he was a small child. Adam’s other primary interests include lacrosse, literature and philanthropy – while at Duke he captained the men’s club lacrosse team and helped establish and lead Duke’s largest anti-AIDS charity organisation. While at Bristol University, Adam will work to quantify the control characteristics and aeroelastic phenomena of multiple deformed wing shapes, contributing to a project to ultimately design and build aircraft whose wings can change shape and configuration mid-flight, making possible tremendous gains in fuel efficiency and performance.
Alan Hunt
Food Systems, Newcastle University
Alan grew up on a small farm in rural New Jersey during a period of rapid farmland loss. Curious about how values of place, economics, and community identity interact, he pursued a BSc in Environmental Studies at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. During a semester abroad in Norwich, England, he was captivated by the popularity of farmers' markets and their potential to support smaller-scale farming operations. This was the thesis topic of his Master’s in Environmental Economics and Policy at Duke University, earned in 2005. For the last five years, he has been in Washington DC working on federal policy for local and regional food systems, including the passage of several new laws in the 2008 US Farm Bill. His Fulbright project serves to put this US policy experience in perspective with the UK food movement's political success. This will be the first year of his PhD research in the UK.
Stephen Jones
English and Welsh Literature, Aberystwyth University
Stephen was raised in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He received his BA in the fields of Philosophy and English Literature from Taylor University in 2005, and his MA in Literature and Film from Indiana University in 2007. He currently lives with his wife Sarah in Muncie, Indiana, where he is pursuing a PhD in Literature at Ball State University. During his first two years as a university fellow at Ball State, he had the opportunity to present a paper on language and national identity in the works of Saunders Lewis at UC Berkeley’s California Celtic Colloquium; he also received the Lloyd Family Travel Scholarship from the National Welsh-American Foundation to conduct preliminary dissertation research at the National Library of Wales in August of 2009. In his year as a Fulbright scholar, Stephen will investigate resources at the National Library to analyse the intersection between literature and politics in the lives, works and correspondence of English and Welsh modernist authors.
Cindy Juette
Automotive Design, Fulbright-Coventry Automotive Design Scholar
Cindy was born and raised in New Jersey, where she currently resides. She received a BA in graphic design and mathematics from Rutgers University, Douglas College in 2002, graduating with highest honours as salutatorian of her class. Upon graduation she worked as a designer for the Wall Street Journal and soon after developed a career in display design. In May 2010, she received a Master’s in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, graduating with academic honours and departmental distinction. Cindy continued to hone her skills as a senior designer International Paper, and will spend fifteen months at Coventry University pursuing a Master’s in Automotive Design. She looks forward to sharing her experiences in graphic design, three-dimensional aesthetics and professional leadership with colleagues who will help prepare her for the exciting challenges of the automotive industry.
Tzvi ‘Ari’ Lamm
Jewish Studies, Fulbright-University College London Scholar
Born and raised on Long Island, New York, Ari attended Yeshiva University, graduating summa cum laude with a BA in both History and Jewish Studies. While a junior at Yeshiva he was awarded the Henry Kressel Research Scholarship in support of his work fusing Ancient Jewish Studies with Old Iranian Studies. Ari’s passion for exploring cultural exchanges between the religions of ancient Iran grew after he attended a conference in Switzerland on interfaith issues, bringing together Jewish and Christian religious leaders and activists with prominent Iranian ayatollahs. Ari especially enjoys studying ancient languages. He has spent nearly three years studying Pahlavi with noted Iranian scholar, Dr Mahnaz Moazami. He also spent several years studying Biblical Hebrew, Rabbinic Hebrew, and various forms of Babylonian and Palestinian Aramaic. While at UCL, he hopes to build upon this foundation in investigating socio-legal contacts between Babylonian Talmudic and Sasanian Zoroastrian cultures.
