For the 15th consecutive year, the University of South Carolina will be represented abroad by Fulbright US Student grantees conducting research, studying, and serving as English Teaching Assistants. This year our seven Fulbright Finalists are Eric Bringley (declined), Gerad Gentry, Kelly Goldberg, Morgan Lundy, Anna Porter (declined), Jared Thompson, and Matthew Wagner, while four USC students, Katee Driscoll, Lauren Hamm, Anais Parada, and Amy Yanicak, have been named Alternates. These students are among the over 1,900 U.S. citizens who will teach, conduct research, and provide expertise abroad for the 2016-2017 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement as well as record of service and demonstrated leadership in their respective fields. Since 1983, USC has had over 100 Fulbright student scholars in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America, conducting research, studying in graduate programs and teaching English in K-college settings.
Dr. Christian Anderson, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Polices, Dr. Kara Brown, Associate Professor of Educational Studies, and Dr. Laura Kissel, Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies, served as the University's Fulbright Program Advisors this past year. They worked closely with many of this year's pool of candidates as they crafted their winning applications. Over 40 other faculty members assisted in interviewing applicants as part of the campus evaluation process.
These students and others seeking national fellowships were assisted by the Office of Fellowships & Scholar Programs. For more information about the Fulbright Program, contact the Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs at 803-777-0958, or visit us online at www.sc.edu/ofsp
Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 370,000 participants - chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential - with the opportunity to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. Over 1,900 U.S. students, artists and young professionals in more than 100 different fields of study are offered Fulbright Program grants to study, teach English, and conduct research annually. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program operates in over 140 countries throughout the world. Lists of Fulbright recipients are available via the Grantee Directory at: http://us.fulbrightonline.org/.
The Fulbright Program is funded through an annual appropriation made by the United States Congress to the Department of State. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations in foreign countries and in the United States also provide direct and indirect support. In the United States, the Institute of International Education administers and coordinates the activities relevant to the Fulbright U.S. Student Program on behalf of the Department of State, including conducting an annual competition for the scholarships. The Fulbright Program also awards grants to U.S. scholars, teachers and faculty to conduct research and teach overseas. In addition, some 4,000 new foreign Fulbright students and scholars come to the United States annually to study for graduate degrees, conduct research and teach foreign languages. Fulbright scholars at the University of South Carolina in the past few years have represented a variety of countries, including Austria, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, India, Morocco, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, and the UK.
Bringley is a 2016 graduate of the South Carolina Honors College, where he earned a degree in Chemical Engineering with minors in Mathematics and Chemistry. A 2014 Goldwater Scholar, he is also a 2013 Magellan Scholar and 2012 Rothburg Scholar. He spent the summer of 2015 as an American Chemical Society International Research Experience for Undergraduates Fellow, doing research in theoretical chemistry in Ulm, Germany. Bringley was also president of USC's student section of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. His research career has led him to complete 13 technical presentations and two publications. Bringley is a 2016 Gates Cambridge Scholar (for which he declined the Fulbright to Germany), where he plans to complete a PhD in Chemical Engineering and ultimately produce social benefits through science and technology.
Gentry is a 2010 graduate of Houghton College, where he majored in Art, English Literature, and Philosophy. He is a USC Presidential Scholar pursuing his PhD in Philosophy. For his doctoral research, Gentry has also received grants from the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), SPARC, and Walker, as well as the Richard Greener Award. In addition to several publications, Gentry's presented work includes five presentations at the American Philosophical Association (Central, Eastern, & Pacific). His Fulbright will support a year of research in Germany. While in Berlin, he and his wife, Megan, are looking forward to continuing their efforts in support of refugee families and are particularly excited by Germany's example in welcoming refugee families. While housed at Humboldt University in Berlin and the University of Potsdam, Gentry will conduct archival research and work toward completion of his dissertation in Philosophy on German Idealism. He is also looking forward to joining an intramural soccer team at Humboldt.
