2020-2021 Recipients
We invite you to get to know Bowdoin’s 2020-2021 national fellowship winners. Below you will find a brief profile of each awardee, organized by award type.
Austrian Government English Teaching Assistantship
An Anthropology major and German minor, Lowell spent his time at Bowdoin exploring the complexities of culture, language, and literature. He has played in several music groups on campus, written for the Bowdoin Orient, organized the Outing Club’s Nordic skiing program, and worked as a French tutor and as a collections assistant in the Arctic Museum. As an English teaching assistant in Austria, Lowell hopes to continue his passion for language learning and teaching and to learn more about Austrian culture, especially its distinct dialects and musical traditions.
Churchill Scholarship
As an Earth and Oceanographic Science and Biochemistry double major, Zoë Dietrich is fascinated by chemical reactions in marine environments and the microbes that catalyze them. After studying these reactions in Gulf of Mexico undersea caverns and mudflats of New Zealand, she looks forward to exploring carbon transformations and greenhouse gas emissions in estuaries near the University of Cambridge, UK, as a Churchill Scholar. The Scholarship funds a year-long MPhil by Thesis degree, which she will begin in October of 2021. Afterwards, she plans to pursue a PhD in biological or chemical oceanography.
Critical Language Scholarship
An Asian Studies major and Cinema Studies minor, Gemma has a special interest in the portrayal of Asian cultures through film, and the power of film to bridge cultural and social divides. She will travel to Taiwan this summer to build her Mandarin fluency through the State Department’s intensive Critical Language Study program. Gemma will study at Tamkang University in Taipei for eight weeks. After Bowdoin, Gemma hopes to pursue a career in filmmaking and production, with a focus on issues facing contemporary China and India. At Bowdoin, she writes for The Bowdoin Review and is active in Club Tennis.
DAAD-RISE Scholarship
A chemistry and German double major, Eliana will be traveling to Düsseldorf with the RISE Germany scholarship award by the German government. There, Eliana will research to organic synthesis of quinazolinone-based carbene ligands with a PhD student at Heinrich Heine University. She is looking forward to engaging with German culture and developing her German language skills through her time spent abroad.
Davis Projects for Peace Grant
Ruby is an international student from Nigeria. At Bowdoin, her interests in health care and service led her to join the Bowdoin Public Health Club (BPHC) in her first year, of which she became the leader through her sophomore-senior years. Ruby also served on the boards of International Students Association and Africa Alliance. Her volunteer and leadership experiences with the BPHC strengthened her resolve to pursue public health as a career. Ruby will join the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, obtaining an MSPH in Population, Family and Reproductive Health int the fall of 2021. She hopes to dedicate her life work to improving conditions of women's health in African countries.
FAO Schwarz Fellowship
Ryan graduated from Bowdoin with a Government & Legal Studies and Education coordinate major, with a minor in Sociology. While at Bowdoin, he mentored through the McKeen Center and facilitated dialogues on race. Ryan also had various internship experiences at education nonprofits, where he developed a passion for addressing inequalities present in the public education system. Building off these experiences, Ryan looks forward to working both with early education programs and in early education policy as a FAO Schwarz Fellow at Jumpstart. He hopes to continue as an advocate for justice for the nation’s youngest children, fighting for equitable access to quality early education throughout his career.
Fulbright ETA, Spain
Graduating with a degree in Government and Legal Studies and Hispanic Studies, Noelia is thrilled to be returning to Madrid, Spain, as a Fulbright ETA. Throughout her time at Bowdoin, she explored her passion for public service through work with Bowdoin Public Service and experiences with the Maine ACLU and Congressman Jared Golden. She is excited as an ETA to employ creative pedagogies to instill a love of learning in her students. Outside the classroom, she hopes to intern for an immigrant legal organization in Madrid, a project that connects to her honors thesis on protections for climate migrants. She hopes to lend her expertise working with students to form lasting personal and professional connections.
Fulbright ETA, Spain
Since graduation in 2020, Caroline has been very fortunate to pursue a Fulbright Grant in Spain, and she is thrilled to have received a renewal grant for 2021-2022 to continue this experience. A Psychology and Education major at Bowdoin, she looks forward to bridging these interests further at school, combining research-based pedagogical techniques with her passion for positive education and social-emotional learning. Outside of the classroom, Caroline is hopeful that next year will permit her to dive more deeply into the wonderful culture and community that surrounds her, for example, by undertaking a photojournalism project of the pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago.
