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Record Breaking: 14 UVM Fulbright Scholars — our largest cohort ever — are headed around the world to teach, research, and study. So proud of these Catamounts making an impact worldwide. #UVMgrad The 11 new UVM Fulbright Student Awardees for teaching assistantships, and the countries where they will be teaching are: Elliot Baird ’26 - Argentina Sam Bjorklun ’24 – Thailand John Blochberger ’25 - Taiwan Rebecca Bruun ’26 – Colombia Maximilian Dodson ’23 – Taiwan Effi Jacobsen ’25 – Kosovo Meghan Lee ’26 – Taiwan Maxwell Levine ’26 – Vietnam Dylan Moody A’ness ’26 – Germany Savannah Rijkse ’26 - South Korea Ben Yurek ’26 – Taiwan Class of 2025 graduate Anna Grunes has won an open study/research Fulbright to perform research on rain-on-snow flooding events in New Zealand. Lamija Semic ’26 will receive her UVM degree this week and will then head to Bosnia and Herzegovina to research invasive insect pests. Matt Heilbronn, a 2023 UVM graduate, has received a Fulbright graduate study award and will pursue his master’s in veterinary epidemiology at the Royal Veterinary College in London in the coming year.

This is a callback! If you follow this feed closely, you may remember that Dylan Moody Aness ‘26 recently won an Austria U.S. Teaching Assistant award, a “sibling” to the Fulbright program. Since we shared that news, Dylan was *also​* awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Germany! Dylan has accepted the Fulbright Germany award. He joins 10 other graduating seniors and recent alumni from UVM who've been named Fulbright ETAs this spring.  Dylan, an English major minoring in German and Reporting & Documentary Storytelling, is a veteran writing tutor at UVM's Undergraduate Writing Center. After high school, Dylan spent a year teaching English in Germany through the Congress-Bundestag Young Exchange program (again, callback!). Dylan has been working on a long-term oral history project with formerly incarcerated people through Dismas Vermont. And an audio piece he produced for a class with Professor Kelsey Tolchin-Kupferer was recently named an Honorable Mention in the 2025 NPR College Podcast Challenge. An avid outdoorsperson, Dylan recently defended his Honors College thesis, titled "Dead Men Walking: Zombies, the Human Condition, and a Search for Utopia." In Dylan’s Fulbright endorsement form, the FOUR team wrote the following: "Dylan speaks movingly about working with immigrants to Germany while on CBYX. He shared that, just like for the U.S., 'You can't really talk about Germany and German history/politics without talking about immigration.' Dylan's immigrant students were on route to jobs in the trades, he explained - and no one else he met in Germany appreciated more the vital role of English proficiency. Dylan's conversations with these students fuels his interest in exploring more closely the relationship there between privilege, ethnicity, and education. He also hopes to learn more about persistent stereotypes regarding social class in East versus West Germany. He sees Germany's history of reconciliation with its national traumas as a model for supporting new waves of immigrants and refugees." Congratulations, Dylan!

Mirá vos! Elliot Baird has joined UVM’s Fulbright train! Elliot (Linguistics and English ’26) will work as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Argentina next year. Sophomore year, Elliot spent a semester studying at University College Maastricht, a rigorous exchange program for Patrick Leahy Honors College students in Maastricht, Netherlands. He won multiple awards from FOUR to support his undergraduate research, including a 2025 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship. Elliot is a four-year member of the PLHC Student Empowerment Action Committee, a group that advocates for a more inclusive Honors College. He’s also a four-year member of the Linguistics Club and the Ballroom & West Coast Swing Society. Off campus, Elliot leads segway tours for Burlington Segway. "The last few years of my life," Elliot wrote in his application, "have been defined by my passion for linguistics, as an undergraduate student, a teaching assistant, and a researcher. This passion situates me as a trained specialist with the vocabulary to answer sophisticated questions from learners with high degrees of English proficiency, as are the profesorados (teacher-training colleges) in Argentina.” Through his leadership roles on campus, Elliot wrote, "I've been able to plan and attend events as diverse as dance lessons, cultural heritage nights, and queer affinity spaces, creating a variety of safe spaces for people to connect. Ballroom dance especially is incredibly important in Argentina, the birthplace of the Tango, and I would be elated to become involved in the thriving culture of Milongas, Tango social dance parties that occur throughout the country. During my semester abroad in Maastricht, I joined the student swing dancing club, and had the opportunity to teach lessons in American styles while also learning new European ones. I would love to repeat this exchange in the school or local community where I'm placed.” Felicitaciones, Elliot, y qué lo pases de diez!