Jann Marson
Art History, Essex University
After completing his apprenticeship as a master printer, Jann studied book arts at Boise State University and launched the experimental artists’ book publishing house Authentic Printing Company. Jann subsequently completed his BA in visual culture and critical theory at the University of Idaho in 2006, and his MA in art history at the University of Toronto in 2008. Jann is currently enrolled in the art history PhD programme at Toronto, while simultaneously pursuing a PhD collaborative certificate in book history and print culture. As a Fulbright scholar, and in affiliation with the Centre for the Study of Surrealism and its Legacies, Jann's independent research will focus on the artistic and publishing output of Marcel Mariën. Between 1937 and 1970 Mariën was active within the international surrealist movement, and his works provide a valuable case study for understanding the complex relationships between art, literature, and revolutionary politics.
Wilfredo Matias
Biology, Imperial College London
Wilfredo was born in the Dominican Republic, and after constantly moving, finally calls New York home. He graduated summa cum laude from New York University with a degree in Biology and Romance Languages. While there, he worked with elementary school children in city public schools and helped his peers with their coursework at his university’s tutoring centre. He pursued his interest in medicine by volunteering in a city hospital emergency department and going on a medical mission to Honduras. He also did research on the reproductive biology of fruit flies, for which he received multiple undergraduate grants and awards. Wilfredo’s other interests include Spanish literature, foreign languages, travelling, spending time with friends and eating fudge brownies. As a Fulbright Scholar, he will study the reproductive biology of the malaria-transmitting mosquito at Imperial College London.
Garrett Nelson
Landscape and Culture, University of Nottingham
Garrett grew up in New Hampshire and graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College in 2009, where he also worked as a custodian. In his Fulbright year he will be studying for a MA in Landscape and Culture at the University of Nottingham, exploring how Anglo-American social ideals have been encoded, reinforced and transmitted through the mechanism of constructed landscapes.
Laura Powell
Welsh Language and Culture, Fulbright-Cardiff University Scholar
Laura was born and raised in Bel Air, Maryland. She graduated from Towson University with a BA in History and a minor in Anthropology. Within the larger disciplines of History and Anthropology, she has focused on both Middle Eastern and Latin American Studies and has pursued the foreign languages of Arabic and Spanish. She was involved with the Anthropological Student Union and served as president of the History Honour Society. During her time in Cardiff she will be doing independent research exploring the importance of the Welsh language in creating and performing modern Welsh culture. 
Samantha Sagui
Medieval History, University East Anglia
Samantha grew up in Westwood, Massachusetts. She received her BA in history from Brandeis University. She then moved to New York and completed her MA at Fordham University. Her Master’s thesis on the social space of urban drinking-houses in medieval England won awards in the history and medieval studies departments. She is now working on her PhD in history at Fordham University. Academically, Samantha is interested in the social history of late medieval England with a particular interest in urban history and crime. While in England, she will be doing research for her dissertation about the development of policing functions in late medieval Norwich. Samantha looks forward to making new friends in Norwich. She plans to spend her spare time exploring the city and indulging her love of singing.
Robert Shady
Health Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and LSE
Originally from Huntington, New York, Bobby graduated magna cum laude from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island in May 2008. He received a BSc with honours for double-concentrating in Human Biology and in Development Studies. Following graduation he completed a year of AmeriCorps service as a part of the “Residency in Social Enterprise” programme of the non-profit consulting firm New Sector Alliance, through which he worked in Strategic Planning and Programme Development for the start-up social enterprise Charity Partners, Inc. Bobby is currently a research assistant at the Global Health Delivery Project at Harvard University contributing to work on large-scale HIV prevention efforts. He has completed internships with the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative in Papua New Guinea, the Johns Hopkins/NIH Minorities in Global Health Disparities Internship programme in Cape Town, South Africa, and a pathology laboratory at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. His passions include global health, international development, baseball, the outdoors and music. As a Fulbright scholar, he intends to study Health Policy, Planning & Financing at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the London School of Economics.
