CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – A May graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is among the recipients of a Fulbright Grant to support advanced study in the United Kingdom.
Jon Donenberg of Northbrook, Ill., is one of 11 U.S. applicants to receive the merit-based grant for the United Kingdom. The award will cover the full cost of Donenberg’s academic studies at Cambridge University in England, as well as travel and living expenses.
“The grant to the United Kingdom is the most competitive of all student Fulbrights to be awarded,” said David Schug, who heads the campus’s Scholarships for International Study Office. “Donenberg’s selection from a pool of 690 applicants, including graduating seniors, graduate students and young professionals, puts him in the top 1.6 percent of those applying.”
The Fulbright Selection Committee rates candidates based on their academic or professional qualifications; the validity and feasibility of the applicant’s proposed project; evidence of maturity, motivation and adaptability to a different cultural environment; and the impression a candidate will make abroad as a citizen representing the United States. Even more so than other Fulbright countries, the U.K. Commission looks for extracurricular activities in and out of an applicant’s field, leadership potential, and general community involvement, Schug said.
Donenberg, who completed his five-year dual degree program in electrical engineering and political science at Illinois in four years, plans to further integrate his knowledge of both fields while at Cambridge.
Donenberg will begin a one-year master’s program in technology policy there this fall. His academic interests include examining the similarities and differences in U.S. and U.K. science regulatory policy.
As a student at Illinois, Donenberg engaged in research in political science, patent law and wind-energy technology policy; served as an undergraduate tutor in multiple subjects, and designed an advanced course in security technology policy. Outside the classroom, he founded a bus-chartering company and played saxophone in several local bands.
In addition to his academic and extracurricular activities, Donenberg gained experience working at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation in Washington, D.C.
After earning a degree at Cambridge, Donenberg plans to enroll in law school at Yale University, and eventually pursue a career in technology law and regulation.
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