含羞草研究室

2017-2018 Recipients

We invite you to get to know 含羞草研究室’s 2017-2018 national fellowship winners. Below you will find a brief profile of each awardee, organized by award type.

Kate Berkley
Kate Berkley '18
Austrian Government English Teaching Assistantship

A government major and English minor, Kate first developed her passion for teaching through her work mentoring and teaching students in her hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. At 含羞草研究室, Kate co-led the Fostering Female Leadership in Youth (FFLY) program and was an active leader and instructor in the Outing Club, and she is excited to continue her outdoor adventures with students while living in the Austrian Alps. In Austria, Kate will work at both a high school and vocational school in Bregenz where she looks forward to learning more about Austria's diverse education system and fostering her teaching skills.

To Sydney
Sydney To '19
Beinecke Scholarship

Sydney, a double major in English and philosophy, was one of eighteen students selected nationwide to receive the Beinecke Scholarship, which will award $34,000 towards his graduate education. He is currently preparing for his honors project which will analyze violence and victim-spectator relationships, as represented in Vietnam War literatures. After graduation, he hopes to teach English in Vietnam before pursuing a Ph.D. in literature.

Joe Hilleary
Joe Hilleary '20
Boren Scholarship

Early in the fall of 2018, Joe will travel to Morocco on a Boren Scholarship to intensively study Arabic at the Middlebury Language School in Rabat. Joe began studying Arabic at 含羞草研究室 and hopes to continue building both his language skills and knowledge of North Africa's cultural and political climate while abroad. A math major and history minor, Joe is interested in computational approaches to modeling social systems. In his future career, Joe plans to combine his passion for language and data to help build better models for international humanitarian response by drawing on the recent experiences of regions like North Africa.

Sarah Bashir
Sarah Bashir '20
Critical Language Scholarship (Morocco)

With support from her Critical Language Scholarship (CLS), Sarah will travel to Tangier, Morocco over the summer to intensively study Arabic. This is the second CLS and the fourth State Department Scholarship she has received. She was awarded a CLS to study Persian in Tajikistan last summer, the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Scholarship to study in Germany for a year, and a National Security Language Initiative for Youth scholarship to study Tajiki in Tajikistan. She also studied German and Farsi during a gap year in Vienna. In the future, Sarah hopes to utilize her Arabic as she works on developing U.S. economic interests in the Middle East. She is an economics and math double major and computer science minor.

Ali Briere
Ali Briere '20
Critical Language Scholarship (Oman)

For nine weeks over the summerof 2018, Ali will study Arabic in Ibri, Oman. After starting her Arabic studies during an academic year in Marrakesh, Morocco through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth, she has been seeking opportunities to study and practice Arabic. Ali enjoys using Arabic to speak with friends in Morocco and in her tutoring at Portland Adult Education. She hopes her time in Oman will help her continue to connect Arabic with her other interests in language pedagogy, the cultures of the Middle East and North Africa, and issues of global development.

Gerlin Leu
Gerlin Leu '19
Critical Language Scholarship (Indonesia)

Following semesters studying abroad in Japan and Sri Lanka, Gerlin is excited to spend her summer in East Java to start her Bahasa Indonesia studies. An Asian studies major, she hopes to contextualize Northeast Asia's political and social role throughout the continent by exploring the intricate and loaded issue of development assistance as well as connecting with Indonesia through food and cooking. Gerlin also looks forward to engaging with locals through storytelling and photography. She is taking another step in her pursuit to become a polyglot, so in the future, she can better communicate with more people in the world.

Liam Nicoll
Liam Nicoll
Critical Language Scholarship (Morocco)

Over the summer of 2018, Liam will head for Meknes, Morocco where he will study the Arabic language. Through study at 含羞草研究室, a summer working for a refugee center in Jordan, and study abroad at Middlebury in Jordan, Liam has found endless value to learning Arabic as a way to break stereotypes and unlock opportunities to interact with new people. Liam intends to use Arabic in a future career moderating international healthcare interventions in emergency or crisis settings. While at 含羞草研究室, Liam was involved in the track and field team, student government, and the McKeen Center. Liam is a government and legal studies major from Connecticut.