Arun Sharma
Ceramics, University of Wales Institute
Arun was born and raised in New York State. He attended Alfred University, graduating Cum Laude with a BFA. After completing his BFA in 2001, he spent a year in New York City teaching ceramics. In September 2002, he left the US to live and work in Japan. He spent a year in Osaka and a year in Kyoto where he managed a ceramic school. Arun moved to Australia in 2005 where he was employed for two years as an artist-in-resident at the Incinerator Arts Complex in Melbourne. In 2007, Arun was awarded a scholarship for the University of Washington’s Master of Fine Arts programme and graduated in 2009. Arun is spending his Fulbright year studying the Fragmented Figure at the National Centre for Ceramic Studies at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff School of Art & Design (UWIC). He will be working towards an MA in ceramics. 
Ashwini Shridhar
Movement Studies, Central School of Speech and Drama
Ashwini was born in New Delhi, India and grew up in Garland, Texas. She graduated summa cum laude from Austin College with a BA in English and Spanish. Her final year Honor’s Thesis explored race and identity in the works of Salman Rushdie and William Blake. Having been trained in Bharatanatyam (a classical Indian dance form) since childhood, Ashwini spent 6 months in Bangalore, India after graduation dancing and working for an arts festival. In 2007, she moved back to Bangalore and started work full time with Shiri Dance Company, where she currently performs, teaches classical dance and facilitates a creative movement class for young children called Body Talk. Ashwini’s other interests include theatre, travelling learning new languages and cooking. During her Fulbright year, Ashwini will pursue an MA in Movement Studies at the Central School of Speech and Drama. 
Zoë Towns
Criminology, King’s College London
Zoë was raised in Ojai, California. She graduated cum laude in 2007 from Columbia University, where she majored in Comparative Ethnic Studies and Creative Writing. At university, she was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Fellow and conducted research on immigration policy. Since graduation, Zoë has directed a criminal justice and immigrant advocacy non-profit in the South Bronx. Zoë will spend her Fulbright year studying Criminology and Criminal Justice at King’s College London.
Benjamin Uy
Cancer Research, University College London
Benjamin grew up in Los Angeles, California and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Occidental College in 2010 with a BA in biochemistry. He conducted research as a high-school student and undergraduate in the Bronner-Fraser Lab at Caltech studying neural crest in lamprey. From his early research, he became a Siemens Westinghouse Western Regional Finalist. With his Fulbright award, he intends to investigate an immunotherapy to treat, selectively target and kill Glioblastoma Multiforme cells, one of the most deadly and common type of brain tumour, at University College London Cancer Institute in the Pule Lab. Upon returning to the United States, he hopes to attend medical school with a particular interest in neurosurgery. 
Thomas Wall
Fulbright-Schuman EU Scholar, Climate Change Policy, Oxford University
Thomas was born in Seattle, Washington where he attended University Prep high school. He was awarded a Provost Scholarship to attend Oregon State University, where he later received an Honours Bachelor of Science in civil engineering and a minor in writing in 2006. Upon graduation, he went to work as a project engineer for Howard S Wright Constructors, LP, in their Seattle, WA office. While in Seattle, he also worked as a higher education entrance exam tutor with local high school students. In 2008 he moved to Atlanta, Georgia to attend the graduate transportation engineering programme in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In May 2010, he was awarded an MSc in civil engineering by Georgia Tech and is currently pursuing a PhD, with the eventual goal of becoming a college professor. As a Fulbright-Schuman scholar, Thomas will study the impacts of climate change on the European Union’s highway infrastructure at both the University of Oxford and the University of Amsterdam. 