The Fulbright grants keep rolling in! Put your hands together for John Blochberger, our latest Fulbright English Teaching Assistant to Taiwan! This is especially sweet news for John (Chinese & Plant Biology ’25), who was a Fulbright alternate for the same program last year. While at UVM, John taught Chinese at the Vermont Chinese School in South Burlington. He recited poetry in Mandarin, as well as his own English translations, at festivals both on and off campus. All the while, John was an active plant biology researcher; he won multiple grants from FOUR en route to his Patrick Leahy Honors College thesis, which studied Beech Bark Disease on Camel’s Hump. Since graduating, John has lived the life of an environmental public servant, working for various Vermont state parks and agencies focused on environmental stewardship. Describing in his application how he plans to become involved in his host community in Taiwan, John wrote, "Another way I want to get involved in my community is temples and their gardens...With their extensive gardens and welcoming communities, temples present a great opportunity for me to volunteer with landscaping. Working in soil to craft beautiful gardens is work I cherish and will help me strengthen my sense of place in Taiwan. As I discover new species in Taiwan, I plan to share my excitement with my students to cultivate their sense of place and understanding of local wildlife.” "After Fulbright,” John went on, "I plan to transition to a conservation-based graduate program in Taiwan. I need personal experience with Taiwan’s communities, natural lands, and land use issues to develop a meaningful and compelling research proposal for graduate school. As an ETA, opportunities for ecotourism, volunteering with Taiwanese environmental groups, and improved communication...from teaching English [will] provide this experience. I anticipate that observing how rural Taiwanese relate to natural lands and how the government handles the many indigenous populations will enable me to bring a unique perspective to the U.S. issue of land reclamation and indigenous sovereignty when I become a US-based conservationist.” Congratulations, John!

Behold Matt Heilbronn (Microbiology ’23), recipient of a Fulbright graduate study award to the United Kingdom! Matt, who minored in both Wildlife Bio and Zoology at UVM, will earn a Master’s in Veterinary Epidemiology at Royal Veterinary College in London. Just weeks ago, Matt completed his service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon, where he worked as a math and biology teacher. A prolific researcher, Matt received the the 2022 Gilman T. Dedrick award from CALS, as well as a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship and two mini-grants from FOUR, on his journey to earning his CALS Distinguished Undergraduate Research Award. Matt was a longtime officer of the Beekeeping Club. He presented his undergraduate research at both internal and external conferences. After graduating he worked at the UVM Vaccine Testing Center on clinical trials for a new Lyme disease vaccine. "Spillover, the event in which a pathogen ‘jumps' from one species to another, is a normal but devastating act of nature,” Matt wrote in his Fulbright application. "In the 21st century alone the world has seen over half a dozen viral spillover events resulting in major outbreaks. While sweeping plagues make headlines, all pandemics once started small...The pandemic of tomorrow begins with today's spillover, so failure to adequately understand any one component can lead to tragic misses in the prevention and control of future outbreaks.” In his application, Matt relied not only on his impressive research resume and the alacrity with which he frames research as public service. He also made an airtight argument for the goodness of fit between his chosen program and his emerging footprint as a scientist: "Royal Veterinary College is the only school in the world with a veterinary epidemiology program...I not only know my academic niche, but I know the skills required for success. To dive deep into the science of pathogen spillover I must understand epidemiology in an applied and focused animal specialty and engage at the cutting edge of veterinary public health research." Congrats, Matt; we can't wait to continue to watch your star rise!

Felicitaciones (congratulations) to Rebecca Bruun, Fulbright ETA grantee to Colombia! Rebecca designed her own major in CESS, Innovative Practices Within Education, and has minors in Childhood Studies and Latin American & Caribbean Studies. Rebecca spent the spring of her junior year studying in Buenos Aires, Argentina. During her semester there Rebecca secured an English teaching position at a language institute and, with funding from the UVM Career Center’s Summer Internship Scholarship, stayed through the summer to teach. In Argentina, Rebecca wrote in her application, "I drew on my major, Innovative Practices Within Education, from which I have learned how to adjust curriculum to make it more relevant to students' lives. I designed lessons around U.S. cultural touchstones...to engage students in conversation and debate. This shift transformed my classroom. Successful language teaching came from embracing students’ interests and creating cultural connections that made the material relevant. While cultures vary, people are remarkably similar; when a topic resonates, learning follows." “I'm applying to Colombia," she explained, "because of its national commitment to education and English proficiency. I want to contribute to that progress. English fluency can open doors to education, travel, and careers that might otherwise be out of reach. I aim to help students see English not as an abstract subject but as a tangible tool for building their futures.” Enhorabuena, Rebecca!

Huzzah to Sam Bjorklun (Environmental Sciences ’24) for winning a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Thailand! An active undergraduate researcher, Sam was one of UVM’s 2023 nominees for the Goldwater Scholarship. She was also a 2022 Kidder Scholar, one of forty 2023 McDonald’s/Asian Pacific Islander Scholars, and won the Class of ’67 Senior Award at her Commencement. A first-gen college student, Sam was a Resident Advisor for two years and an active member of the Mixed Experiences club. Sam earned a TEFL certificate after graduating. She's currently an Outdoor Educator at Nature's Classroom in Massachusetts and is a former Production Scientist in Washington, D.C. Sam wrote in her application, "In my Production Scientist role at Edvotek, I transformed complex scientific concepts into accessible classroom-ready experiments, supporting both teachers and students…In Thai classrooms, I hope to weave these strategies into dynamic lessons, such as through storytelling exercises, art-based projects, and interactive discussions, that help students find their voices in English, build confidence, and see language as a bridge to new opportunities. By incorporating themes such as environmental awareness and agriculture, I aspire to link language learning with the rhythms of students' daily lives and the landscapes that surround them.” Congrats, @samsunflowerss !

