Fulbright Scholarship

Mary Raines Alexander

SSH’26, International Affairs

Mary Raines Alexander is an international affairs major with minors in Mandarin, Chinese, and French. She hopes to devote her future career to covering global conflict and holding states accountable whether through reporting, working at think tanks, or nonprofit work. Her time co-oping at Harvard Global Support Services and the Office of Senator Ed Markey, as well as her on-the-ground reporting project in Flint, Michigan, have informed her ambitions of investigating the intersection of human rights and security abroad. Outside of her studies, she serves as a Global Ambassador for the Global Experience Office and managing editor for Northeastern’s Political Review.

Lucia Barrera

S’25, BS in Environmental Science

Lucia Barrera received a B.S. in Environmentaland Sustainability Sciences and Economics, prompted by a desire to help people connect and coexist with the natural world around them. She pursued two co-ops in ESG at AEW and impact investment at Wellington Management, which allowed her to explore the economic incentives for large corporations and organizations to create positive impacts and better their resource management. The highlights of her time as an undergraduate on a Dialogue of Civilizations in Tokyo and a subsequent semester abroad in Seoul encouraged her to study cities and their roles in driving sustainability. As a DJ for WRBB, her show, Organic Matter, featured weekly playlists and research inspired by different species and ecosystems.

Grayson Bunting

SSH’26, International Affairs

Grayson Bunting is a senior at Northeastern University pursuing a Bachelor of Science in International Affairs and International Business with a minor in Political Science and a concentration in Global Business Strategy. A member of the John Martinson Honors Program, Grayson will graduate with honors distinction. He has studied abroad through N.U.in London and three Dialogue of Civilizations in the Middle East and twice in the Balkans. He also co-oped at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and Ropes & Gray LLP. On campus, Grayson has served as a Presidential Ambassador, a CSSH Ambassador, CSSH’s Lead International Affairs Peer Mentor, and a CSSH co-op teaching assistant. He is also a founding executive board member of Northeastern’s Alexander Hamilton Society and previously served on the executive board of Beta Theta Pi. For his contributions to the Northeastern community, Grayson has been recognized as a 2025 Huntington 100 recipient and CSSH Compass Award recipient.

Linden Rigel Burack

S’26, Physics and Mathematics

Linden Burack is a senior physics major interested in using observations of space to probe the fundamental laws of nature. Linden started at Northeastern as a biochemistry major but soon realized he was more interested in the deeper explanations underlying his coursework. This led him to the Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, where he built a computer simulation of a biological assay, and used it to inform how future experiments in the field should be designed. As his interests shifted towards fundamental physics, he got the incredible opportunity to work at CERN in Geneva Switzerland for six months. There he worked on a machine learning model to predict the momentum of muons from their trajectories, which will provide better data to future searches for fundamental particles. Linden is excited by the open questions in cosmology as a door deeper fundamental physics. Linden greatly enjoys teaching high school students and playing guitar in his band.

Juliana Castro

E’26, Industrial Engineering

Juliana Castro is graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and minors in Consulting and Mathematics. Raised across three countries and fluent in four languages, she brings a global perspective to her work, deepened by a semester studying abroad at Bocconi University in Milan. Across three co-ops at Bain Capital, RisePoint, and Grant Thornton Stax, she built experience in strategy, operations, and private equity due diligence, bringing an analytical lens to her senior thesis optimizing packaging operations for a candle manufacturer. She is drawn to the intersection of technology and entrepreneurship, with a long-term goal of launching her own venture.

Mia Chen

S’26, Behavioral Neuroscience and East Asian Studies

Mia is a candidate for a Bachelor of Science in Behavioral Neuroscience with a minor in East Asian Studies at Northeastern University. Her academic and professional interests sit at the intersection of clinical medicine, neuroscience research, and cross-cultural health — a combination that drew her to both bench science and the study of Chinese language and Taiwanese culture. Through two clinical co-ops at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she worked as a Patient Care Associate and an Emergency Services Assistant, and through her honors thesis investigating sex differences in fear responses, Mia developed a deep commitment to understanding how biological and cultural contexts shape patient care. Outside the classroom, she was an active member of women’s club soccer, volunteered with Boston Partners in Education, and served as a Resident Engagement Assistant.