Chad Widmer
Marine Biology, St Andrews University
After serving in the US Army as an M-1 tanker, Chad earned his Bachelor’s and Master's degrees in marine biology from Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. Following his education, Chad managed one of the world’s largest collections of living jellyfish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California for nearly a decade. He’s written a book entitled ‘How to keep jellyfish in aquariums’, and regularly publishes in scientific journals. He’s a member of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, and his work has recently been featured in National Geographic and Smithsonian magazines. He has also been interviewed for more than a dozen television shows, including the BBC’s Wild on the West Coast and Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters. Chad will be studying the effects of climate change on commercially important jellyfish of the North Sea while pursuing a PhD degree in marine biology at the University of St Andrews, Scotland.
Michaela Williams
Economic Development, Fulbright-Sussex University Scholar
Michaela studied at Fairhaven College of Western Washington University with a concentration in Eurasian Studies and Political Economy and a minor in Russian. As an undergraduate, she studied Russian at St Petersburg State University through a grant from the US National Security Education Programme. She also spent ten months in Tajikistan as an Adventure Learning Grant scholar, where she carried out independent research on women in economic transition. Since graduating, she has been involved in fair trade, microfinance and local business development, and she is currently working as a refugee resettlement officer for World Relief. She delights in foreign languages, international cooking and exploring the outdoors with her husband, Daron. During her Fulbright year, Michaela will pursue the MA in Poverty and Development at University of Sussex to explore climate and energy-resilient pathways for economic development.
Scholars and Fellows
Stuart Allison
Ecological Restoration, Cranfield University
Stuart is a native of western Illinois, where he now lives after following a circuitous path to gain his higher education. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Puget Sound, a Master’s in oceanography at the University of Rhode Island and a PhD in biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He did postdoctoral studies in ecology at Rutgers University. He has been at Knox College for thirteen years, where he is a professor in the biology department and director of the Green Oaks Field Research Station. He specialises in ecological restoration. When not working, he spends as much time as possible with his wife and two daughters, walking the dog, running, gardening and camping. He is looking forward to being able to easily follow real football while in the UK. During his Fulbright year, he plans to conduct to a comparative study of ecological restoration practices in North America and Europe. He plans to produce and publish a synthesis of the approaches to ecological restoration used in both areas with the objective of providing a framework which restorationists can use to plan and implement restoration work of both ecological and cultural value.
Alexander ‘Sascha’ Auerbach
Law and Culture, Fulbright-King's College London Scholar
Sascha was born in London, but moved to Chappaqua, New York when he was young. He studied history at Oberlin College (BA, 1993) and at Emory University (MA, PhD, 2001). Sascha has held academic appointments at Mississippi State University and Virginia Commonwealth University. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Northern British Columbia. His first book, Race, Law, and "The Chinese Puzzle" in Imperial Britain (New York, 2009), examines the legal, social, and cultural impact of Chinese immigration to Britain, Australia, and South Africa. He is currently working on his second book manuscript, Armed with Sword and Scales: Law, Courts, and Culture in Modern Britain. In his spare time, he enjoys basketball, playing guitar, magical realism, and Hal Hartley films. As the Fulbright-King’s College London Scholar, Sascha will be conducting interdisciplinary research into the relationship between law, race, gender and culture in interwar Britain.
Rebecca Black
Creative Writing, Fulbright-Queen's University Belfast Scholar
Born in Albany, Georgia, Rebecca is a poet and Assistant Professor of English at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. Her first book of poems, Cottonlandia, winner of the Juniper Prize from the University of Massachusetts Press, begins in the American South’s “shimmer and tar” and ends in the “soot and orange dolor” of the California desert. The poems move through myth and landscape, considering the legacy of the civil rights movement in her hometown, even as floods force antebellum coffins to rise. Black graduated from Tulane University and received an MFA from Indiana University. She has been a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, a National Endowment for the Arts fellow and a writer-in-residence at the Cite des Arts in Paris. With the Fulbright award, she will explore the use and disavowal of history in contemporary Northern Irish poetry, the tension between the claims of the political/historical realm and the claims of myth and fantasy.
