Nine Swarthmore Students and Alumni
Win Fulbright Fellowships

by Mariam Zakhary '13
7/8/2010

Nine Swarthmore College seniors and alumni are recipients Fulbright Fellowships for 2011. The Fulbright Program is designed to "increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries." Fellowships are given to American students, young professionals, and artists selected through a national, open, merit-based competition for study, research, internships and/or service abroad. With a broad academic focus including the social sciences, humanities, and the sciences, the program emphasizes leadership development. Approximately 1,500 fellowships were awarded this year.

Sarah Apt '10 will spend the year teaching English in Mexico.

Madeleine Abromowitz '10, a robotics major, will research the alphorn and its adaptation to modern forms of music at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. While at Swarthmore, she played in chamber music ensembles, the orchestra, and the Balkan Brass band. She was also a member of War News Radio and the fencing team.

Rosanne Breakenridge '09 plans to further study the concept of biofiltration and constructed wetlands. She first became interested in this topic when she took an Ecological Engineering and Sustainable Development class while she studied abroad in Poland in 2008 during her junior year. At Swarthmore, she was a member of varsity badminton, National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Students of Caribbean Ancestry (SOCA), Swarthmore Christian Fellowship, and co-hosted a the radio show "Hot Off Di Press." Breakenridge graduated with a major in engineering with a focus on civil and environmental disciplines.

Eric Chiang '10, a biology and political science double major, will be an English teaching assistant in Oman. His interest was sparked when he studied at the American University in Cairo during his junior year. In Cairo he served as a volunteer English teacher to refugees and Egyptian public university students. While in Oman, Chiang will also work with several environmental groups to assess environmental awareness and activism in the country.

Sung Uk Choi '08 will travel to South Korea to conduct research on "intimacy through the lens of courtship and marriage and their historical transformation." He graduated with sociology and anthropology major and a double minor in psychology and Asian studies. While at Swarthmore, Choi was an RA, a co-chair of the Korean cultural group (HAN), and a two-term editor-in-chief of the Halcyon yearbook.

Gina Grubb '10, an education and psychology double major, plans to teach English in Northeastern Thailand. At Swarthmore Grubb was involved in TOPSoccer, was a member of the field hockey team, and she served as a resident assistant and a teaching assistant.

Jaselyn Justiniano '07 plans to assist as an English instructor for a bilingual program at a secondary school in Madrid. The name of her Fulbright proposal was "Making World Changers"; she hopes to one day develop full-service schools that will train and empower students from underserved communities to become healthcare providers capable of caring for their own communities.

Margaret Perry '08 plans to work at the recently found Turtle Conservation Centre on the Setiu River in Malaysia. She will research the effect of farming on the endangered Southern River Terrapin and hopes to work toward fostering a relationship between conservation scientists and local landowners. A biology major at Swarthmore, Perry began researching turtles while working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's station on Barro Colorado Island, Panama in 2005.

David Weeks '10, a political science and Asian studies double major, will teach English in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and conduct research on the impact of changes in the middle school history curriculum. His interest in teaching English developed when he studied abroad in Shanghai, China during his junior year.

Read more about Swarthmore's Fulbright recipients in The Phoenix.