Samuel Cho

Bouvé’26, BS in Nursing

Samuel Cho is a fourth year nursing major graduating in Spring 2026. As a Fulbright semi-finalist, Samuel hopes to work as a English Teaching Assistant in South Korea. He aspires to overcome language barriers with his students while expanding on his teaching capabilities for his future aspirations as a Clinical Instructor in the Nursing field. In addition, he is currently a Residence Engagement Assistant (REA), and a Bouve Fellow.

Ashley Cristal Conde

S’26, BS in Marine Biology and Latin American Studies

Ashley is a marine biology major with a minor in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. She aims to understand the relationship between microbes and marine animals. She is also passionate about the intersections between the environment and Latine communities. During her time at Northeastern, she developed a co-op at USC where she was able to work on two separate projects investigating Staghorn coral and their symbionts. To gain more experience in microbial research she also worked at Northeastern’s Marine Science campus investigating plant-fungal interactions. When not working, Ashley can be found reading romance books or cooking.

Lauren Kulhanjian Conrow

DMSB’23, Business Administration

Lauren Kulhanjian Conrow is an urbanist, activist, and scholar working to mainstream communal perspectives within community development practice and policy. Originally from San Francisco, her work has spanned four continents and six countries. As a Master’s candidate in Sustainable Urban Development at the University of Oxford, she researches social capital’s effect on community resilience, emphasizing de-colonial approaches to spatial development.  Most recently, Lauren served as Co-Lead for the New Urban Agenda Write-shop Series at the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) in Nairobi, Kenya. Previously, upon graduating from Northeastern University with a B.S. in Business Administration, Lauren served as a U.S. Peace Corps Community Economic Development Facilitator in Fiji. There, she lived in a highly communal Indigenous village and co-developed a village-owned shopping center designed to strengthen rural-urban economic linkages.

Elda Gobena

S’26, Behavioral Neuroscience and Data Science

Elda is a Behavioral Neuroscience major with a minor in Data Science. She began her research journey in the Brain ImPACT Lab, studying how physical activity improves brain function and cognitive outcomes following traumatic brain injury. Building on her interest in cognition, she later joined the SoundMind Collaboratory under Dr. Susanne Jaeggi, where she examined attentional control and goal-directed processing in ADHD. Elda continued to complete her second co-op at the Language Acquisition and Brain Lab, directed by Dr. Zhenghan Qi, as an AJC Merit Research Scholar. There, she studied how chronotype influences non-native language acquisition using electroencephalography and how children with autism process statistical learning tasks using fMRI. She aims to improve early detection and intervention for neurodevelopmental disorders and plans to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology with a focus on neuropsychology.

Shanthi Hegde

S’25, Psychology and History

Shanthi Hegde is a dedicated advocate working at the intersection of rare diseases and health equity. Living with three rare diseases, she brings an intersectional lens to her work. Shanthi currently serves on the board of the Hemophilia Federation of America (HFA) and has previously served on the board of the National Bleeding Disorders Foundation (NBDF). Her national advocacy efforts span multiple fronts: advancing mental health access for individuals with rare diseases through the Bleeding Disorders Substance Use and Mental Health Coalition, pushing for affordable drug pricing, championing education and research initiatives for women of color with bleeding disorders, and consulting for the ATHN-CDC Community Counts initiative.

Shanthi founded the first young adult bleeding disorders initiative in the U.S., expanding youth representation in legislative advocacy and policy discussions. Additionally, she consults with both pharmaceutical and nonprofit sectors to strengthen patient advocacy programs and guide equitable drug development. Her research interests include improving access to mental health care and examining the impact of medical traumatic stress on individuals living with rare and chronic diseases. Shanthi is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health at Brown University. Shanthi currently works as an Expanded Access Program Coordinator at Uniphar, a global clinical research organization.

