Thirteen University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students and recent graduates were offered Fulbright grants to pursue international education, research and teaching experiences around the globe this coming year. Another six Illinois students were named Fulbright alternates.
Eleven of the students have accepted grants from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, which builds international relationships to help solve global challenges. This flagship international educational exchange program of the U.S. government awards grants to students based on their academic and professional achievement, as well as their ambassadorial skills and leadership potential. The Fulbright student program will fund approximately 2,100 U.S. citizens to live abroad for the 2023-24 academic year.
“A full one-third of U. of I. Fulbright applicants were offered grants this year,” said David Schug, director of the National and International Scholarships Program at Illinois. “This is the university’s highest success rate in at least the past 20 years. This fall will find Illini representing the university on five different continents.”
Daniela Barbosa graduated in May with a degree in psychology. She will be teaching English in South Korea. A graduate of Plainfield East High School, at Illinois she tutored through the America Reads/America Counts program. A first-generation, bilingual student, Barbosa is eager to learn a third language and wishes to continue to educate children.
Luisa Daniela Carrillo will be teaching English in Mexico. Carrillo graduated in May with a degree in political science. As the child of Mexican immigrants, she served as a translator for her parents while growing up in Chicago. She attended Lane Tech High School. At Illinois, she was active in La Casa Cultural Latina, the Latinx cultural center and as President of Alpha Psi Lambda National, Inc. at Beta Chapter. She is interested in immigration and family law and she believes her experience in Mexico will make her a stronger advocate on immigration issues.
Drew Gooding will go to Spain to teach English. They graduated in May with a degree in information systems and marketing and a minor in English as a second language. Gooding attended North Boone High School in Poplar Grove, Illinois. They are interested in working in Spain because of its status as a major host of migrants and its support of the LGBT+ community, both areas that Gooding plans to become involved with in Spain.
Lilian Lucas will graduate in August with a degree in geology. She will spend her year in Germany at the University of Bremen Department of Geosciences investigating magma migration prior to the 2018 eruption at the Sierra Negra volcano in Ecuador. Lucas attended Canton High School in Michigan. While at Illinois, she completed an internship for the U.S. Geological Survey with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on numerical modeling. She also played on the Illinois women’s soccer team and hopes to play for the SV Werder Bremen Frauen team while she is in Germany.
Mariama Mwilambwe graduated in May with a degree in political science. She has accepted a Fulbright/Newcastle University Award to study in the United Kingdom for a master’s in sustainable agriculture and food security. She attended Normal Community High School in Illinois and was a James Scholar at U. of I. She was the first African-American woman chosen to serve as Student Trustee on the Board of Trustees. She has worked in the food security area on campus, with the state of Illinois, and with multiple nongovernmental organizations.
Nicole Park is planning to teach in Taiwan. She graduated in May with a degree in both food science and human nutrition and molecular and cellular biology. A participant in the Campus Honors Program, she is also a James Scholar. Park attended Prospect High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois. She plans to become a physician and believes this experience will help her enhance her communication skills. She worked as a resident assistant and a pre-health advisor at the U. of I.
