Three University of Connecticut faculty members have been named Fulbright U.S. Scholars for the 2026-27 academic year by the U.S. State Department and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Additionally, four faculty were recently named Fulbright Specialists. Fulbright U.S. Scholars are faculty, researchers, administrators, and established professionals teaching or conducting research in partnership with institutions abroad. They engage in cutting-edge research and expand their professional networks, often continuing research collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for future partnerships between institutions. Upon returning to their home countries, institutions, labs, and classrooms, they share their stories and often become active supporters of international exchange, inviting foreign scholars to campus and encouraging colleagues and students to go abroad. The Fulbright Specialist program, distinct from the scholar program, utilizes a project-based model in which highly qualified American academics and professionals share their expertise with institutions overseas while addressing shared challenges that benefit American communities and the world. Specialists, who represent a wide range of professional and academic disciplines, share their knowledge, skills, expertise, and innovative ideas through two-to-six-week projects requested by foreign receiving institutions in over 150 countries and other areas. The following are the UConn faculty members who earned a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award for 2026-27: Richard Christenson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering, who received a Fulbright Australia, United Kingdom, United States (AUKUS) Scholar Award. This prestigious fellowship funds mid-career to senior academics, professionals, and researchers pursuing collaborative, interdisciplinary projects that further the interests of the trilateral AUKUS security partnership. His research will span both the United Kingdom and Australia over a six-month period. Christenson is also the co-director of the National Institute for Undersea Vehicle Technology. David Lund, a professor of marine sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, will perform his Fulbright research in Norway. He will work with colleagues at the University of Bergen to develop a new technique to reconstruct sea ice extent in the geologic past, leading to a better understanding of its impact on ocean circulation, nutrient cycling, and marine ecosystems. “Bergen is a leading international center of marine science research, focused on the Arctic and North Atlantic,” says Lund. “Collaborating with scientists with Bergen will lead to new insights about the role of sea ice in ocean-atmospheric dynamics and provide an unprecedented opportunity for my lab group to explore new research avenues.” Luyi Sun, a Board of Trustees distinguished professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering in the College of Engineering, will be doing his Fulbright research in South Korea. His research will be focused on functional hybrid materials, and he will also teach a course on advanced polymer processing. “I am deeply honored to have been selected as a Fulbright Scholar, and I am truly excited to begin this meaningful opportunity,” says Sun. “I look forward to engaging with new colleagues, exchanging ideas across cultures, and contributing to the Fulbright mission.” The following are the UConn faculty members who have recently been named Fulbright Specialists: Thomas Cooke, an emeritus professor in geography, sustainability, community, and urban studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, returns to the Fulbright program after being a Fulbright Scholar in 2014-15, where he visited the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Moshe Gai, a professor of physics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, will pursue a specialist project in Romania with fellow colleagues. This project will be built upon the relationships formed through his 2025 Fulbright U.S. Scholar award, which enabled him to spend five months at the University Polytechnica of Bucharest, where he taught both on the graduate and undergraduate level. “The Fulbright Specialist program presents me with an opportunity to extend my international collaboration,” says Gai. “It is a source of sorely needed international travel funds that are now becoming more and more scarce.” In Bucharest, Gai also developed his research program on the world’s highest intensity laser of the Extreme Light Infrastructure Nuclear Physics. The graduate class he developed during his time in Bucharest has now been approved for a new special topic course, Quantum Physics of Stars, that will be taught at UConn. Elizabeth Hintz, an associate professor of communication in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, will pursue a specialist project in Finland in 2027. She was a Fulbright Scholar in 2025-26 at Tampere University in Finland. Natalia Smirnova, an assistant professor-in-residence of economics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, will pursue a project helping students from international partner institutions develop financial, economic, and career literacy. Her career has spanned government, academia, and nonprofit sectors. She became interested in serving as a Fulbright Specialist because she would like to share her expertise in economic and financial literacy education, as well as career readiness skills development, with an institution of higher learning abroad. “A significant portion of young people around the world lack basic financial knowledge,” says Smirnova. “This precludes them from meeting real-life challenges when they reach adulthood. Since economic and financial literacy education is proven to enhance life skills, it is imperative to find creative ways to infuse this material into curricula of all levels of educational attainment.” Smirnova plans to offer a variety of training activities, such as a series of seminars, master classes, and professional development workshops focusing on economic education, financial literacy, and career readiness. She is currently seeking an international institution to deliver her proposed projects.
