Past Fulbright U.S. Scholar Pre-Application Travel Grant Awardees
The Buffett Institute supports international research and teaching collaborations across Northwestern’s schools to generate new knowledge about pressing global challenges and promising solutions for addressing them. The Buffett Institute's Fulbright U.S. Scholar Pre-Application Travel Grant provides Northwestern faculty members funding to visit international partners and collaborators abroad in advance of applying for a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Award.
2024
Noshir Contractor
Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, McCormick School of Engineering and Kellogg School of Management
Noshir Contractor traveled to Naples, Rome, Bologna, and Milan, Italy with the Buffett Institute’s support to explore prospective collaborators and institutions. Noshir’s long-standing commitment to building global collaborations and expertise in network methodologies provides the framework for symbiotic relationships with global partners, which he aims to strengthen for the study of generative AI and workplace networks. Leslie DeChurch
Communication Studies, School of Communication
Leslie DeChurch, with the Buffett Institute’s support, traveled to Bologna and Rome, Italy to meet with potential research collaborators. Leslie’s recent development of a summer study abroad program based in Florence, Italy offered her insight into how the research of leadership and the Italian language can be synergistic for her multidisciplinary appointments at Northwestern. Louise Kiernan
Journalism, Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications
Louise Kiernan Albania with support from the Buffett Institute to share the techniques, challenges, and rewards of the investigative journalism field with students and practitioners. Louise met with faculty and officials at the University of Tirana, local representatives with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, and journalism faculty at the University of Montenegro at Podgora. Nathan Rossi
Radio/TV/Film, School of Communication
Nathan Rossi, with support from the Buffett Institute, El Salvador to investigate how migration and forced displacement play a role in the cultural identity negotiation of diasporic subjects. As a Salvadoran who immigrated to the US as a child, Nathan examines the role of non-profit organizations in reconciling family separation and displacement. 2023
Erin Courtney
Radio/Television/Film, School of Communication
Erin Courtney received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Pre-Application Travel Grant in 2023. With our support, Erin was able to travel to Galway, Ireland to meet with potential collaborators and educational partners, enhancing the strength and specificity of her application to the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. Through the program, Erin seeks to research and write a feature-length narrative film about a group of environmentalists fighting to preserve the rich biodiversity of the Irish landscape. Both the film's narrative content and structure will reflect the complex ecosystem of the Irish bog as well as draw upon the folklore of Ireland. During her pre-application travel in Ireland, Erin strengthened support for her application from the University of Galway and created connections with local and international film industry professionals at the International Galway Film Fleadh.
J.P. Sniadecki
Radio/Television/Film, School of Communication
J.P. Sniadecki received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Pre-Application Travel Grant in 2023. With our support, J.P. was able to travel to Taiwan to meet with representatives of the Taiwanese International Documentary Festival and the Taiwan Film Archive as well as with Taiwanese filmmakers. During his pre-application travel in Taiwan, he conducted field research on this sphere of cultural production and fostered a network film scholars, archivists and filmmakers to support his application to the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. Through the program, J.P. seeks to study how Taiwanese documentary film practitioners, particularly the growing number of Indigenous filmmakers in the country, depict precarity with respect to culture, geopolitics and ecology.