Don Bogen
Creative Writing, Fulbright-Queen's University Belfast Scholar
Don received his PhD at the University of California and is currently Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Cincinnati. He is the author of a critical study of Theodore Roethke and four books of poetry, including most recently An Algebra (University of Chicago Press, 2009). Prizes for his poetry include a Discovery / The Nation Award, the Emily Dickinson Award of the Poetry Society of America, and fellowships from the Camargo Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. A former Fulbright Senior Lecturer in Spain, Don is also active as a translator and has collaborated with composers from the US and abroad. As a Fulbright scholar at the Seamus Heaney Poetry Centre of Queen’s University Belfast in winter of 2011, he will be working on a fifth book of poetry. 
Z. Jeffrey Chen
Genetics, Cambridge University
Jeffrey was born in Ningbo, China and received a BSc and MSc before moving to the USA. After earning a PhD in Genetics at Texas A&M University, he worked as a Research Associate at the University of Minnesota followed by an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at Washington University. He returned Texas A&M and worked as a faculty member for six years before moving to the University of Texas at Austin, where he holds D J Sibley Centennial Professorship in Plant Molecular Genetics. He has done pioneering work on gene expression evolution and epigenetic regulation in plant polyploids and hybrids. His team recently discovered a direct link between plant hybrid vigour and circadian clock – daily rhythm – regulators, which control growth, metabolism and fitness. As a Fulbright scholar, he will work with the Baulcombe lab at Cambridge to identify small RNAs associated with hybrid lethality and vigour and to teach and supervise students.
Lesley Frame
Engineering, Fulbright-Cardiff University Scholar
Lesley attended MIT as an undergraduate, receiving her BSc from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in 2004. She then went to the University of Arizona for postgraduate work where she received an NSF IGERT award and an NSF dissertation improvement grant to study ancient metallurgical technologies. She obtained her MSc (2007) and PhD (2009) from the Materials Science and Engineering Department at the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on using modern engineering methods and principles to study ancient technologies and to answer research questions in archaeological science and conservation science. Lesley is also interested in developing non-destructive methods of analysis for studying museum objects and archaeological artefacts. As a Fulbright scholar, Lesley will work with Ian Freestone (Cardiff University) and Winfried Kockelmann (ISIS) to use neutron diffraction as a non-destructive method of analysis of archaeological metals.
Kristin Haglund
Medical Sciences, Sheffield University
Kristin is an Associate Professor in the College of Nursing at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Marquette University, Master’s degree in Nursing from University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, and PhD in Nursing from University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. She is a certified nurse practitioner in the areas of paediatrics and family practice. Her area of research expertise is adolescent sexuality. As a Fulbright scholar, she will be visiting the University of Sheffield, School of Nursing and Midwifery to lecture, conduct research, and reach out to the wider community of UK nurses. A collaborative research project, “The Social & Cultural Contexts of Alcohol Use and Subsequent Sexual Involvement among Adolescents and Young Adults” will be conducted with host faculty. This project will increase mutual understanding of factors that promote and impede health of young people in the United Kingdom and the United States. 
Pamela Louderback
Governance, Fulbright-Queen's University Belfast Scholar
Pamela is an Assistant Professor of Library Services and the Library Director at Northeastern State University’s Broken Arrow campus. She has worked in academic library settings for over twenty years. Pamela earned her EdD from Oklahoma State University in Educational Leadership & Public Policy and currently teaches College Strategies to freshmen. She was nominated for a Graduate Research Excellence award and Dissertation of the Year. Pamela’s other interests include backpacking, spelunking, beading and showing dogs in conformation. In 2008 she had an opportunity to present research in Tasmania, Australia on indigenous educational success. Pamela’s research interests include: curriculum technology integration, college transition, social justice, and American Indian academic success. She has published research in the field of indigenous education including: Academic encounters of American Indian freshmen. As a Fulbright scholar, she will research government-directed educational policies and practices for Irish children at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Michael Menegio
Police Research Fellow, Peel Training Centre, Hendon and Bramshill
Mike was born and raised in upstate New York. He began his career with the Los Angeles Police Department in 1995 and is currently a Sergeant assigned as a patrol supervisor. He has worked a variety of details including undercover narcotics, gangs, patrol and the elite Metropolitan Division. Mike studied criminal justice at Marist College where he received a Bachelor of Science degree. In 2004, he graduated with a Master’s of Public Administration degree from California State University, Northridge. Mike is studying a critical incident debriefing method, known as ‘10,000 volts’, at the Peel Training Centre, Hendon and the International Academy, Bramshill.