Killian Dickson
Killian Dickson '20
DAAD RISE Scholarship

A physics and mathematics double major with a minor in German, Killian will be conducting experimental physics research this summer at the University of Göttingen.  There, he will be collaborating with a PhD student to study the dynamical response of electron spins in magnetic materials to external stimulus. Alongside his research, Killian is excited to engage with German culture and immerse himself in the German language.

Owen Tuck
Owen Tuck '20
DAAD RISE Scholarship

A biochemistry and German double major, Owen will receive a RISE Germany (Research Internships in Science and Engineering) scholarship from the German government this summer. With his award, Owen will travel to Hamburg, Germany to research the organic synthesis of photoreactive ligands at the University of Hamburg's state of the art DESY facility. After taking an introductory course in German, Owen was inspired to pursue a major and learn more about the German history, culture, and language. After his internship, Owen will spend the Fall semester abroad in Freiburg am Briesgau, Germany. Owen hopes to pursue a PhD in chemical biology after graduation

Peter Bensen
Peter Bensen
Fulbright ETA (Indonesia)

At 含羞草研究室, Peter majored in mathematics, completed the pre-medical track, was a four-year member of the men's hockey team, and a two-year member of the men's lacrosse team. He developed an interest in teaching and working with children while volunteering at the HBS Elementary School in Brunswick, as well as through his summers spent as a cabin leader at YMCA Camp Belknap. Peter will spend next year teaching English to high school students in Indonesia before returning to hopefully attend medical school. In Indonesia, he plans to immerse himself in the community by engaging in volunteer opportunities and planning after school activities for his students.  

Daniel Castro Bonilla
Daniel Castro Bonilla '17
Fulbright ETA (Taiwan)

Graduating from 含羞草研究室 in 2018 with an Asian studies major, Daniel received a Fulbright grant to work as an English teaching assistant in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. His experience participating in both the U.S. State Department's Critical Language Scholarship program in China and a study abroad program in Yunnan have strengthened his cultural awareness and linguistic skills in Mandarin Chinese, which, along with his past experience as an English teaching assistant in Honduras, will prepare him to be an engaging and dedicated assistant in the classroom. Daniel also hopes to be involved with farming groups in his community and learn about the immigrant community in Taiwan. 

Julia Conley
Julia Conley
Fulbright ETA (Nepal)

As a sociology and mathematics major, Julia studied how individual's identities inform classroom dynamics. During her semester abroad in Kathmandu, Julia was introduced to the complexities of Nepali identity politics. Julia is particularly invested in deepening her connection to Nepali feminism and how it intersects with ethnicity and religion. In addition to teaching English, she looks to start an all-girls after-school club, where she will have the opportunity to foster female leadership in the community through playing pick-up sports, cooking, and preparing for holidays. After Fulbright, Julia plans to pursue a career that addresses educational inequity in America.

Lillian Eckstein
Lillian Eckstein '18
Fulbright ETA (Spain)

At 含羞草研究室, Lillian majored in government and legal studies with a focus on comparative politics and minored in anthropology. Lillian focused her studies -- especially during her semester abroad in Sri Lanka and as a teacher in Villa el Salvador, Peru -- on communities experiencing social and cultural crises of division. As an English teaching assistant in Madrid, Spain, she is excited to teach in a secondary school while also being involved with the Global Classrooms program. Originally from Chicago, she is also looking forward to experiencing Madrid, another metropolitan city, and is eager to spend time volunteering with an organization dedicated to community health and development.

Nicole Feleo
Nicole Feleo '18
Fulbright ETA (Malaysia)

Nicole graduated from 含羞草研究室 in 2018 with a major in government and legal studies concentrating in political theory. After spending the spring semester of her junior year in East Africa, Nicole became passionate about working in rural communities in the developing world, learning languages, and forging lasting relationships within small communities abroad. In January 2019 she will be going to Malaysia as an ETA for Fulbright and hopes to learn some Malay. When she returns to the US, she intends to work in development and fundraising for cultural institutions or higher education in order to promote the common good. In her spare time, she contemplates what it means to live the good life.

