Fulbright Fellows Worldwide

This year, 13 USC Dornsife undergraduate and graduate students and alumni earned Fulbright Fellowships. A Fulbright grant supports a year of independent study, research and teaching in one of more than 140 countries.

This year’s USC Dornsife Fulbright Fellows include seven seniors who are graduating this year, three doctoral candidates and two alumni.

Sean Allgood will receive his bachelor’s degree in computational neuroscience. He won a Fulbright research grant to Spain to conduct studies of Alzheimer’s disease in collaboration with the Cajal Institute in Madrid.

Jillian Barndt is pursuing a Ph.D. in history. Her Fulbright research project will examine the education system of Heian (794-1185) and Kamakura (1185-1333) period Japan, working closely with graduate students at Tokyo University and students at Meiji University.

Margarette (Maggie) Deagon is a double major in social sciences (psychology) and Spanish with a minor in Korean Studies. She will depart this summer to be a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) in South Korea.

Constance (Connie) Ge graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history and a minor in American studies and ethnicity in 2015. She will teach English with the Fulbright ETA program in Indonesia.

Helen Anne Kennedy will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in international relations (global business). She will be a Fulbright ETA in Laos for the upcoming academic year.

Robin Liu will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in international relations (global business) and a minor in German studies. While in Germany, Robin will conduct interviews with skeptics of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and give surveys to the general public to test for factors influencing their stances on the initiative.

Julia Loup will complete her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in communication design. She is the first USC student to win the Fulbright Combined Grant to Austria, a unique award that offers study and research grants combined with ETAs.

Marie McCoy-Thompson will receive a bachelor’s degree in narrative studies with minors in French and marketing. Her Fulbright ETA assignment is in Thailand.

Hai-Vu Phan is a Ph.D. candidate in political science and international relations. As a recipient of the Fulbright-Clinton Fellowship, she intends to work as a special assistant in one of Peru’s energy ministries.

Amanda Schmitt graduated from USC in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in international relations and a minor in business. She will serve as an ETA at a university in Turkey.

Meredith Shaw is a Ph.D. student in political science and international relations. She will spend a year in Seoul, South Korea, conducting interviews and doing archival research on the role of state-imposed cultural change on popular attitudes and regime stability in both colonial Korea under the Japanese and in the post-1948 divided Korea.

Lilly Taing will receive a bachelor of arts in health and humanity and minors in health-care studies and international health, development and social change. With her Fulbright research grant in Sweden, she will work at the Sahlgrenska Academy to explore the effects of estrogen on the neurobiological regulation of food reward behavior.

Anna Walther graduated with a double major in international relations and German in 2014. She will be working in a government ministry in Guatemala.