Anthony Roath
International Business, University of Manchester
Originally from Michigan, Tony’s former life as an Army ‘brat’ carried him to many areas. However, he decided the Air Force provided a better deal. He graduated from the US Air Force Academy with a background in engineering and continued on to a flying career. His extensive travel as a member of the Air Force slowed down long enough to pursue a doctorate in Marketing and International Business from Michigan State University. Tony is currently at the University of Oklahoma where he teaches and researches global value chain issues. Fortunately, prominent international journals have recognised his work in dynamic simulation modelling; he has garnered two awards (from former Anderson Consulting and paper of the year from the Journal of Business Logistics). His Fulbright award will allow him to focus on how global companies (as organic systems) obtain and maintain access to scarce resources. Tony will work with the University of Manchester during his Fulbright year and will no doubt continue his love of flying and travel. 
Jace Stuckey
Medieval History, Fulbright-Cardiff University Scholar
Jace was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, but relocated to Florida with his family. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies from Thomas University, a Master’s in European History from the University of Central Florida and PhD in History from the University of Florida where his studies focused on Medieval Europe, Religion, Literature and the Crusades. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Louisiana Tech University where he teaches a variety of courses on Ancient Civilisation and Medieval and Renaissance Europe. As a Fulbright scholar, he will work at the Cardiff Centre for the Crusades and the Cardiff Centre for Medieval Society and Culture in order to complete a monograph on the Legend of Charlemagne in the High Middle Ages. 
Christopher Tuggle
Biology, University of Edinburgh
Christopher was born in Minnesota, and holds a PhD from the University of Minnesota in Biochemistry. He is a Professor in the Department of Animal Science at Iowa State University, where he has worked since 1991. His research programme is focused on the use of functional genomics to understand gene pathways and networks relevant in genetic improvement of disease resistance and growth efficiency, using the pig as both a subject and a model species. He has published more than 100 scientific articles and book chapters, and his research has won regional and national awards. He serves as an Editor for Animal Genetics (Functional Genomics), and is on several Editorial Boards. Christopher has active collaborations with researchers in seven countries on three continents. As a Fulbright scholar at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, he will help develop systems biology tools for a better understanding and prediction of disease resistance. 
Michael Wolf
Health Literacy, Fulbright-University of Liverpool Scholar
Michael is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Learning Sciences, and Associate Division Chief – General Internal Medicine, in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. He is a health services researcher and cognitive/behavioral scientist interested in the study of adult literacy and learning within the context of health care. In 2009, MIchael received the National Patient Safety Foundation’s Health Literacy and Patient Safety Award, and he currently serves on numerous national advisory committees in the US on issues pertaining to risk communication, chronic disease self-management and health care equity. As a Fulbright scholar, Dr. Wolf will work be based at the University of Liverpool and work with faculty across the U.K., and the World Health Organisation to promote a joint health literacy-health disparities research agenda.
