Engineering alumni Kristi Maisha, Claire McGonigle and Arunabh Singh are among 20 Vanderbilt students and alumni who were selected for 2022-2023 Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards.
Fulbright is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program, offering grants to conduct research and teach English in more than 160 countries overseas. It is among the largest and most diverse exchange programs in the world.
The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs on Feb. 10 named Vanderbilt University a Fulbright Top Producing Institution for U.S. Students for its class of 20 Fulbright Scholars. This recognition is given to the U.S. colleges and universities that received the highest number of applicants selected for the 2022–2023 Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Before this year, the largest number of Fulbright Scholars selected from Vanderbilt in one year was 13.
Vanderbilt Engineering alumni named Fulbright Scholars are:
- Kristi Maisha, BE’22 Civil Engineering, award to support graduate study in Singapore
Maisha is working on occupant informed building models at the National University of Singapore. Her civil engineering research includes energy efficiency initiatives in commercial buildings, ice sheet mechanics analysis using finite element models, and hypothetical green building renovation using genetic algorithms at Vanderbilt and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
- Claire McGonigle, BA’22 Computer Science and Spanish, English Teaching Assistantship to Spain
McGonigle’s teaching assignment is at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands. While at Vanderbilt, she was an undergraduate research assistant at the Institute for Software Integrated Systems, a CS teaching assistant, and a software engineering intern at Apple. McGonigle was active in Women in Computing and the Theta Tau Professional Engineering Fraternity.
- Arunabh Singh, BS’19 Computer Science, Economics, Mathematics, Fulbright García Robles Binational Business Program to Mexico
As part of the binational business program, Singh is working at Talipot Investment Group in Mexico City as a global investor in alternative assets. He is an investment banking associate at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Previously, he was an investment banking analyst at Wells Fargo Securities. Singh graduated magna cum laude at Vanderbilt where he was active in Vanderbilt Student Volunteers for Science, Undergraduate Honor Council and the Vanderbilt Lakshya Dance Team.
The Fulbright program was established in 1946 to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. While the primary source of funding for the Fulbright program is an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, it also benefits from the support of foreign partner governments, non-governmental organizations, private organizations, corporate partnerships and individual donors. Importantly, U.S. and foreign host institutions provide support as well.
Contact: Brenda Ellis, 615 343-6314
brenda.ellis@vanderbilt.edu