This year’s student Fulbright Program winners are headed to Germany, Uruguay and South Korea to pursue their passions in virology, agroecology and linguistics—an ideal trio for the country’ flagship international academic exchange program, aimed at strengthening global connections in a complex and changing world.

“Our university has a storied history of connecting the state of Vermont to countries and cultures around the globe,” said UVM President Suresh Garimella. “This year’s Fulbright fellows show just how well UVM students combine the values of global citizenship with their academic accomplishments.”

Considered one of the most prestigious international exchange programs in the world, the Fulbright Program is unique in its binationalism involving more than 140 countries and is noted for its merit-based selection process.

UVM has produced 22 student Fulbright winners in the past four years, including a record nine winners in 2019-2020.

At UVM, students who win awards like this are fully supported throughout the application process by the Office of Fellowships, Opportunities and Undergraduate Research. The FOUR office provides significant mentoring and development to encourage students to apply for these awards and to position them to be competitive and ultimately successful.

According to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Fulbright alumni from the United States and around the world have gone on to achieve distinction in government, science, the arts, business, philanthropy, and education. Among the ranks of Fulbright alumni are 61 Nobel Prize recipients, 75 MacArthur Foundation Fellows, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, and 40 current or former heads of state or government. The program was created in 1946 through legislation introduced by the late Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas and signed into law by President Harry Truman.

Ben Will

Will ’22, a Biochemistry major and Pharmacology minor, is excited about the research he will be conducting on HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.

Will’s interest in virology was sparked while he was enrolled in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Professor Markus Thali’s class, “Viruses: Good News After All,” in the fall of 2019. The class focused on the beneficial aspects of viruses, such as their use in cancer treatments. The class eventually led to the work Will is doing in Assistant Professor of Surgery Dev Majumdar’s lab.

“My work focuses on identifying where vaccines target SARS-CoV-2 and how different mutations may impact the virus’s ability to avoid immunity resulting from vaccination,” Will said. “I am looking forward to building on this experience as I investigate HIV’s evasion of the immune system in the Fackler Lab at the University of Heidelberg.”

Will sees great potential in the research he will be conducting. Will says that while access to recently developed anti-retroviral therapies have greatly reduced the impact of HIV/AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), treatments are not curative and no widely effective vaccine exists. Additionally, Will says access to treatment is limited, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to UNAIDS, 37.7 million people were living with HIV in 2020, and, of those, 67% were in Sub-Saharan Africa. HIV’s suppression of the immune system makes those with active infections at greater risk of contracting a severe case of COVID-19, Will said.

“When considered in the context of access to HIV treatment and COVID-19 vaccines, this places those who reside in Sub-Saharan Africa at much greater risk,” said Will. “Understanding how HIV is able to evade the immune system is pivotal for advancing our ability to combat the virus clinically. The research I will be conducting will focus on the impacts of regulatory viral proteins on recognition of HIV-infected cells by the innate immune system. I am extremely grateful for this opportunity to expand our knowledge of HIV as the scientific community continues to work on advancing our ability to combat the virus.”

Carina Isbell

Isbell—who graduated from UVM in 2020 with a degree in Community and International Development with a minor in Global Studies—is a master’s candidate in Community Development and Applied Economics, serves as a graduate research and teaching assistant, and is a Gund Institute for Environment graduate fellow.

Isbell is looking forward to the research she will be pursuing to better understand the agroecology movement in Uruguay, along with an exploration of the opportunities and barriers related to policy initiatives that are informed by agroecology.

“I haven’t yet had many chances to travel or become fully immersed in another culture– something I believe is incredibly important for those wanting to pursue a career in the development field,” said Isbell.  “For this and many other reasons, being able to say that I am a Fulbright Scholar and will be traveling to Uruguay to conduct research for nine months still feels unreal. This experience will allow me a number of opportunities I once never thought possible: to learn from fellow students and scholars outside of my own country, to live in a beautiful place steeped in history and culture, and to conduct research in a topic area that is fundamental to the sustainability of food systems globally.”

At UVM, Isbell has been involved in interdisciplinary work that has looked at the importance of supporting agricultural production methods that are less detrimental—which she says in some instances can contribute to healthy and resilient environmental systems.

“In the last several years, agroecology has popped up as one such promising movement whose principals have spread like wildfire throughout Latin America, as well as other regions around the world,” Isbell said. “However, uncertainty still exists surrounding how agroecology should be defined and practiced, as well as how to best scale its principles beyond local contexts and into regional, national, and international policy spheres. Through my Fulbright experience, I hope to inform policies, not only in Uruguay specifically, but globally, which seek to incorporate agroecology (and other alternative food system movements) into their sustainability goals.”

Paige Roussell

Roussell ’22, a Linguistics major with a minor in Food Systems, is also graduating with her certification for teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). Roussell is the winner of a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship and is passionate about second-language acquisition. She will be traveling to South Korea to teach in elementary school.

“I really enjoy working with young children and finding the best ways to encourage their learning. I want to help them build a strong foundation for the rest of their lives and foster growth that can be passed down through generations,” said Roussell. “The Fulbright program will likely send me to smaller, more rural parts of South Korea and I am excited to help bring language learning to those communities because I know how important that can be for the students’ futures.”

Roussell says the TESOL certification process has helped her develop a strong sense of who she is as a teacher. “Being a linguist allows me to offer a unique perspective on language acquisition and how languages should be taught,” Roussell said. “I strongly believe in an individualistic style of teaching that takes every learner’s ability into account. I also am really against prescriptivism and hope to encourage more descriptivist English language teachings while participating in my program.”

Roussell has had to overcome many challenges to get to this point in her journey. She had been trying to study abroad in South Korea to focus on learning the language since her sophomore year, but the COVID-19 pandemic and financial obstacles kept foiling her plans. Instead, Roussell found other ways to learn the language, including enrollment in an immersive language program at Middlebury last summer and again this summer. “So I am really grateful to be able to have the opportunity to finally go to South Korea and fully experience the culture,” she said.

Roussell has not mapped out her future after the Fulbright experience, but she thinks it will likely have something to do with making language acquisition more accessible to everyone. “I think that Fulbright will give me a stronger perspective on students' needs and how English in particular can best be taught. Even if I do not end up doing anything related to teaching after the Fulbright is over, I cannot emphasize enough what a huge opportunity this will be for me.”

“No matter what, the experience I will gain through Fulbright is indispensable in opening up future opportunities for me and allowing me to live the life my parents always wanted for me. For that, I am extremely grateful,” Roussell said.