A Wellesley education opens a world of possibilities. Several recent graduates are looking ahead to a year of study, research, or teaching abroad, with the help of grants and fellowships.

Alyssa Brody ’16 received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, which funds a year of independent study and travel outside of the United States. The $30,000 award will allow Brody, a political science and environmental studies major, to visit Japan, Thailand, Italy, Iceland, and Chile to investigate the farm-to-table system. She plans to study communities that prioritize this sustainable, small-scale form of agriculture and traditional means of sharing family meals despite busy lifestyles, rising food demand, and the encroaching factory farm systems.

Huiying Bernice Chan ’16 received a Susan Rappaport Knafel ’52 Traveling Fellowship, which provides up to $28,000 in support of a year of purposeful travel abroad, with the stipulation that the recipient not remain in any area for more than two months. Chan, an ethnic studies individual major, will study Chinatowns around the world, focusing on grassroots community organizing and stories of migration of the Chinese diaspora in Cuba, Peru, South Africa, Vietnam, the Philippines, and China.

Talin Ghazarian ’16 received a Susan Rappaport Knafel ’52 Scholarship for Foreign Study, which funds a year of study for a senior who wants to pursue a specific subject that requires contact with foreign scholars, libraries, or other resources. Ghazarian, an art history and Middle Eastern studies double major, will work toward a master of philosophy degree in Assyriology at the University of Cambridge. Her research will focus on violence, alterity, and the body in neo-Assyrian art.

Meredith Santaus ’16 received a $30,000 scholarship from the Saint Andrew’s Society of the State of New York, awarded annually to two American students of Scottish descent. The scholarship will enable Santaus, an English and classics major, to earn a master of letters degree in book history from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Nine seniors have received awards from the Fulbright Program, the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and those of other countries. Over 360,000 students have participated in the program since its inception in 1946. Recipients of Fulbright grants are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields.

Congratulations to Wellesley’s 2016 recipients:

Olivia Kern ’16, biological sciences. Awarded a grant to travel to Togo to research schistosomes, the blood flukes that cause schistosomiasis in humans.

Leah Nugent ’16, environmental studies and anthropology. Awarded a grant to research how Jiuzhaigou National Park in China shapes people’s views of nature and the social implications of park management strategies for indigenous groups. 

Anna Payne ’16, astrophysics and geosciences. Awarded a grant to do research at the Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon in Lyon, France, on extinction and star formation rates of luminous infrared galaxies using hydrogen recombination lines of spectroscopic data, which help tell the story about the evolution of dusty galaxies.

Celina Reynes ’16, English, with a creative writing concentration. Awarded an English teaching assistantship to work with a high school in Madrid. She plans to spend her free time writing screenplays, journaling, and shooting short films.

Jessica Saifee ’16, neuroscience and South Asia studies.  Awarded an English teaching assistantship in Tajikistan. She also hopes to work with Afghan refugees there.

Izzy Starr ’16, anthropology. Awarded a grant to do research at Ankara University in Turkey, where she will work with professors Ayla Sevim Erol and Hakan Mutlu, focusing on bioarchaeological differences of human remains at various Turkish sites.

Amanda Trabulsi ’16, Russian area studies. Awarded an English teaching assistantship to work with high school students in Kyrgyzstan. She also plans to research the rise of Islam as a political and anti-regime force in post-Soviet Central Asia.

Betty Wallingford ’16, anthropology. Awarded an English teaching assistantship to work with elementary students on Kinmen Island, which is close to mainland China but officially governed by Taiwan. She hopes to work with children from farming communities.

Carine Wete ’16, economics. Awarded a grant to intern at a multinational company in Mexico and enroll in graduate courses at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) through the Binational Business Program. The Fulbright Binational Business program is part of the Fulbright research program.

Three Wellesley women were named alternate awardees: Megan Locatis ’16 (Senegal), Teryn Mitchell ’16 (Germany), and Meredith Santaus ’16 (United Kingdom).

Congratulations to all!