Welcome, Anna Grunes (M.S. in Environmental Engineering ’25; B.S. in Environmental Engineering ’22), to the ranks of Fulbrighters! Anna has been granted a prestigious Fulbright research award to New Zealand. A prolific researcher, Anna is a two-nominee and one-time winner (2021) of UVM’s Environmental Engineer of the Year award. As a UVM undergrad Anna was Vice President of Chicks on Sticks and a backcountry ski trip leader through the Outing Club. Describing her Master's research on flood modeling, Anna wrote in her application, "I worked to contextualize this research across national and global research initiatives, presenting work at global conferences as well as working collaboratively with researchers from other universities and federal agencies. In addition to fellow scientists, I also engaged with recreational, operational, and student audiences. My interaction with stakeholders like the National Weather Service emphasized the importance of this work in the context of emergency management. This project offers a distinctive synergy between academia and public forecasting.” Anna’s Fulbright research will improve scientists’ ability to predict rain-on-snow flooding events. “Vermont and Aotearoa New Zealand experienced highly destructive flood events in 2023 and 2022, respectively,” she wrote in her Fulbright proposal. “Both floods were unexpected due to inadequate prediction and unusual weather conditions, and they caused unusually severe destruction...Both Vermont and New Zealand have seen a large increase in flood risk due to their marginal snowpacks—characterized by warm winters, transient snowpacks, and mid-winter warming and runoff. Working with snow hydrologists in New Zealand on the same problem we face in Vermont will foster a meaningful international collaboration to address this shared issue. I will use both observational data and computer models to evaluate rain-on-snow flood severity across the South Island. This research will improve knowledge of rain-on-snow physics and inform flood forecasting models and warning systems in mountainous headwaters globally.” Congratulations, @anna_grunes , and thanks for your good work!

Huge shout-out to Lamija Semic (Biology ’26), who’s won a Fulbright research grant to Bosnia and Herzogovina! An Agroecology minor, Lamija has been active since her freshman year in Dr. Yolanda Chen’s Insect Agroecology and Evolution Lab, where she now trains new undergraduate researchers. Lamija received a SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship) award from FOUR in 2025 and presented at UVM’s Student Research Conference in both 2024 and 2025. Lamija is active in the Horticulture Club and is a trail steward in the Burlington area. Lamija’s research in Bosnia will be a continuation of the work she’s done in Dr. Chen’s lab examining the invasive Colorado Potato Beetle’s resilience to insecticides. "Pest management has existed globally for thousands of years,” Lamija wrote in her Fulbright application, "the practices passed down through generations of farmers driven by the need for food security.” Informed by geographic and agricultural similarities between Vermont and Bosnia, "My research will compare the stress response of Colorado Potato Beetle populations in the U.S. (Vermont) and Bosnia (Mostar). My objective is to clarify the neurological effect octopamine has on the phenotypic stress response in invasive insect pests across global populations, and improve our understanding of how to best predict and manage their behavior.” @lamija.semic is pictured here at the Stari Most (Old Bridge) in Mostar while visiting family in Bosnia.

Behold, a Fulbrighter! In August, Ben Yurek (Linguistics ’26) will join the growing ranks of UVM’s Fulbright English Teaching Assistants to Taiwan. A Japanese minor with a TESOL certificate from UVM, Ben was part of the Liberal Arts Scholars Program (LASP) his freshman year. He's worked as a TA in the Linguistics Department, where he's earned faculty's appreciation and respect for his thoughtful, sensitive approach to teaching. Ben is a long-time student employee of University Housing and Dining Services, where he’s climbed the ranks to be the Office Coordinator in one of the UVM dorms. He's active with UVM Hillel and plays trombone in the UVM Pep Band. Ben knows advanced Spanish and intermediate Japanese and has progressed to intermediate Mandarin through self-study. Post-Fulbright, “I want to be a language teacher that inspires students to feel like achieving proficiency in a foreign language is not only attainable, but desirable,” Ben wrote in his Fulbright application. "I know how fun and rewarding confidently speaking a second language can be, and I want to make this reality more accessible to the next generation.” Don’t forget to send us a postcard, Ben!

Congratulations to Effi Jacobsen (Linguistics '25), a newly minted Fulbright English Teaching Assistant to Kosovo! Effi, who transferred to UVM sophomore year and earned an Anthropology minor and a TESOL certificate while here, has taught English language learners in Ecuador and at Mercy Connections in Burlington. In Kosovo, she'll TA at the university level. Effi is a bartender, a polyglot, and an advocate of bike culture. She's currently a full-time Speech Language Pathologist Assistant in Winooski. "I'm fascinated by the Albanian language and its unique origins and structure," Effi wrote in her application, "and the opportunity to study it as a means for understanding learners' acquisition of English. I admire Kosovo's strength and resilience as a young nation rapidly developing and adapting its educational policies, such as a shift toward communicative language teaching." Congrats, Effi!