Meet the Fulbrighters
Published: 7 September 2015
Three academics from America will be studying at the University of Glasgow as part of the Fulbright Scholarship Programme.
Three academics from America will be studying at the University of Glasgow as part of the Fulbright Scholarship Programme.
The Fullbright Commission fosters mutual cultural understanding through educational exchange between the UK and US. One of the ways they do this is by offering scholarships for US citizens to study in the UK and for UK citizens to study in the US.
Meet the Fulbrighters:
Name: Clark Barwick 
Award: Fulbright-Scotland Visiting Professorship at the University of Glasgow
Home Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Mathematics
Level of Study: Visiting Professorship
Discipline: Mathematics
Clark Barwick was raised in the southeastern US. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina in 2001 and his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in 2005.
He held postdoctoral positions at the University of Göttingen, the University of Oslo, the Institute for Advanced Study, and Harvard University.
Today, he is Cecil and Ida Green Associate Professor of Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.His work lies at the intersection of homotopy theory, higher category theory, and algebraic geometry.
He enjoys laughing with his partner Alexandra Sear and hurling spheres for their dog Maggie.
Name: Marina Burka
Award: Fulbright-University of Glasgow Postgraduate Award
Home Institution: Pennsylvania State University
Level of Study: Master's Degree
Discipline: Human Geography
Marina Burka grew up in "Happy Valley", home to Penn State University, where she recently graduated as a Schreyer Honors Scholar with highest distinction in Human Geography.
She spent her junior year globetrotting around the Southern Hemisphere, where she studied abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina in the fall and travelled throughout the Eastern Cape of South Africa on a unique study and research abroad program called Parks and People in the spring.
Upon returning to South Africa in the summer of 2014, Marina conducted NSF-funded research on the socio-ecological impacts of HIV/AIDS in rural communities, which resulted in a paper and presentation at the Association of American Geographers’ annual conference in Chicago in April 2015.
As a Fulbright Postgraduate student at the University of Glasgow, Marina will pursue a Master of Research in Human Geography: Space, Politics & Ecologies. There, she will focus her research on refugee populations and individual processes of integration into Scottish culture by working closely with researchers in the Glasgow Refugee, Asylum, and Migration Network (GRAMNet).
Name: Heather Zajdel
Award: Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching
Home Institution: Philadelphia Learning Academy
Level of Study: Distinguished Teacher
Discipline: Education
Heather Zajdel is a secondary science teacher at Philadelphia Learning Academy South in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Zajdel began her teaching career in 2007 and earned her Master’s in Urban Education through the University of Pennsylvania in 2009. Zajdel was honoured with Need in Deed’s Class Transformation Award in 2010 and with the Lindback Foundation’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2014.
From May through July 2016, Heather will travel to the United Kingdom to document and utilize replicable aspects of climate that have been successful in the prevention and reduction of classroom problems associated with anti-social behaviours in order to shape schools in her district.
First published: 7 September 2015
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