2012 Fullbright Scholars
During their time in the program, grant recipients meet, work, live with and learn from the people of the host country through the sharing of daily experiences.
Rebeca de Jesús-Crespo, a doctoral candidate in ecology, will travel to Costa Rica to research sustainable practices for coffee farming. In collaboration with the Rainforest Alliance, she will investigate the role of shade tree density in the protection of stream bio-integrity in Costa Rican coffee farms. The findings will be compared to those of her separate study of similar ecosystems for cocoa farms in Ghana. Jesús-Crespo sees the research as vital to the development of sustainable land-use management criteria and the refinement of stream-monitoring tools.
Louise Goodman, who received a master’s degree from UGA in Spanish and Portuguese literature, will teach English at a teacher’s college in Brazil. In her free time, she plans to start a children’s theater group in the local community, putting on American plays to help facilitate a dialogue about the two cultures and to provide children an opportunity to practice their English. Upon her return to the U.S., Goodman will pursue a career teaching Spanish and Portuguese at the secondary or college level.
Genevieve Holdridge, a doctoral candidate in geography, will travel to Mexico, her second trip to the country, to continue her dissertation research on the geomorphology of the Late Quaternary Period within the state of Oaxaca. Holdridge will observe and record the effects of long-term deforestation on agriculture, as well as examine the more recent conservation efforts to combat erosion and gullying. She plans to work with local scientists and community officials to aid in their efforts to revitalize the degraded landscape.
Oksana Lutsyshyna, a doctoral candidate in comparative literature, will conduct dissertation research in Krakow, Poland on the author and painter Bruno Schulz. She seeks to overturn conventional opinions about Schulz and to increase Schulz’s influence outside of Europe. A native of Ukraine, Lutsyshyna is a published writer and has received numerous awards for her collections of poems and short stories.
Ann MacFadyen, a doctoral candidate in anthropology, will travel to Vietnam, her third trip to the country, to continue her dissertation research on how conservation interventions affect forest resource use. MacFayden will specifically investigate the relationship between gendered livelihoods of smallholders living in upland Vietnam and land-use changes introduced through conservation interventions. The work will contribute to understanding how major conservation initiatives carried out on a regional scale intersect with local livelihoods.
For the past 66 years, the Fulbright Program has provided students, scholars and professionals an opportunity to pursue advanced research projects, graduate study and teaching assistantships worldwide. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the Fulbright Program is the largest U.S. international exchange program. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards approximately 1,700 grants annually to U.S. undergraduate and graduate students.