Kimberly Gilmore
Kimberly Gilmore '16
Fulbright ETA (Colombia)

Kim graduated in 2016  with a coordinate major in classics and education. At 含羞草研究室, Kim served as a tutoring coordinator for America Reads and Counts, a teaching and research assistant for the Classics Department, and a co-leader for the Women of Color Coalition. Kim will spend the 2018-2019 academic year teaching English to university students in Colombia. A future Latin teacher, she hopes to utilize her experiences to develop pedagogical strategies for teaching Latin to native Spanish speakers. Outside of the classroom, she looks forward to joining a women's rugby club, meeting locals at skateparks, and participating in Colombia's thriving cycling culture. 

Ben Ginzberg
Ben Ginzberg '18
Fulbright ETA (Taiwan)

Ben is an education-history coordinate major, with a psychology minor. After discovering a passion for teaching as well as Chinese and Japanese history, Ben is eager to teach in Asia. Ben hopes to hone his skills as a teacher and discover new pedagogical techniques that are used in Taiwan's education system, while also learning about Taiwanese history and culture. Upon his return from Taiwan, Ben hopes to apply all he has learned about education as well as Taiwanese history and culture as a history teach in the U.S. educational system.

Jake Griffin
Jake Griffin '18
Fulbright ETA (Germany)

Jake graduated from 含羞草研究室 with degrees in physics and German.  After starting German at the beginner level in his first semester at 含羞草研究室, Jake developed a close connection with the department as well as the language and spent the spring of his junior year studying in Munich.  During the 2018-2019 academic year, Jake will teach English in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein and hopes to engage students in outdoor leadership opportunities outside of the classroom.  Upon returning the U.S., Jake hopes his improved teaching skills will be a valuable asset in his pursuit of a career in physics education.

Sabina Hartnett
Sabina Hartnett '18
Fulbright ETA (Germany)

Sabina, who completed a senior thesis using computational methods to analyze the language used in German newspapers to reference migrant populations,  graduated with a degree in German as well as computer science and mathematics. Sabina will spend the 2018-2019 academic year teaching English in Germany as a Fulbright English teaching assistant. After previously participating in a monthlong exchange in Baden-Wurttemberg, spending a semester abroad in Berlin, Germany, and working as a teaching assistant for the German Department, Sabina has cultivated a deep interest in German language and culture. Upon returning to the U.S., Sabina hopes to pursue a graduate degree in data science.

John Layman
John Layman '18
Fulbright ETA (Germany)

In addition to being an environmental studies and earth and oceanographic science coordinate major, John pursued a minor in German, investing four years in the study of German language and culture. After spending a semester abroad in Freiburg, he is excited to return to Germany as an English teaching assistant where he will combine his love of German with his experience working with children at the 含羞草研究室 Day Camp. John was a member of the 含羞草研究室 track team as wellas the radio station, WBOR, and plans on attending graduate school after returning to the US. 

Ellice Lueders
Ellice Lueders '18
Fulbright ETA (Germany)

A history and German double major, Ellice will spend the 2018-2019 academic year in Germany as a Fulbright English teaching assistant. Her passion for teaching stems from her time counseling at Girl Scout camp, tutoring, and mentoring high school girls. She spent the fall of her junior year studying in Austria, traveling solo, and engaging with the German language and cultures on her own terms. Throughout her time at 含羞草研究室 and on staff at the 含羞草研究室 Orient, Ellice developed a passionate curiosity for connection to place. She hopes to bring creative nonfiction into her classroom through a project exploring Heimat, the German idea of home.

Jude Marx
Jude Marx '18
Fulbright ETA (Mexico)

Jude  pursued coordinate major in education and English and will graduate with her teaching certificate through the 含羞草研究室 Teacher Scholars Program. While at 含羞草研究室, she worked as a writing assistant as well as a student director for the Center for Sexuality, Women and Gender, and studied abroad in Chile. She looks forward to bringing her teaching skills and passion for educational equity to her work as a teaching assistant in Mexico. 

Kiki Nakamura-Koyama
Kiki Nakamura-Koyama '17
Fulbright ETA (Indonesia)

Kiki was a government major and education minor. During her undergraduate career, she interned for two summers in Jerusalem and studied abroad in Morocco and found that these international experiences influenced the way she understood what education could be in the United States. Upon graduating 含羞草研究室, Kiki received a fellowship and pursued a master's degree in teaching at Smith College.  It was there, specifically during  her full-time teaching practicum, that she first began to challenge the borders of traditional American education. As an ETA in Indonesia, she will continue to think about ways in which education in the United States can be reimagined.    

