Pitzer Announces Selection of Nine Recipients of 2026 Fulbright Awards

Engaging Pitzer College’s core value of intercultural understanding on an international scale, six seniors and two alumni have received 2026–27 Fulbright U.S. Student Program grants. One alum has received an award from the Fulbright Specialist Program, and another alum is a Fulbright Japan recipient for graduate study.

Three Fulbright recipients will teach English in South Korea, Spain, and Uzbekistan. Four recipients will pursue self-designed research projects across the globe to study community-based conservation, marine science, environmental education for ecotourists, and more. One recipient is joining a master’s program in public health at Harvard University. Another recipient is fostering equitable STEM education with a university in Thailand.

For 17 consecutive years, Pitzer has been named a leading producer of Fulbright recipients by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Pitzer was named the No. 1 producer nationwide of Fulbright students for 2025–26 in the baccalaureate category.

Pitzer’s Office of Fellowships supports students throughout the Fulbright application process.

“The Fulbright mission of fostering mutual understanding across cultures resonates deeply with our own commitment to intercultural learning,” said Director of Fellowships Noosha Malek, Ed.D. “It has been a pleasure to support this year’s remarkable applicants as they developed projects and English teaching proposals that span many cultures and continents.”

Fulbright U.S. Student Program

The Fulbright U.S. Student awards are available to graduating college seniors, graduate students and young professionals from all backgrounds. Participants pursue graduate study, conduct research or teach English abroad.

Jeremy Kaufman ’26, an environmental analysis major, will conduct research about climate resilience and community-based conservation in Dominica. Kaufman’s project is titled “Resilient Community, Resilient Reef: Assessing Marine Conservation Management in Dominica.” Through a combination of ecosystem service assessment and ethnographic research in the Soufrière–Scotts Head Marine Management Area, Kaufman will evaluate how marine zoning policies impact both reef health and local livelihoods. Kaufman aims to inform more adaptive and equitable conservation strategies in the face of climate change.

Robinson Lee ’26, a political studies and history major and Asian American studies minor, will teach English in South Korea. Drawing on his Korean Chinese American identity and commitment to community empowerment, Lee aims to support students in under-resourced regions such as South Jeolla Province while strengthening his Korean language and teaching skills. Through cultural exchange and education, Lee seeks to uplift local communities and inform future efforts serving Korean and Asian American populations.

Sasha Lu ’26, a biology and art major, will conduct research in Bolivia for her project, “A Community-Based Field Guide for Conservation and Ecotourism Development.” Working in collaboration with Sustainable Bolivia in the Aquicuana Reserve, Lu will spend 10 months in field research and creating accessible environmental education resources. These include an illustrated children’s book, a bilingual field guide and a public species database. Lu’s project aims to support conservation efforts and expand sustainable ecotourism opportunities by increasing access to locally relevant environmental education materials.

Caitlin Niiya ’26, a chemistry and environmental analysis major, will bridge marine science and public health in Malaysia. Her research project is titled “Investigating Antimicrobial Compounds from Coral Symbiont Bacteria in Malaysian Reefs.” Working with researchers at the University of Malaya, Niiya will isolate and characterize antibacterial compounds from coral-associated bacteria and test their effectiveness against common pathogens. With her research, Niiya aims to advance coral reef resilience while contributing to the discovery of new antibiotics, with broader implications for global health and environmental sustainability.

Delaney Post ’26, a history and sociology major and Spanish minor, will teach English in Spain. Inspired by a commitment to intercultural understanding, Post will bring an adaptive, student-centered teaching approach to the classroom while engaging with Spain’s Communicative Language Teaching model. Through initiatives like a transatlantic pen-pal exchange and collaboration with local literary communities, Post’s work will foster cultural exchange and inform her future career as a social studies educator.

Alexander Rychlik ’25, a mathematical economics major, has been selected for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship Renewal in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. After spending this past year as a Fulbright English teaching assistant in Tajikistan, Rychlik looks forward to learning Uzbek and continuing to study Tajik in Bukhara. Rychlik is aware of how much learning new languages can open one’s life to new culture, ideas and people, which he hopes to show his students. After his Fulbright, Rychlik plans to pursue a master’s degree in economic development with a career focused on Central Asia.

Madison Wilson ’26, a sociology and anthropology major, will conduct research in Nepal for her project “Doing Development: Participation, Power, and Place Across Nepal’s Conservation Areas.” Through comparative ethnographic research in the Annapurna and Kangchenjunga conservation areas, Wilson will examine how local communities define and experience development (bikaas) within participatory conservation models. Wilson aims to illuminate questions of power, equity and inclusion in conservation efforts, with broader implications for sustainable development globally. Wilson also received the Critical Language Scholarship to study Swahili in Tanzania.

Fulbright-Mikitani Memorial Grant

The Fulbright-Mikitani Memorial Grant is an honor within the Fulbright Program in Japan that provides financial support to fellows pursuing graduate study in the United States.

Mao Kobayashi ’16 received a Fulbright to pursue a Master of Public Health in Global Health at Harvard University. Kobayashi is currently an anesthesiology resident in Japan and has a growing interest in equitable access to pain relief during childbirth in resource-limited settings. After studying economics at Pitzer and later medicine in Japan, Kobayashi came to see public health as the next step in turning clinical experience into broader social change. Through the Harvad program, she hopes to understand how to use childbirth health interventions across different health systems and economic contexts. Kobayashi also seeks to develop practical guidelines and evidence that help make giving birth safer, more dignified, and more empowering.

Fulbright Specialist Program

The Fulbright Specialist Program is a unique opportunity for U.S. academics and established professionals to engage in two- to six-week, project-based exchanges at institutions across the globe.

Julie Flapan ’90, a member of Pitzer’s Board of Trustees, was awarded a Fulbright to collaborate with the Institute for Innovative Learning at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand. Flapan has drawn on her expertise to support the institute’s initiative “Capacity Building for Inclusive STEM Education in the AI Era.” Flapan is the director of the Computer Science Equity Project at UCLA Center X in the School of Education and Information Studies, where she leads professional learning, research and policy initiatives in K–12 computer science education. Flapan has a B.A. in Psychology from Pitzer College, an M.S. in Education and Social Policy from Northwestern University and an Ed.D. from UCLA.