Fulbright ETA, Spain
A 2021 graduate from Mansfield, Massachusetts, Lily will be serving as an English Teaching Assistant in Galicia, Spain. As an English major and mathematics minor, she has enjoyed engaging in reading, creative writing, and analytical problem-solving throughout her time at Bowdoin. Having developed a love for teaching as a tutor, Writing Assistant, and printmaking teacher's assistant, Lily is excited to connect with students in the plurilingual classrooms of Galicia. She looks forward to learning more about the art culture of Spain, and she hopes to use printmaking to build relationships and foster cross-cultural exchange in her host community.
Fulbright ETA, Taiwan
Ayana graduated from Bowdoin with a coordinate major in biology and environmental studies, plus a minor in English--fields that she hopes to combine in the future while pursuing environmental justice and science communication. At Bowdoin, she engaged with environmental work in a variety of ways, from organizing for climate justice to working in an ecology lab, and co-founding an anti-racism program for students of the Bowdoin Outing Club. As an ETA in Taiwan, she's excited to teach and to learn from her students, hoping to expand her global environmental consciousness as well as her understanding of what it means to be in community.
Fulbright ETA, Taiwan
After graduating Bowdoin with a major in history and minor in cinema studies, Eliza will spend the 2021-2022 academic year as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Taiwan. Drawing on her experience tutoring French elementary school students and teaching children’s sailing for several summers, Eliza hopes to promote her students' English learning and inspire in them a love for history and storytelling. Outside of teaching, Eliza hopes to participate in the running community in Taiwan by coaching local high school students. She also hopes to work with her students and their families to create short documentaries on their family history.
Fulbright ETA, South Korea
Graduating Bowdoin with a degree in Education and Hispanic Studies, Mohamed looks forward to utilizing his classroom knowledge and linguistic skills. Having worked as a mentor, tutor, and teacher, he plans on receiving his Public School Teaching Certificate and becoming a World Languages teacher. He is inspired by his identity as a Muslim, Iraqi refugee in Maine and hopes to share his knowledge and experiences to empower other multilingual, immigrant students in the Greater Portland area.
Fulbright ETA, Taiwan
After graduating from Bowdoin in 2021 with honors in neuroscience and a minor in Chinese, Emily will spend a year in Taiwan as an English Teaching Assistant on a Fulbright grant. Drawing on experiences as a mentor, coach and captain of the Bowdoin Volleyball team, she looks forward to creating meaningful connections with her students in the classroom and plans to develop a youth volleyball program where she can share her passion for the sport with the greater community. An aspiring physician, Emily is also eager to learn more about Taiwanese culture by volunteering within the local health care system.
Fulbright ETA, Brazil
Louis graduated in 2019 with a major in government and neuroscience. During his time at Bowdoin, he was president of the Latin American Student Association and led an Alternative spring break trip to Antigua, Guatemala to understand the socioeconomic and political implications of childhood education access. Since graduating, he has worked as a Teach for America corps fellow as a high school IB Biology teacher in San Antonio, Texas. Louis is excited to immerse himself into Brazilian culture as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant and hopes to learn about Brazilian politics.
Fulbright ETA, Spain
Graduating with a double major in Biochemistry and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, Grace will be teaching English to young Spanish speakers in the Canary Islands. Throughout her time at Bowdoin, Grace has worked as an assistant teacher at the Bowdoin Children’s Center, as a student director for the Sexuality, Women and Gender Center, and as a club leader under the Office of Gender Violence Prevention and Education. Grace’s love of language learning and of working with children motivated her to pursue a position as an English Teaching Assistant. After her Fulbright year, Grace plans to attend medical school, using her language skills to provide for Spanish-speaking patients.
Fulbright ETA, Serbia
Declined his Fulbright ETA to Serbia to accept a Watson Fellowship.
Fulbright Research, Iceland
Given her academic focus on biology and religion, Jillian is eager to utilize both the scientific skills of ecology, as well as those of intercultural dialogue. Growing up in coastal Maine, and having studied abroad in the South Pacific Islands, Jillian is compelled to engage with small communities that are threatened by climate change. She will be working with field researchers at the South Island Research Centre, studying the changing ocean’s impact on puffin colonies. Additionally, she will use her aquaculture experience to learn more about how local fisheries are also adapting to a changing Arctic. Jillian plans to record the impacts of a changing climate through documentary storytelling and filmmaking, water color, and both creative and narrative writing.