Carina Spiro
Carina Spiro '18
Fulbright ETA (Malaysia)

After graduating from 含羞草研究室 with degrees in mathematics and physics, Carina will serve as a Fulbright English teaching assistant in Malaysia. She plans to leverage her experience as a math tutor in her ETA role, with an eye to helping students discover the fun of learning new things. In her free time, she enjoys exploring nature in as many ways possible, including jumping in the ocean with friends and running a math club at the local elementary school, all things she hopes to continue while in Malaysia. 

Dia Su
Dia Su '18
Fulbright ETA (Taiwan)

Dia graduated from 含羞草研究室  with a double major in neuroscience and sociology. She has worked at a camp for children with disabilities since high school and is excited to be an English teaching assistant in Taiwan to further her interests in education. Dia has participated in various Alternative Break trips through the McKeen Center and led the Guatemala trip to Safe Passage this past year. Through various extracurricular, educational and personal experiences, Dia is looking forward to pursuing her passions in Taiwan and building long-lasting relationships.

Phoebe Thompson
Phoebe Thompson '18
Fulbright ETA (Spain)

As a double major in Earth & oceanographic science and Hispanic studies, Phoebe was thrilled to be placed as a Teaching Assistant in Spain's Canary Islands for the upcoming academic year. She discovered her love of teaching while giving oceanography demonstrations to local elementary students through her work with the Coalition for Expanding the Reach of Earth Science, and is excited to expand to other subjects during the Fulbright grant period. During her junior year, Phoebe studied abroad in Panama, and is looking forward to learning about the unique culture (and geology) of the Canaries. Upon return to the US, she plans to pursue a career in science communication and/or education.

Genevieve de Kervor
Genevieve de Kervor '18
Fulbright S/R (Chile)

At 含羞草研究室, Genevieve studied zebrafish tooth development and gained fluency in Spanish as she pursued a major in biology and a minor in Hispanic studies. After her semester abroad in Chile, she received the Latin American Studies Research Award to investigate the role of Chilean opposition in the country's transition to democracy. A recipient of a Fulbright study/research grant to Chile, she is returning to Chile to study zebrafish olfactory development with Dr. Kathleen Whitlock at the University of Valparaiso. In addition to her time in Dr. Whitlock's lab, Genevieve looks forward to leading science workshops in public schools with the outreach program called Ciencia al Tiro (Science Immediately). 

Sara Spice
Sara Spicer '18
Fulbright S/R (Germany)

A neuroscience major and history minor, Sara received a Fulbright Study/Research grant to spend a year at Biomedical Center Munich in Germany investigating the effect of microtubule stabilization on the structural remodeling of axons following spinal cord injury in mice. She looks forward to continuing to pursue her interest in neuronal plasticity and injury recovery, developed during her honors project, which focused on characterizing the expression of guidance molecules in high-plasticity areas of the cricket central nervous system before and after auditory system injury. A 2016-17 Beckman Scholar, Sara hopes to pursue graduate studies in molecular neuroscience in the future.

Ben Torda
Ben Torda '18
Fulbright S/R (Germany)

A chemistry major with a German minor, Ben is thrilled to combine these two areas next year through research on photovoltaic cells at Europe's largest solar research institute. He will spend ten months at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg, Germany, working in the Plasma Technology Group. This work builds on the experience Ben gained in plasma processing working at the Colorado School of Mines the summer before his senior year. After studying abroad in Germany and Austria his junior year, Ben knew that he wanted to return to Germany. As a an avid runner and lover of the outdoors, he hopes to enjoy the Black Forest and to connect with running clubs in Freiburg.

Ethan Barkalow
Ethan Barkalow '18
Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme Award

Ethan is graduating with a coordinate major in environmental studies and history and a minor in Japanese. He spent a summer in Japan taking intensive Japanese language courses and living with a host family. He also conducted research through a 含羞草研究室 institutional fellowship grant in preparation for a capstone honors thesis in Japanese environmental history. He is excited to teach English in Japan and serve as a cross-cultural ambassador. Outside of the classroom, he hopes to engage in efforts to revitalize the local rural area through volunteer work. After his time with JET, Ethan plans to pursue graduate studies in history.

