SALISBURY — Three Salisbury University seniors will spend part of the next year teaching in, learning in and experiencing cultures abroad as recipients of the 2024-25 U.S. Fulbright Student Award.
Ashlynn Burrows, a conflict analysis and dispute resolution and communication major from Edgewater, MD, was selected for an English teaching assistantship in the Czech Republic. Madison Cuthbert, an environmental and international studies major from Potomac, MD, will conduct research in Greece. Naomi Perry, a biology and French major from Odenton, MD, will study in France.
Another SU semifinalist, Rebecca Pritt ’23, from Havre de Grace, MD, was selected as an alternate for the program.
“These students join the long list of SU Fulbright Students who have traveled across the globe, enriching their own experiences while fostering the growth of others,” said SU President Carolyn Ringer Lepre. “To be selected as a Fulbright Student is one of the most prestigious honors a student or recent graduate can achieve. We are extremely proud of their accomplishment.”
Ashlynn Burrows
A leader on campus and in the community, Burrows hopes her assistantship will allow her to build on the skills she has already honed teaching an English for Adults class at the Wicomico Public Library, working predominately with the local Haitian immigrant community.
“As a double major, I firmly believe education is the fundamental base of society, and I want to learn how to impact global relationships by teaching youth,” she said. “As an English teaching assistant, I will share my knowledge of American culture and politics with my students in a fun and relaxed atmosphere.
“I am interested in learning about the Czech school system, as it contains a large number of vocational schools and is much different than the American school system. The high education rate has helped the country to have a very low poverty rate.”
During her Fulbright appointment, she also plans to partner with the U.S. Embassy’s American Spaces program, which promotes interaction among host communities in the U.S. in support of foreign policy, and with EducationUSA, which promotes educational opportunities in the U.S. to students abroad.
She also intends to volunteer with the Czech Women’s Lobby to advocate for the rights of women and disadvantaged groups, and possibly assist in coaching a local girls basketball team, reflecting her interest in that sport as a tool for motivation and relationship building. She also is interested in hosting a Gender Equality Club to allow others to practice their English while discussing and exploring the topic.
Burrows hopes the experience will help her prepare for a potential position with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), focusing on educational access support through the agency’s Office of Democracy, Gender and Human Rights. Upon returning to the U.S., she hopes to pursue a master’s degree at Johns Hopkins University or Queen’s University Belfast.
Madison Cuthbert
In Greece, Cuthbert will work with Dr. Christina Zeri of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research in Athens and with Olga Ioanna Kalantzi of the University of the Aegean in Mytilene to study the interconnectedness of science and policy in the role of minimizing microplastics in Greek surface waters.
She grew up visiting Jamaica, which is part of her family’s heritage, and was horrified by the amount of trash on some of the island’s public beaches. Seeing the contrast between that and the pristine waters of Greece while vacationing in the Mediterranean nation sparked her interest in the topic.
“People are unaware that they are frequently ingesting, inhaling and drinking microplastics every day,” she said, pointing to an Orb Media study showing 83% of the world’s tap water contains these materials. “As the microplastics issue has reached a state of urgency for our world leaders, the United Nations (UN) is developing combative actions such as an international treaty on plastics.”
At the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, she will conduct participant observation to observe current studies and practices the center is utilizing for microplastics research and get hands-on experience learning the skills necessary for successful lab studies of microplastics. She then will spend two months at the University of the Aegean researching the science that has been influential in the development of current microplastics policies and what role science can play in microplastics distribution, accumulation and policy advocacy in Greece.
She will use this information to develop a science-policy interface framework she hopes will allow both institutions to provide insight for future studies that could assist the mission of the UN and other agencies to keep the threat of microplastics from becoming even more exacerbated.
Like Burrows, she hopes to participate with local student basketball players and in events hosted through the American Spaces program. She also plans to attend events hosted by the Thessaloniki TechLab, hosted by American Spaces partner Education in Action, and share that information with colleagues in Athens, about five hours away.
“The connections I have created within my community through my research are just as important to me as the research itself,” she said, adding that she hopes to broaden those connections in Greece.
After the program, she hopes to pursue an M.S. in water science, policy and management at Oxford University in England, then earn her Ph.D. in that discipline. Ultimately, she would like to work as a water resources specialist for the Nature, Energy and Environment team at the UN Development Program’s Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, rising through the program’s ranks.
Naomi Perry
Through her Fulbright appointment, Perry will pursue an M.S. in Life Sciences and Health at the Université Paris-Saclay en route to what she hopes will be an out-of-this-world career.
“France is the center of astrobiological and aerospace research in French, which will help with international cooperation in my future career,” she said. “As a future spaceflight surgeon, I will need to understand the way that human physiology functions on the Earth and the way that it is impacted by extreme conditions such as low gravity and increased radiation,” she said. “Pursuing [this degree] will allow me to specialize in the skills necessary to apply to an aerospace Ph.D. laboratory, talk about research and medical procedures in French, and gain more specialized knowledge in medicine and space.”
Through the program, she will complete astrobiological research under the guidance of Dr. Arnaud Buch at the campus’ Laboratorie de Génie des Procédés et Matériaux (Process Engineering and Materials Laboratory). This includes characterizing the microbial communities and determining biosignatures of microbes from lava tubes in the Azores archipelago in Portugal to determine analogs for life on Mars.
Beyond the laboratory and classroom, she plans to enroll in the campus’ international student buddy program and several student clubs to foster deeper ties to the community. Off campus, she hopes to work with programs like EducationUSA, perform charity work with the animal protection agency Chats Ulissiens, and learn French-style medieval combat as a member of the Chapitre des Armes.
She already has a jumpstart on her time in the country, spending her final semester at SU studying abroad in Lyon, France.
After completing the Fulbright Student program, she plans to begin medical school and apply to be a physician through the U.S. Air Force Health Professions Scholarship Program.
More than 100 SU students have won national and international fellowships, scholarships and awards in the past decade, including 42 Fulbright Students. The U.S. Department of State and Chronicle of Higher Education consistently names SU among the top producers of Fulbright students in the U.S.
The Fulbright is America’s flagship international exchange program and is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
SU students or alumni who are interested in applying for national fellowships should complete an online interest form at https://salisbury.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_01WQGdHQU3crb70 or contact Dr. Kristen Walton, director of the SU Nationally Competitive Fellowships Office, at kpwalton@salisbury.edu for assistance. For more information, visit www.salisbury.edu/nationalfellowships .
Learn more about SU and opportunities to Make Tomorrow Yours at www.salisbury.edu .
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