Fulbrights 2020

Since 1970, well over a hundred Dartmouth graduates have been awarded Fulbright scholarships or the German equivalent, DAAD fellowships, to spend a year either teaching or pursuing research in the German-speaking countries. In 2020, they are joined by three more Fulbright awardees: Chase Yakaboski, Thayer '23; Mary Tobin '20; and Claire Votava '18.

Chase Yakaboski, who did his undergraduate work at Berkeley, is a PhD candidate in the Thayer School of Engineering. He will be conducting research in Austria on his dissertation on artificial intelligence and machine learning. On the side, he also hopes to explore his family's roots there.

Mary Tobin '20 also graduated with an Engineering major, with a particular interest in countering climate change. She also spent a term on Dartmouth's Language Study Abroad program in Berlin, using the language exclusively both in her courses and with her German host family. An outdoors enthusiast, she found that "The scenery was beautiful, and the cultural attitudes align with my interest in sustainability." With her Fulbright Teaching Fellowship, she will be teaching English to high school students in, at her request, Bavaria, where she also hopes to "explore the German backcountry, engage with local engineers, [and] … to immerse myself in the culture as much as possible."

Claire Voltava '18, a History major, wrote her undergraduate thesis on women in science. With her Fulbright Research Grant, she will continue that project in Berlin at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, concentrating on the careers of the physicist Lise Meitner and the chemist Dorothy Hodgkin. "I want to understand the factors that allowed one woman to win the Nobel Prize, while the other, despite her achievements, fell short. I hope to offer a proactive model of advocacy within the scientific community that can advance more equity."

For more information on these Fellows, the Dartmouth News release.

Dartmouth students or graduates who are considering exploring such opportunities can find good advice at the Office of Fellowship Advising.