Six faculty members and one postdoctoral researcher at Florida State University have received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award for the 2024-2025 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
Their expertise will take them to Finland, Colombia, Italy, India, Germany and Sweden.
Fulbright U.S. Scholars are faculty, researchers, administrators and established professionals teaching or conducting research in affiliation with institutes abroad. Fulbright Scholars engage in cutting-edge research and expand their professional networks, often continuing research collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for forging future partnerships between institutions. Upon returning to their home countries, institutions, labs and classrooms, they share their stories and often become active supporters of international exchange, inviting foreign scholars to campus and encouraging colleagues and students to go abroad.
The 2024-2025 Fulbright Scholars from FSU are:
Nora Underwood, a professor in the Department of Biological Science in the College of Arts and Sciences, will use the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to conduct new research at Stockholm University, Sweden, that explores the impact of climate on the phenology of plants and birds. Underwood received an honorary doctorate from Stockholm University in 2019 for her contributions to the university’s research and education activities.
Diana Lopez, a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Biological Science in the College of Arts and Sciences, will conduct research on coral ecophysiology in Colombia through a Fulbright Postdoctoral Award. Lopez will travel to Gorgona Island, a Colombian island that previously served as a prison, to study the response of coral photophysiology and endosymbiont composition to dynamic changes in environmental conditions
Mainak Mookherjee, a professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science in the College of Arts and Sciences, will conduct research in India through the Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award to examine whether crustal rocks from Himalaya and the Indian subcontinent contain trace quantities of water. Fulbright-Nehru Awards enable the most outstanding students, academics and professionals in India and the U.S. to study, research and teach in the host country.
Vincent Salters, director of the geochemistry program at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science in the College of Arts and Sciences, will spend the academic year at the University of Münster in Germany. He plans to closely collaborate with Andreas Stracke, a professor in the Institute for Mineralogy at the University of Münster, on research that concentrates on the Earth’s mantle and fractionation due to mid-ocean ridge volcanism. Stracke is a former student of Salters’s who graduated from FSU in 2001.
Shuyuan Ho Metcalfe, an associate professor in the School of Information in the College of Communication and Information, will travel to Bologna, Italy, to conduct research on the perception and traceability of anonymous communication for global cyber defense. She will also fulfill a Fulbright Lectureship at the University of Bologna during her time overseas.
Daekawn Kim, the Spencer-Feheley MBA Professor in the Dr. Persis E. Rockwood School of Marketing in the College of Business, will spend four months in Finland at the University of Vaasa through the Fulbright-University of Vaasa Scholar Award. While in Vaasa, Kim will conduct research on the performance and sustainability implications of global versus regional industries.
Fulbright is a program of the U.S. Department of State, with funding provided by the U.S. Government. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the program, which operates in over 160 countries worldwide.
Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 400,000 talented and accomplished students, scholars, teachers, artists, and professionals of all backgrounds with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research abroad. Fulbrighters exchange ideas, build connections and work to address complex global challenges. Notable Fulbrighters include 62 Nobel Laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 80 MacArthur Fellows, 41 heads of state or government and thousands of leaders across the private, public and non-profit sectors.
Over 800 individuals teach or conduct research abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program annually. In addition, over 2,000 Fulbright U.S. Student Program participants — recent college graduates, graduate students and early career professionals — participate in study/research exchanges or as English teaching assistants in local schools abroad each year.
In the United States, the Institute of International Education implements the Fulbright U.S. Student and U.S. Scholar Programs on behalf of the U.S. Department of State. For more information about the Fulbright Program, visit fulbrightprogram.org.
FSU faculty interested in learning more about applying for Fulbright Program funding can contact Peggy Wright-Cleveland, director of the Office of Faculty Development and Advancement, at mwrightcleveland@admin.fsu.edu or (850) 645-8202.