Fulbright Research, Australia
Graduating as a Psychology and Visual Arts double major, Anthropology minor, Audrée Grand’Pierre has been awarded a Research/Study Fulbright to begin her first year at the University of Queensland’s Psychology PhD Program. Audrée’s research will investigate the effects of minority burnout on minority mental health to promote more inclusive psychological research aimed at better understanding and protecting minority wellness. Remaining in Australia to finish her PhD, Audrée’s long term goal is to create a coalition of licensed professionals to provide free mental health care to low-income and uninsured minority patients, less likely to seek mental health care through mainstream facilities.
Fulbright Research, India
Kim graduated from Bowdoin with a double major in Math and Computer Science. She studied political science at the University of Delhi while abroad and will be returning to India for a Fulbright grant. Kim has done research analyzing online social networks as well as led a club mentoring students in Portland's subsidized housing community. Both of these experiences inspired her Fulbright project as she will be working with the Digital Empowerment Foundation, an organization whose goal is to bridge the digital divide that persists in India. In the future, she hopes to study computer science from a sociological lens by addressing issues such as algorithmic bias and digital access rights.
Fulbright Research, Trinidad and Tobago
Elwaad is excited to return to the University of the West Indies in St. Augustine, Trinidad. She will examine educational equity concerning the Secondary Entrance Assessment. Her project’s inspiration derived from her study abroad experience in Trinidad during Spring 2020, where she was introduced to the controversy surrounding the SEA. Elwaad is eager to be under the mentorship of UWI educators and share and expand on her findings in Trinidad and in the U.S. Upon returning, Elwaad plans on pursuing a master’s in education administration and a career of eliminating inequities in education experienced by first-generation students of color.
Fulbright Research, Denmark
As a scientist, writer, and outdoor enthusiast, Anneka has a special interest in learning about polar and high alpine environments, whose organisms, climate systems, and communities display both incredible fragility and resilience in the face of climate change. She ultimately hopes to conduct research that can inform environmental policy, engage local stakeholders, and fuel compelling science stories. In her free time, she enjoys long-distance running, woodworking, and backcountry skiing.
Gates-Cambridge Scholarship
Adaiah graduated with a double major in Anthropology and English and a Dance minor. At Bowdoin, Adaiah was a Mellon Mays Fellow, a Writing Assistant, and member of Peer Health. Since graduating, she has taught with Teach for America and interned at the International Institute of Metro Detroit. Currently, Adaiah is an Associate at Root Cause, a nonprofit consulting group. These formative career experiences inspired her to pursue graduate study at the intersection of anthropology, law, immigration and border studies, and Latinx studies. She is excited to begin an MPhil in Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge this fall. Upon completion, she will continue these studies in a PhD.
Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship
NOAA Hollings Scholarship
Clara is an aspiring marine ecologist who is studying Biology and Math at Bowdoin. Growing up on a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay inspired her endless curiosity for aquatic environments and shaped her development as a naturalist and scientist. While at Bowdoin, Clara has assisted with Professor Rogalski's ecotoxicology research and worked with the Penobscot Indian Nation's fisheries biologist to investigate hydroelectric policy. As a Hollings scholar, Clara is thrilled to join a NOAA lab to research behavioral ecology and population biology during the summer of 2022. After graduating, she plans to pursue a PhD in Marine Biology and work as a researcher at an institution such as NOAA.
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
Elizabeth graduated from Bowdoin in 2018 with a double major in Earth and Oceanographic Science and Mathematics. At Bowdoin, she became interested in the Earth sciences after taking the introductory course her sophomore year and began conducting research with Professor Rachel Beane. She is currently pursuing a PhD at Vanderbilt University in the lab of Dr. Guil Gualda studying magmatic processes through igneous petrology and analog experimental work.
Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Graduate Fellowship
Udall Scholarship - Honorable Mention
A biology and environmental studies major with an education minor, Kellie is passionate about combining her love of community and science through conservation and creating a more diverse conservation workforce. On-campus, she is a leader in the Bowdoin Naturalists, Women of Color Coalition, and Latin American Student Organization. As a Doris Duke Conservation Scholar and Udall Honorable Mention Recipient, Kellie continues to work towards becoming a researcher focused on climate change impacts on marine systems in the non-profit sector. Kellie hopes to begin an organization that provides conservation education and research opportunities for undergraduate students of color from urban areas.
Thomas J. Watson Fellowship
A history major from Buxton, Maine, Archer has been granted the Watson Fellowship to embark on a year of international travel to learn about urban rail systems around the world. He is excited to learn more about the intersections between design and urban space, especially in light of climate change and the COVID pandemic.