July 5, 2011
Nineteen receive Fulbrights to study abroad in 2011–2012
Fifteen 2011 graduates, two graduate students and two recent alumni from across the university have been given the opportunity to study abroad during the 2011–2012 academic year through the prestigious Fulbright Program. Seventeen have accepted the grants, and two will study abroad through other programs.
Johns Hopkins’ latest “Fulbrighters” from the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, the Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Peabody Conservatory of Music are among the approximately 2,800 U.S. students and scholars awarded grants this year.
Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Fulbright Program is sponsored by the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Approximately 8,000 new grants are awarded annually, funded by an appropriation from Congress along with support from participating governments and host institutions, corporations and foundations in foreign countries. Approximately 310,000 scholars—116,900 from the United States and 192,800 from other countries—have participated in the program since its inception.
The 2011–2012 Johns Hopkins scholars come from a wide range of disciplines and have destinations spanning the globe.
Toshiro Baum will travel to Morocco to examine the political dynamics surrounding the creation of the country’s energy development policy, examining its effectiveness and the ramifications for using renewable energy sources in energy development. Baum earned his bachelor’s degree in international studies from the Krieger School in May.
Luke Chang will be a Fulbright English teaching assistant in Malaysia. Chang earned his bachelor’s degree in molecular and cellular biology from the Krieger School in May.
Minhaj Chowdhury will travel to Bangladesh to examine the arsenic crisis in rural areas, studying how villagers view the often-contradictory interventions by the international public health community to mitigate groundwater contamination. Chowdhury earned his bachelor’s degree in public health studies from the Krieger School in May.
In Botswana, Ryan Davis will conduct a subproject of an ongoing study monitoring viral mutations and immune dynamics from the acute stage of HIV-1C infection at the Botswana-Harvard AIDS Institute in Gaborone. Davis, who earned his master of public health degree from the Bloomberg School in May, was awarded the Fulbright-Fogarty Fellowship, offered in partnership with the National Institutes of Health to promote the expansion of research in public health and clinical research in resource-limited settings.
Meghan Dombrink-Green will travel to Cyprus as a Fulbright English teaching assistant. Dombrink-Green received her master’s degree in writing from the Krieger School’s Advanced Academic Programs in May.
Using unique and newly patented biomechanical techniques, Kevin Doxzen will conduct a study of prostate cancer metastasis in the Nano Biomechanics Laboratory at the National University of Singapore, with the goal of providing a greater understanding of the structure and function of mobile cancer cells. Doxzen earned his bachelor’s degree in biophysics in May from the Krieger School.
Shalene Gupta will be a Fulbright English teaching assistant in Malaysia. She graduated in 2009 from the Krieger School, where she majored in Writing Seminars and psychology.
Mahnaz Harrison will travel to Georgia to research the current state of cancer care policy in order to help provide a blueprint for policymakers as the country positions itself to draft and adopt a national cancer control program. Harrison graduated from SAIS with the Master of International Public Policy degree in May.
In Egypt, Sara Hassani will evaluate the rate of hepatitis C (HCV) transmission from HCV-positive mothers to their offspring by simulating the dynamics of transmission using a mathematical model. She also plans to engage with the Egyptian community as an American ambassador to promote cross-cultural interaction as a way to more effectively treat and prevent diseases. Hassani earned her bachelor’s degree from the Krieger School in 2010 and her master of health science degree in molecular microbiology and immunology from the Bloomberg School of Public Health in May.
Jasmine Hogan won a Fulbright but chose instead to accept a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, pursuing the same project. She will study at the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing, researching traditional instruments and the way in which the Chinese traditional music program is taught in Beijing in conjunction with the Western music program. Hogan earned a bachelor’s degree in the harp from the Peabody Conservatory in May.
Michelle Jackson will travel to Panama to address digital technology’s impact on Panamanian Chinese ethnic solidarity, communication between Panamanian Chinese and their mainland Chinese and Taiwanese relatives, and the implications for political relations. Jackson received a Master of Arts in International Studies degree from the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies in June.
Daisy Kim, a graduate student in the Krieger School’s Department of Political Science, will be in South Korea, studying the increase in the number of women from China and Southeast Asia who migrate to South Korea for marriage and settlement.
Jessica Kraus won a Fulbright to Vietnam but declined it, choosing to accept the Princeton in Asia Fellowship with Population Services International based in Hanoi. During the full-year post, she will be exposed to a wide range of research being conducted by PSI’s teams across the region. The research ranges from outlet audits to inform distribution strategies for health products to pre-testing of behavior change communications materials. Kraus earned her bachelor’s degree in public health studies in May from the Krieger School.
Elya Papoyan will travel to Armenia to study the descriptive epidemiology and development of drug-resistant tuberculosis, which poses a large threat to the country and its people. Papoyan earned her bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from the Krieger School in May.
In rural western Kenya, Carolyn Pearce will interview women in mobile clinics, and health care providers, to assess their understanding of cervical cancer, the most lethal cancer among women in Africa and Kenya. Pearce, who hopes to determine the barriers women there face in seeking screening for cervical cancer, earned her bachelor’s degree in public health studies from the Krieger School in May.
Benjamin Piven will examine the political and technical issues at play in South Korea in the current debate over spent nuclear fuel management policy. Piven has completed the first year of the master’s program at SAIS and will complete his studies upon return from the Fulbright.
Aliyah Sanders will pursue a master’s degree in Germany through the Translational Medical Research program at the University of Heidelberg. Sanders earned her bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from the Krieger School in May.
Jacqueline Sofia will study the institutional response to female domestic violence in Jordan, partnering with a foundation and a national commission to implement methods for first-responders. Sofia, who earned her bachelor’s degree in international studies from the Krieger School in 2009, is a program associate with the Center for Global Health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she is also a part-time student.
Dara Weinberg will study how Polish theaters work with forms resembling the Greek chorus by enrolling in the yearlong master’s training program with a theater in Wroclaw, Poland, called “Song of the Goat” (Teatr Piesn Kozla). Weinberg earned her master of fine arts degree in poetry from the Writing Seminars in the Krieger School in May.
Students and alumni interested in the Fulbright U.S. Student Program should contact their school’s Fulbright adviser: for SAIS, Lisa Kahn; Medicine, Nursing and Public Health, Cassie Klein; and all others, scholarships@jhu
.edu. More information on the Fulbright is available at fulbright.state.gov.