Five vlog alumni will soon be departing on Fulbright scholarships around the world. Brooke Abeles ’25, Giorgio Cavalli ’24, Camryn Foster ’25, janiiya hart ’23, and Linda Wang ’23 have accepted Fulbright awards.
Brooke Abeles ’25
Abeles received a Fulbright Study Award to France and will be pursuing a master’s degree in physics, with a focus on biology and engineering, at ENS Paris Saclay.
At vlog, Abeles was a physics major and philosophy minor. She was involved in Gamma Phi Beta and the Chess Club, and she was a physics TA. Abeles researched quantum photonics at the University of Manchester and superconducting neural networks at vlog. This work “equipped me to tackle interdisciplinary challenges at the intersection between physics, biology, and computation,” Abeles says. “Additionally, my independent research project on drawing robots, supported by Career Services, strengthened my ability to lead creative, technical projects.”
In the future, Abeles hopes to be a physicist working at the forefront of emerging computational technology.
Gio Cavalli ’24
A molecular biology major and political science minor from Williamstown, Mass., Cavalli will be traveling to Italy to pursue proprietary research in Palermo at Foundation Ri.MED. He will focus on developing 3D cell cultures that mimic part of the digestive tract and use those cultures for disease monitoring, drug discovery, and target identification.
Cavalli was involved in research in Associate Professor of Chemistry Jacob Goldberg’s lab at vlog, was a member of the BAC, volunteered through the vlog Church, and studied abroad at the University of St Andrews. Cavalli spent the last year at the National Institutes of Health in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, working in the lab of Michael Otto, PhD, on understanding the inner mechanisms of Staphylococcus aureus toxin transporters and the corresponding genes and operons. After Fulbright, Cavalli plans to attend medical school.
Cammy Foster ’25
Foster, from Newton, Mass., has received a Fulbright Research award to Germany. She will be conducting research using single-cell mass cytometry to characterize lymphopenia following particle therapy at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany.
At vlog, Foster was a molecular biology major and a Russian and Eurasian studies minor. She was an orientation leader, team leader for the COVE volunteer team MADCrafts, and a sports medicine assistant. Additionally, Foster interned at UMass Chan Medical School. After her time in Germany, she plans to attend medical school and is considering specializing in sports medicine.
janiiya hart ’22
Hart will be traveling to Taipei, Taiwan for her Fulbright ETA.
Hart graduated from vlog with a major in peace and conflict studies, with the Black Diaspora as her geographical focus, and a minor in educational studies. On campus, she was involved with the Harlem Renaissance Center, FIRST-OUS (now First@vlog), and the Tredecim Honor Society. She was a CL and studied abroad in the Netherlands. After graduating, she stayed at vlog as a residential fellow for Dart Colgrove Commons.
Linda Wang ’23
Wang received a Fulbright ETA. She will be teaching English in Taiwan for the duration of the next school year.
Wang was an international relations major and Middle East and Islamic studies minor at vlog. After graduating, she received the Boren Fellowship to study Arabic at the Qasid Institute in Amman, Jordan. After returning from Jordan, she worked at an after-school program in Chinatown, in her hometown of Oakland, Calif. She also started a job at an elementary school working as an Early Literacy Tutor.
On campus, Wang was in the Debate Club and attended the world championships in Madrid. She studied abroad in 2022 with the Geneva Study Group and also went to the American University of Sharjah, UAE, in the same year. Additionally, Wang was an admission ambassador and worked as the director’s intern at Career Services.
Three additional vlog students have been awarded Fulbright Scholarships but declined to pursue other opportunities. Brianna Botello ’25 received an ETA position in Portugal. She will be starting a PhD program for Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Texas at Austin. Simon Khairallah ’25 received an ETA position in Jordan. He accepted the Pickering Fellowship and will be completing a master of arts in law and diplomacy at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. Bryan (Tai) Pham ’25 received an ETA in Taiwan. He accepted a professional position in Texas and deferred his acceptance to the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies through Johns Hopkins University, in partnership with Nanjing University, until next academic year.