Fulbrights Forge Connections Around the Globe

AWARDS | The Fulbright Program was created in 1946 by the U.S. government to share knowledge and forge lasting connections among American institutions and entities abroad. Each year, about 8,000 scholars and professionals are selected to travel, teach, and research in over 160 host countries. Six faculty members and staff as well as three recent alumni from the University of Vermont were awarded Fulbright grants to continue this legacy during the 2023-24 academic year. This a snapshot of UVM’s most recent faculty and staff projects.

Antonio Cepeda-Benito:
Expanding the Science of Health Stigmas

Antonio Cepeda-Benito studies the prevalence of health-related stigmas such as smoking and disordered eating and how they differ between cultures. He runs UVM’s Cross Cultural Psychology Lab and spent the summer in Chile on a Fulbright grant working to assess stigma associated with being overweight in adolescents and young adults. Weightrelated measures of stigma have been validated in many English-speaking countries where many academic journals are published, Cepeda-Benito explained. He and collaborators aim to develop a measure and validate it for a broader population.

Jeanne Harris:
Thinking Big About Soil Microbes

Jeanne Harris thinks small. Microscopic really. She studies how microbes and abiotic material such as hard metals in soils affect plant development and evolution. She chairs UVM’s Department of Plant Biology, and her research focuses more on basic science than on the applied side of the equation. But while participating in the Fulbright Specialist Program this summer in Colombia she was forced to think big about protecting biodiversity through sustainable agriculture. “This is pushing me into thinking … how can I use what I know to help tackle some big problems?”

Alex Lindsay:
Showing Young People the World

Part of Alex Lindsay’s job at UVM’s Office of International Education is to help students explore the world. He knows the value of studying abroad because he spent a semester in South Africa and led tours to Mongolia. But Lindsay manages UVM’s exchange programs with Asian universities— the majority of which are in Japan. He was awarded a Fulbright to visit Japan and learn more about the country’s educational system and culture. “I'll be a much better resource for our students in terms of advising them for the programs they're interested in,” he said.

Jane Molofsky:
Examining How Invasive Plants Function

Jane Molofsky, a professor of plant biology at UVM, recently co-developed a hypothesis called optimal differentiation to the edge of trait space—the idea that plants become invasive when they enter a plant community with functional traits that are similar enough to infiltrate the space, but different enough to establish and take over. In other words, when they are novel enough to take off. Molofsky will head to South Korea’s Andong National University in the spring on a Fulbright grant where she will work with experts in the field to explore a conceptual framework using goldenrod.

Cynthia Reyes:
Centering Non-Dominant Voices in Education

Cynthia Reyes previously taught middle schoolers in Chicago Public Schools and English as a second language to adults. She understands the importance of engaging immigrant and refugee communities in education. That is why Reyes, associate dean for academic and faculty affairs for UVM’s College of Education and Social Services, is in Canada on two Fulbright research grants studying anti-racism and equity in pedagogy. “How do people do research with people who have been displaced … How do you do that in a culturally sensitive way?” Reyes said. Her work fosters difficult but needed conversations in academia.

Safwan Wshah:
Using Artificial Intelligence to Tackle Drought

Safwan Wshah grew up in Jordan, one of the most water-scarce regions in the world, and suspected artificial intelligence (AI) might play a role in tackling unwieldy problems. At UVM, Wshah directs the Vermont Artificial Intelligence Lab (VaiL), and after a recent visit to Jordan he noticed a growing gap in AI science there. With his Fulbright grant, Wshah will spend the next year co-developing a master's degree curriculum for AI at Princess Sumaya University for Technology and working with investigators to better predict droughts using AI. The project is a proof-of-concept study designed to scale beyond Jordan.

Visit go.uvm.edu/fulbright23 to read more about these Fulbright winners and their projects.