Meet Pitt’s 2026-27 Fulbright scholars

Eight University of Pittsburgh faculty members - more than double last year's total - were awarded Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Awards by the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Fulbright U.S. Scholars are faculty, researchers, administrators and established professionals who work with institutions abroad to further research or pedagogical practices. This intercultural exchange and research expands and strengthens professional relationships across the world, often laying the foundations for further collaboration and academic progress.

"I'm so pleased that we have doubled the number of faculty receiving Fulbright awards this year," Chancellor Joan Gabel said. "It speaks not only to the breadth and depth of these world-class leaders and educators, but also how our active participation in the Fulbright Program lifts up our whole campus community."

Chancellor Gabel was herself a Fulbright Award recipient in 2018, when she studied higher education practices in India. She now chairs the Fulbright Scholar Advisory Board of the Comparative and Education Society, an independent body providing administration and strategic guidance to the Institute of International Education.

Beyond the prestige of the award, Fulbright experiences are instrumental in shaping new perspectives and insights among the selected scholars. Many alumni of the program have gone on to become experts and leaders in a variety of fields across the world, from government and academia to business and activism.

Garrett Margliotti, director of global partnerships and partner engagement at the University Center for International Studies, serves as the primary point of contact for faculty and staff interested in pursuing Fulbright opportunities.

"We are incredibly proud of this year's Fulbright Scholars and the global impact their work will have through research, teaching and international collaboration," Margliotti said. "Their success reflects the exceptional talent of Pitt faculty and the University's commitment to fostering meaningful partnerships around the world."

Six award recipients have confirmed plans to undertake Fulbright-supported research and teaching activities abroad during the coming academic year:

Shannon Garland is an assistant professor in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences' Department of Music and a faculty member in the Center for Latin American Studies. She will conduct research in Portugal with the Institute for Ethnomusicology - Center for Studies in Music and Dance at NOVA University of Lisbon to examine the volunteer labor of constructing and running the 50th anniversary of the musical, cultural and political Avante! Festival.

Iliya Lefterov is a research professor in the School of Public Health's Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. He will travel to Bulgaria to work alongside fellow scholars and researchers, continuing his studies on Alzheimer's disease - including APOE, a gene linked to increased risk, and the role of lipid metabolism in the brain.

Balaji Palanisamy is an associate professor in the School of Computing and Information's Department of Informatics and Networked Systems. He will conduct a five-month research project on detecting security vulnerabilities in decentralized finance platforms at Reykjavik University in Iceland. The research will develop machine learning-based approaches to detect and analyze patterns indicative of malicious activity, with the goal of enhancing the security and resilience of decentralized finance systems.

Jessica Sun is assistant director for academic affairs in Pitt's Asian Studies Center. She has been awarded the Fulbright-Nehru Commission to observe, collaborate and build relationships with scholars and professors at universities in India. As the University plans to launch study abroad experiences in India, these partnerships are a timely investment in the future of international studies.

Brittany Taylor is a postdoctoral scholar in the School of Nursing's National Institute of Nursing Research-funded genomics training program. She will conduct research at the University of São Paulo to investigate how genomic factors and social determinants of health contribute to sickle cell disease outcomes in Brazil. Using data from the country's cohort of the REDS-III study, Taylor will examine how socioeconomic factors, clinical complications and genetic variants are linked to disease severity and subphenotypes.

Josef Werne is a professor in the Dietrich School's Department of Geology and Environmental Science. He has been awarded a Fulbright Global Scholar Award to travel to Adelaide, Australia; Otago, New Zealand; and Concepción, Chile; to study the processes, drivers and feedbacks of climate variability in regions influenced by the Southern Hemisphere Westerly Winds. Werne's main goal is to develop collaborative relationships with scientists and researchers in the target cities, and create a long-term partnership among collaborators in the three nations.

Photography by Aimee Obidzinski