Anika Soni Jaswal

S’26, BS in Data Science and Behavioral Neuroscience

Anika Jaswal is a fourth-year pursuing Bachelor of Science degrees in Data Science and Biochemistry. She is passionate about leveraging computational tools to advance immunology research, particularly in understanding T cell biology, immune regulation, and the tumor microenvironment. Her interest in bridging data science and immunology has been shaped through her work as a CaNCURE trainee in Dr. Arlene Sharpe’s laboratory at Harvard Medical School, an oncology summer internship at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, and a co-op at Regeneron. A recipient of the 2025 ASBMB Marion B. Sewer Scholarship, Anika also nurtures a love for creative writing through Spectrum Literary Magazine and enjoys competing in club squash.

Lucas McCauley

E’26, BS in Bioengineering and Biochemistry

Lucas is a candidate for a Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering and Biochemistry. He aims to use biomedical research as a tool to improve patient lives by deepening the understanding of disease states and building novel therapeutics. As an undergraduate researcher, he developed an interest in studying the relationship between mechanical forces and cellular response. He plans to bring these passions into his PhD. Whether working on medical devices for Ghanaian hospitals as part of Innovators for Global Health or training to run his next race, Lucas embraces the journey toward each goal and is excited to see what comes next post-graduation.

Hannah McCormick

Law’26, JD

Hannah is graduating from Northeastern School of Law with her Juris Doctorate in April. During her time in law school, she has had the opportunity to pursue her passion for serving children in the juvenile justice system and child welfare system while on co-op. This prompted her to apply for a Fulbright grant to pursue an Advanced LLM in International Children’s Rights at Leiden University in the Netherlands where she hopes to continue her work advocating on behalf of children on the international law scale.

Alexis Musaelyan

Khoury’26, Data Science

Alexis Musaelyan holds a Master of Science in Data Science from Northeastern University. She is driven by the challenge of building AI systems that are not only technically rigorous but equitable and safe, particularly in high-stakes domains like healthcare and national security. Her research spans clinical machine learning at Harvard Medical School, AI-driven threat detection at Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and bioinformatics at the Naval Research Laboratory. As the founder of Threshold, a neurotechnology venture developing adaptive AI for nervous system regulation, Alexis is passionate about building technology products that reconnect humanity and restore balance in an increasingly fragmented world. She has been recognized by the Huntington 100 and the Women Who Empower Innovator Award for her outstanding leadership and innovation at the intersection of technology and entrepreneurship. Outside of research, she is a prolific published author who wrote and published five books in a single year, spanning psychological thrillers, poetry, and philosophy, and an accomplished pianist and musician whose creative pursuits deepen her understanding of human behavior and the systems designed to support it.

Sowon Park

Bouvé’24, Health Science

Sowon graduated with a degree in Health Sciences and a minor in American Sign Language. Through her clinical co-ops at Boston Children’s Hospital and Emerson Hospital, she developed an interest in medicine. As a Bouvé student, her public health coursework deepened her commitment to understanding and addressing health disparities. At the Institute for Health Equity and Social Justice Research, Sowon worked closely with Dr. Aleksandra Jakubowski on research examining sexual health education among adolescents, aiming to improve access. She also engaged in community-based learning during her study abroad in Ghana, first as a student and later as a teaching assistant. Sowon is currently working in perinatal research on disordered eating and body image at UNC Charlotte.

Sasha Pavlov

E’26, BS in Civil Engineering and Architecture

Sasha Pavlov is pursuing a degree in civil engineering with a structural concentration and a minor in architectural design. In her work, she hopes to help preserve the existing built environment in a historically, socially, and environmentally mindful way. Sasha’s experience include structural engineering co-ops at SGH, where she worked on new construction and existing buildings, as well as research at the NU STReSS lab and an e-board position with NU ASCE. These experiences have reinforced her love for preserving structures as a way to make a positive impact on people’s lives. In her free time, Sasha enjoys painting and spending time outdoors.