Distinguished Teachers
Janine Bjurman
Career Development Pathways, Institute of Education
Janine was born and raised in Chicago, IL. She received a BA in Psychology from DePaul University and an MBA with concentrations in International Business and Human Resources from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Janine worked until 2003 as a Director/Labor Economist for the USDOL-Bureau of Labor Statistics where she received the Distinguished Service and Manager of the Year awards. Janine completed her MA in Multicultural Special Education at the College of Santa Fe where she received awards for Outstanding Special Education Methodology and Excellence in Multicultural Special Education Secondary Student Teaching. She began her career in special education in the Albuquerque Public Schools and is now a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor in high school. Janine enjoys traveling, swimming, biking, tennis, and her book club. She is currently reading Swedish mysteries and researching her family genealogy. Janine is interested in combining her experience in labor economics to analyze career pathways, the development of student skills to improve employment opportunities, and applying them to future careers, particularly green technologies.
Lisa Burgess
English Language Acquisition, Sheffield Hallam University
Lisa Burgess is a secondary school Language Arts teacher in National City, California. She has over thirteen years of teaching experience in the area of bilingual education and has worked with students of all ages, from children to adults. Her capstone research project will compare and take away best practice of English language acquisition strategies in the United Kingdom. The focus of her project will be on late learners ranging in age from eleven to adult. She will analyse students’ growth in English proficiency as indicated by marked increases in standardised tests and by pre and post surveys from students and staff regarding educational instruction and strategies.
Martin Haber
Education and Citizenship, University of Dundee
Martin is a Special Education Teacher for the New York Public School system. He has over twenty years of special education training and experience. His capstone research project will focus on the value of education for citizenship with a focus on special needs. Martin was a grantee of the Fulbright Classroom Teacher Exchange programme from 1997-1998 where he exchanged classrooms with a teacher from Yorkshire, England.
Distinguished Chairs
Joseph Heathcott
Art, Design and Communities, University of the Arts London
Joseph is a writer, curator, photographer and educator living in New York, where he teaches at The New School and serves as chair of urban studies. His work considers the role of art, design and place making as everyday civic practices in the contemporary metropolis. He is also a compulsive peripatetic, amateur archivist, cartographer, and collector of records, post cards, old radios, books and found objects. His articles, photographs, maps and drawings have appeared in a wide range of venues. His most recent photography exhibit Post-Acropolis Metropolis is currently on display at the Town Hall Gallery in Stuttgart, Germany. He has been awarded fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Erasmus Institute, the Mellon Foundation and the Brown Center for the Humanities. As the Fulbright Chair, he will work with students and faculty from various divisions of the University of the Arts to create art and design projects that engage with communities in London. 
Ann Markusen
Cultural Policies, Urban Lab, Glasgow School of Art
Ann is Professor and Director of the Project on Regional and Industrial Economics at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. An economist, she researches arts and culture’s role in regional economic development. Winner of the 2006 Alonso Prize in Regional Science, she has served as North American Regional Science Association President, Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow, and AAAS Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy Chair. At Glasgow’s Urban Lab, Markusen will investigate how Glasgow and other UK cities pursue arts and cultural policies and investments. Collaborating with Glasgow Urban Lab members, she will use mixed methods to evaluate the urban impact of dedicated cultural spaces; the role of artists as contributors to the urban economy, revitalisers of neighbourhoods, and movers among cities; how city cultural strategy is shaped by demographics, existing capacity, local economy, stakeholders, local governance structures, and leadership.
Teresa Thiel
Alternative Energy Sources, Leeds University
Teresa is Professor of Biology and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Missouri, St Louis. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and her PhD in Microbiology from Case Western Reserve University. She then did postdoctoral research at Michigan State University. Her current research involves a type of microalgae called cyanobacteria that convert the nitrogen in the air to a form that can be used by plants as fertilizer. This process is important not only because it supports plant growth but also because it can produce hydrogen gas, an alternative source of energy. Her other interests include working with children to help them to explore the world of science. In her spare time she studies Spanish, rides her bicycle and hikes in the mountains. As a Fulbright-Leeds University Distinguished Chair, Teresa will do research at Leeds University in collaboration with David Adams on the symbiosis between cyanobacteria and plants and she will lecture on alternative energy.
© US-UK Fulbright Commission 2008