Pitt Is Ranked a Top Producer of Fulbright Grant Winners

Issue Date: 
November 12, 2012


The University of Pittsburgh is a top producer of Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant winners among research universities, placing 8th among U.S. public research universities and 15th among all U.S. universities, public and private, outperforming its 2011 record when it placed 17th among all U.S. universities. The ranking was announced this month by The Chronicle of Higher Education. 

Of Pitt’s 54 applicants who applied for student Fulbright grants during the 2011-12 school year, 15 won Fulbrights, the most in Pitt’s history of competing for the award. With its 15 awards, Pitt was tied with Stanford and UCLA; it scored higher, for instance, than Princeton, Emory, Wisconsin, Washington University in St. Louis, William and Mary, and Duke. Among the other research institutions in the top 16 spots were Michigan, Northwestern, Yale, Stanford, Chicago, Columbia, and Harvard.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides grants for individually designed study/research projects or English Teaching Assistantships abroad. The awards are granted to recent bachelor’s degree recipients, graduate students, and young professionals based on their academic or professional achievements, as well as demonstrated leadership in their potential fields. The grants are given by the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. 

Nine recent graduates from Pitt’s Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and six graduate students from across the University are traveling abroad this academic year through the Fulbright program.

Andrea S. Aldrich, a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science, is conducting research in Croatia about the country’s expected entrance into the European Union in July 2013.  

Nora C. Bridges, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology, is conducting an ethnographic study in Ecuador about health care remedies developed by people living in the Amazon rainforest. 

Bryanna Gallagher (A&S ’11), who earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology, is serving as an English teaching assistant in Vienna, Austria, where she’s also studying developmental and educational psychology at Universität Wien. 

Karina Goulordava (A&S ’12), who earned her bachelor’s degree in Spanish and communication, is conducting research at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. She is developing a methodology to evaluate the value of “Other” in contemporary Creole-Surinamese communities, based on legacies of colonialism and viewed through the lens of postcolonial and critical race theories. 

Mark Kozlowski (A&S ’12), who earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry and economics, is conducting research in Krakow, Poland, on mechanochemical approaches to developing materials that control for friction and minimize wear, without the need of hazardous solvents.

Lindsay Kramer (A&S ’12), who earned her bachelor’s degree in anthropology and Spanish as well as a certificate in Latin American studies, is serving as an English teaching assistant in Brazil, where she’s also leading a community project utilizing art and music to improve self-esteem and promote gender, race, and class equity among adolescents.

Raaka Kumbhakar (A&S ’12), who earned her bachelor’s degree in history and philosophy of science as well as a certificate in global studies, is conducting research on dengue fever at the Hanoi School of Public Health in Vietnam that will be used to explain trends in disease dynamics throughout Vietnam.
Diane Manovich (A&S ’12), who earned her bachelor’s degree in linguistics and Spanish as well as a certificate in Russian and East European studies, is serving as an English teaching assistant in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Tyke Nunez, a graduate student in the Department of Philosophy, is conducting research in Berlin, Germany, about why philosopher Immanuel Kant believed that there are deep distinctions between mathematical and philosophical logic, event though most philosophers don’t believe there are large distinctions. 

Colleen O’Connor (A&S ’12), who earned her Bachelor of Philosophy degree in Chinese from the University Honors College and the Dietrich School, in addition to receiving certificates in Asian studies and children’s literature, is conducting research in China on how to develop tourism while preserving traditional cultures in villages in Northern Yunnan Province. She was also awarded a Fulbright Critical Language Enhancement Award to study Chinese at Yunnan Nationalities University. 

Sara Poletti (A&S ’11), who received her bachelor’s degree in English as well as a certificate in children’s literature, is serving as an English teaching assistant in the Slovak Republic. 

Brittany Rast, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology, is researching adoption and medically assisted reproduction in Croatia. 

Alan Rosenbaum, a Doctor of Medicine candidate in the School of Medicine, is conducting research comparing different methods of cervical cancer screening in El Salvador.   

Alek Suni (A&S ’11), who earned his bachelor’s degree in economics as well as a certificate in Latin American studies, is studying economic constraints to installing solar energy technologies at the Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina in Florianopolis, Brazil. 

William Shuey, a Master of Public Administration degree candidate in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, is serving as an English teaching assistant in Kazakhstan.