The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed 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 by the United States Congress to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations in foreign countries and in the United States also provide direct and indirect support.

Himabindu Vinnakota is a 2018 graduate of the South Carolina Honors College, where she majored in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. The William H. and Ruth C. Bond Carolina Scholar, she is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a recipient of the Caroliniana Award. She served as a volunteer advocate at Sexual Trauma Services of the Midlands, and both President and Director with the Off Off Broadway student organization. Vinnakota plans to become a physician, and will spend her Fulbright year as an English Teaching Assistant in Malaysia.

William Welsh is a 2017 graduate of the South Carolina Honors College, where he received his degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. At USC, he conducted research in tissue engineering and cancer genetics, spent time abroad in South Korea and Turkey, and was awarded a Critical Language Scholarship to study Farsi in Tajikistan. Welsh’s Fulbright Grant will fund a Master’s Degree in Biomedicine at the University of Eastern Finland, which he will use to pursue a career in gene and stem cell therapy research.