Oregon State University breaks records with eight Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards
Oregon State University has had a record eight applicants earn placement into the Fulbright U.S. Student Program for the 2023-24 academic year.
Oregon State’s selections are Bridget Price of Portland (study/research grant, The Netherlands), Shaurya Gaur of Sherwood (study/research grant, The Netherlands), Andrew Harker of Portland (teaching assistantship, Spain), Daniel Howell of Tigard (study/research grant, Germany), Brandt Bridges of Tigard (teaching assistantship, Mexico), Scout Osborne of La Center, Washington (study/research grant, Honduras), Jeremy Chu of Hillsboro (teaching assistantship, Taiwan) and Marichelle Gurski of Bend (teaching assistantship, Germany).
OSU has twice had seven Fulbright scholars, most recently last year and also in 2018-19. The latest eight give Oregon State 48 for the past 10 years.
The majors of the 2023-24 honorees represent the OSU colleges of Engineering, Science, Agricultural Sciences and Liberal Arts. Price (chemical engineering and bioresource research), Gaur (computer science) and Bridges (English) are also part of the Oregon State University Honors College.
“Our Fulbright research grantees are pursuing innovative projects to address critical problems such as climate change, ethics in AI, and neglected diseases,” said LeAnn Adam, director of National and Global Scholarships Advising at OSU. “Our Fulbright English teaching assistants will not only teach English, but they will bring so much more to their schools and communities abroad through their diverse academic and personal backgrounds. I am so excited for all of them to have this experience and represent OSU and the United States abroad.”
The U.S. Department of State, the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and host country Fulbright commissions select the honorees for the Fulbright student scholar program, which offers students and recent graduates opportunities for advanced research, university teaching, and primary and secondary school English teaching in more than 140 countries.
The eight from Oregon State are among more than 1,800 U.S. citizens who will conduct research and/or teach abroad during the 2023-24 academic year through the Fulbright program.
Fulbright is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program and is also supported by partner countries around the world. It is funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Since being established in 1946 under legislation introduced by Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the program has given almost 400,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists and professionals of all backgrounds and fields the opportunity to study, teach, conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.
The list of Fulbright alumni includes 62 Nobel Prize laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize recipients, 78 MacArthur Foundation Fellows and 41 people who have served as a head of state or government.