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Eight ������ students and alumni were named as 2025 recipients of awards through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Five students were also chosen as alternates.

The  funds a range of awards that include English teaching assistantships (ETA) and study/research grants in over 140 countries.

The 2025 recipients are the following:

• Phoebe Ambrose ’22 (food studies in the former David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics and citizenship and civic engagement in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs), study grant, United Kingdom
• Sofia DaCruz ’25 (citizenship and civic engagement in the Maxwell School, selected studies in the School of Education and women’s and gender studies in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S)), English teaching assistantship (ETA), Slovak Republic
• Alexandria Johnson ’24 (international relations in the Maxwell School and A&S), ETA, Belgium
• Morgan Meddings ’25 (inclusive elementary and special education in the School of Education), ETA, Madagascar
• Jessie Norton ’25 (Spanish language, literature and culture and Spanish education in A&S and the School of Education), ETA, Spain
• Kerrin O’Grady ’25 (biomedical engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and neuroscience in A&S), study grant, United Kingdom
• Zoe Prin, a graduate student in international relations in the Maxwell School, ETA, Moldova
• Virginia Walker ’25 (international relations and policy studies in the Maxwell School), ETA, Mongolia

The 2025 alternates are the following:

• Yesmine Chikha ’25 (communications design in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA)), ETA, Spain
• Sacha Norton ’25 (selected studies, School of Education), ETA, Kenya
• Katarina Sako ’24 (biology and neuroscience in A&S), study grant, United Kingdom
• Lindy Truitt ’25 (communications design in VPA), study grant, United Kingdom
• Neha Tummalapalli ’23 (architecture in the School of Architecture), study grant, Italy

Phoebe Ambrose

Ambrose was a 2021-22 Lender Center Fellow. She contributed to several projects in the areas of food security, justice and sovereignty, including a Farm to School initiative with the Syracuse City School District and the creation of a Food Justice Atlas. She also was an active volunteer with Pete’s Giving Garden.

After graduation, Ambrose joined the AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) program. She was based in Key West, Florida, and worked with the Star of the Sea Foundation (SOS), the largest hunger-relief nonprofit in the Florida Keys. As an agricultural specialist, she created hands-on curriculum for local elementary schools on sustainable agriculture using an in-classroom aeroponic Tower Garden and built and managed the SOS Eco Farm, an urban aeroponic farm comprising 60 nine-foot-tall Tower Gardens.

SOS was awarded an Urban Agriculture Innovative Production grant in 2023 to bring local agriculture to the Florida Keys, as the environment there does not support traditional in-ground agriculture. In addition to growing 15,000 pounds of fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs annually, Ambrose conducted farm tours, community events, school field trips and mini-agricultural lessons, and worked with a partner nonprofit to build agricultural skills and knowledge for adults with disabilities. “It was an absolute joy to be part of a powerhouse organization that made such a profound impact on the community,” she says.

In her Fulbright experience, Ambrose will attend Royal Holloway, University of London, to pursue a master’s degree in Global Health: Food Security, Sustainability and Biodiversity. The program partners with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which conducts leading botany research and has the world’s largest plant conservation program.

“I’m excited to build on my knowledge of plants/agriculture and explore emerging agricultural technologies and practices,” Ambrose says. “For my dissertation, I plan to study crop wild relatives (plants that are closely related to our current crops but have evolved naturally and therefore contain more resilient traits and qualities), specifically corn’s crop wild relative, teosinte and its impact on soil health.”

Morgan Meddings

Meddings was a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program and completed an award-winning thesis on how book banning of children’s literature is affecting classrooms. She also worked as a substitute teacher in the Syracuse City School District after completing her student teaching.

After spending the spring 2024 semester in Strasbourg, France, she knew wanted to teach abroad in a French-speaking country after graduation.

“I also wanted to find an experience outside of the westernized classrooms I had already been exposed to,” she says. Meddings will be an English teaching assistant at Le Centre National d’Enseignement de la Langue Anglais (CNELA) in Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capital city, and engage with the community through additional engagement and service projects. She is especially eager to engage with initiatives that promote literacy in Madagascar—an interest she developed while volunteering for her local library in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

“I am beyond excited to bring my passion for teaching abroad and cannot wait to learn from the teachers and students I will be working with in Madagascar,” she says.

Students interested in applying to the Fulbright program should contact the Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising at 315.443.2759 or cfsa@syr.edu.