Goldberg is a 2009 graduate of Hofstra University, where she majored in Anthropology and minored in Comparative Literature and Languages. She is a current PhD student in Anthropology with a concentration in Historical Archaeology at the University of South Carolina. She is the recipient of the IAAR Research Fellowship, a SPARC grant, a Ceny Walker Fellowship, and an ASSC Grant-in-Aid. Her Fulbright grant will allow her to continue her archaeological research, which focuses on excavations of archaeological sites associated with the period of the "Illicit" Slave Trade in coastal Guinea, West Africa. Goldberg plans a career as a university professor, academic researcher, and archaeologist.
Lundy is a 2016 graduate of the South Carolina Honors College, with a major in English and a minor in History. A McNair Scholar, she was awarded the 2016 Algernon Sydney Sullivan award, is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and earned her Graduation with Leadership Distinction in three areas - Professional and Civic Engagement, Community Service, and Global Learning. Among her many activities, she served as a Resident Mentor, President of INK!, led several Alternative Break Service Trips as part of her role with the Leadership and Service Center team, was the Student Volunteer Coordinator of UofSC Flood relief, and was an AmeriCorps Summer Associate VISTA at the Richland Library. Her Fulbright year will be spent as an English Teaching Assistant in Malaysia. Upon her return to USC, she will continue to pursue graduate study in English and Library Information Science.
Porter is a 2016 graduate of the South Carolina Honors College with majors in Psychology and Spanish. She has received numerous funding awards for her research, including a SURF grant in 2014, an Exploration Grant in 2015, and a Magellan Scholar Grant in 2016. She was awarded USC's Outstanding Student in Psychological Research and Leadership in the fall of 2015. Her research has been presented at a variety of national and international conferences. Her Fulbright was awarded (and declined) to complete research in the cardiac biomarkers of autism in Spain. Porter plans to pursue her PhD in Clinical Psychology.
Thompson is a 2016 graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences, with a major in Political Science and a minor in English. He served as a University Ambassador from 2012-2016 and a University 101 Peer Leader from 2014-2016. He has consistently been recognized on the Dean's List and President's List. Thompson was a Washington Semester Program Fellow in 2014, and was chosen to represent South Carolina in the United States Senate Youth Program Fellow in 2012. He will spend his Fulbright year teaching English in South Korea, and plans to attend law school upon his return.
Wagner is a 2004 graduate of the University of Minnesota-Morris, with a major in Political Science and a minor in History. He is a current PhD student at USC in Political Science. He will spend his Fulbright year conducting research in Malaysia and Thailand, where he will be affiliated with the Department of Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Malaya. He plans a career as university faculty.
Driscoll is a 2016 graduate of the South Carolina Honors College, where she majored in Physics and Mathematics, with a minor in Chemistry. A McNair Scholar, she consistently pursued research as an undergraduate through two NSF REUs (one at the University of Pittsburgh, one at MUSC) and a summer spent in Aachen, Germany with a DAAD RISE scholarship. Her campus research was funded by the SURF Grant, and she was a Magellan Scholar. Her experience studying abroad in Bangkok, Thailand and her summer in Germany inspired her to pursue higher education and research opportunities abroad. An alternate for a Fulbright Research grant to Norway, Driscoll will spend the next two years as an Erasmus Mundus Scholar in Europe, earning her Master's degree in Atomic Scale Modelling of Physical, Chemical and Biomolecular Systems. She ultimately plans to earn her PhD in Physics.
Hamm is a 2016 graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences, with a major in History - Medieval Studies. She is the recipient of a Magellan Scholarship and the SC Humanities Council Grant. A Fulbright Alternate to Iceland, she proposed to study alternate modes of consciousness in medieval Icelandic literature while pursuing an MA in Nordic Religion at the University of Iceland. Her ultimate goal is to pursue her PhD and a career in academia in the field of Scandinavian Medieval Studies.
Parada is a 2009 graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she majored in Anthropology. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Anthropology at USC, where she is a Ceny Walker grant recipient and a SPARC grant recipient. She is an Alternate for a Fulbright to Ecuador, where she would spend a year on her dissertation research.
Yanicak is a 2016 graduate of the South Carolina Honors College, where she earned an MPH from the Arnold School of Public Health and her PharmD from the South Carolina College of Pharmacy at UofSC. She is a Horseshoe Scholar and plans to complete her pharmacy residency at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, WA. She is an Alternate for a Fulbright study grant to the UK, where she hoped to pursue an MA at the University of Stirling.