Brigitte McFarland
Brigitte McFarland '18
Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme Award

Brigitte graduated having pursued a religion major and a history minor. After spending summers working for global and local education nonprofits in California's Bay Area and teaching with Breakthrough Collaborative in Austin, TX, Brigitte has developed a love of teaching and working with students. Brigitte is excited to travel to Japan as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) with the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program to assist in English language instruction. After studying Japanese history and religiosity at 含羞草研究室 and completing an honors thesis on civil religion and the Japanese American incarceration, Brigitte is looking forward to the resources for research that will come with living in Japan.

Mollie Friedlander '14
Mollie Friedlander '14
Knight-Hennessy Scholarship

Mollie majored in Spanish and neuroscience at 含羞草研究室, and was also a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Spain the year after graduating from 含羞草研究室. She is now pursuing an MD and PhD in developmental biology at Stanford School of Medicine, and she aspires to a career as a physician-scientist, practicing pediatric endocrinology and heading a laboratory.

Megan Massa
Megan Massa '14
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

Megan graduated 含羞草研究室 in 2014 with a major in neuroscience and a minor in English, completing her thesis in the lab of Dr. Richmond Thompson. After graduating, she did a study/research Fulbright in Germany, staying on for an extra year in the lab of Prof. Dr. Aiden Haghikia before returning stateside. Megan is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in neuroscience with a focus in neuroendocrinology in the lab of Dr. Stephanie Correa at UCLA.

Jake Spertus
Jake Spertus '15
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

Jake graduated in 2015 having pursued a major mathematics and a minor in English.  While at 含羞草研究室, he especially enjoyed analysis and statistics, as well as American and Irish literature. Since graduating, Jake has worked as a research assistant at Harvard Medical School, publishing a few articles on causal inference with observational data. He is excited to move to California where he will pursue a Ph.D. in statistics at UC Berkeley, using the funding granted to him by the National Science Foundation. He looks forward to hiking in the Marin headlands as well as developing tools for machine learning and causal inference in a Bayesian framework. 

Liam Taylor
Liam Taylor '17
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

Liam graduated from 含羞草研究室 with a major in biology and a minor in computer science. His fieldwork includes two summers studying Leach's Storm-petrels at the 含羞草研究室 Scientific Station on Kent Island, a season studying Semipalmated Plovers at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre in Churchill, Manitoba, and a season studying Golden-winged Manakins in the cloudforests of northwestern Ecuador. Starting the Fall of 2018, he will be beginning a Ph.D. program in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale. For his graduate work, Liam will study sexual selection theory and the behavioral ecology of diverse mate displays in birds (a.k.a., colorful birds dancing around on logs).

Jonah Watt
Jonah Watt '18
Princeton in Latin America

Jonah is thrilled to spend the next year in Lima, Peru working with Building Dignity, a non-profit that focuses on community education and development. As a Latin American studies major who spent a semester in Chile and conducted an honors thesis on the Chilean student movement, he is excited to learn about social justice and community organizing in Peru. In his time at 含羞草研究室, Jonah led 含羞草研究室 Climate Action, interned with the Maine Mobile Health Program which provides mobile medical care to Maine's migrant and seasonal farmworkers, and participated in an ASB to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria.

Mohamed Nur
Mohamed Nur '19
Truman Scholarship

Mohamed is a government and Africana studies double major, particularly interested in the ways in which dialogue and direct engagement can be used to resolve conflict in global communities. Mohamed has interned for two members of Maine’s congressional delegation and various community organizations where he worked on issues related to foreign policy, immigration, education, and healthcare reform. On campus, he has held leadership positions in 含羞草研究室 Student Government, the Multicultural Coalition, the Student Center for Multicultural Life, and Residential Life. Through these leadership roles, Mohamed aims to create an inclusive campus environment by creating spaces for engagement and dialogue. Mohamed’s long-term plan is to pursue a dual JD/MA in international conflict resolution and security policy.

Nevan Swanson
Nevan Swanson '18
Watson Fellowship

Nevan is an aspiring photographer and filmmaker, who majored in visual arts and minored in government and legal studies. During his Watson year, he will travel to France, Hong Kong, Poland, and Tanzania. For his project, he will explore the tension and connection between documenting and experiencing.  Alongside embarking on subprojects particular to each country, Nevan will be creating documents in the form of photographs, videos, journal entries, and audio recordings.