Four Washington State University students—including two new graduates—are the latest recipients of Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards to pursue study or teaching abroad this coming year.
They are:
- Nikki Delgado, an Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine MD candidate, who received a Fulbright to conduct research in the Philippines
- Hollen Foster-Grahler, a Spanish major who graduated in May, who received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) award to teach in Spain
- Marwa Mahmoud, a recent master’s graduate in environmental sciences, who will research in New Zealand
- Sydney Smith, a Ph.D. candidate in political science, who will research in the European Union.
“We are delighted that these WSU students have been selected for this prestigious award that will help them reach their personal and professional goals and build academic and professional networks world-wide,” said April Seehafer, director of the WSU Distinguished Scholarships Program. She mentors applicants for several nationally competitive scholarships, including Fulbright awards.
Nikki Delgado
Delgado’s project will be to explore the relationship between pediatric brain tumors and neurocognitive function, as well as evaluate current intervention programs in the Philippines. She will work with Ronnie Baticulon, MD, pediatric neurosurgeon at Philippine General Hospital and professor at the University of the Philippines Manila.
“Receiving the Fulbright is a tremendous honor that empowers me to pursue my passions for child neurology and health equity,” said Delgado. “This award will not only advance my research career but also foster personal growth, cultural understanding, and a meaningful reconnection with my roots.”
A third-year WSU medical student, Delgado conducts research with Luciana Fonseca, studying how certain blood-based biomarkers that are linked to various brain injury pathways are related to diabetes characteristics in adults with type-1 diabetes. With Izaskun Iglesias, she evaluates how effective certain antidiabetic medications are in managing childhood obesity with health-equity lens. Delgado is a Bothell native and earned her BA degree from Whitman College in psychology with minors in chemistry and race and ethnic studies. When she returns from her Fulbright for her fourth year of medical school, she plans to apply for a child neurology residency. Her career plan is to continue being involved with research and advocacy.
Hollen Foster-Grahler
Foster-Grahler is an award-winning undergraduate researcher. Her Honors College thesis project, “Modeling English wh-pseudocleft variation,” conducted with mentor Michael Thomas, landed her an award from the WSU Emerita-Emeritus Society. She also did research with Thomas into morphosyntax, and with Matt Hudelson on aperiodic tilings of surfaces.
She graduated in May with a BA in Spanish and minors in linguistics and mathematics, plus a certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. In 2024, she studied abroad in Wales at Aberystwyth University’s Theater, Film, and Television Department. She was a writer-actor in a two-woman play, and writer-director for three short films—all of which premiered at WSU. She served as president of STAGE Films at WSU Pullman, an executive board member of STAGE Student Theatre, and a cast member of Nuthouse Improv Comedy.
Foster-Grahler said, “Receiving the Fulbright ETA to Spain is incredible. I am thrilled to get to truly master my Spanish, get teaching experience, and live in a completely different culture.
“I am so thankful to my family, friends, mentors, and everyone at WSU who helped me along the way,” said the Olympia native. Her career plan is to earn a Ph.D. and become a linguistics professor.
Marwa Mahmoud
Marwa Mahmoud, who grew up in Issaquah, “has a Fulbright family,” she said. Her father, Amal, and brother, Hani, are Fulbrighters, and that inspired her to apply for an independent research award to focus on understanding the best ways to manage at-risk wildlife species.
Her Fulbright plan is to utilize structured decision-making—which she encountered in her first master’s degree class at WSU—to help wildlife managers make decisions about how to direct their programs, and identify extinction risks for one of New Zealand’s most endangered birds, the fairy tern or Tara iti.
“At WSU I work on an endangered and rare species in the U.S.—the Sierra Nevada red fox,” she said, one of the most elusive carnivores in the Oregon Cascades. “It has prepared me well to work abroad in a new ecosystem to try to identify extinction risks of the Tara iti.”
In Daniel Thornton’s mammal spatial ecology and conservation lab, she focused on how climate change and disturbance effects the montane carnivore community in the Oregon Cascades.
On her Fulbright in New Zealand, she plans to work in the Department of Conservation to achieve her research goals.
Mahmoud earned her BA in environmental studies at the University of Washington, with a minor in environmental science and resource management. Her career goal is to earn a Ph.D. in conservation science and work at the intersection of wildlife management and policy.
Sydney Smith
Sydney Smith’s research with WSU mentor Amy Mazur has built a foundation for her Fulbright studies in gender inequality and gender-based violence.
Specifically, she will look “at how different levels of government—international, national, and local—work together to shape and carry out gender equality policies,” she said. Her mentors will be Marjeta Sinko at the University of Zagreb, Croatia, along with Roman Kuhar and Milica Antic Gaber at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Their research “is connected to exploring issues of gender equality—from looking at public policy, to exploring social movements, to developing broader understandings of feminist theory,” said Smith. Research conducted as a Fulbright will be part of her dissertation and will build off work conducted with Mazur.
After earning her BA in international studies from Arcadia University, in Glenside, Penn., and her MS in international relations from Scotland’s University of Glasgow, the Graham, Texas native came to WSU to study with Mazur.
Smith will apply the Gender Equality Policy in Practice Network (GEPPN) approach, developed and co-convened by Mazur, to her Fulbright efforts. It explores policy implementation in a nuanced way and whether policies are being implemented and leading toward intended outcomes of gender equality.
“Receiving this award means a lot to me,” Smith said. “I put my heart into my work and care deeply about advocating for gender equality and rights for all marginalized groups, and receiving this award allows me to continue to do that and develop my research.”
Padgett Thigpen, her mother, is her “constant support.” Smith’s career goal is to earn a Ph.D., teach and research, and do policy work.
The Significance of a Fulbright
The four new Fulbrighters brings the number of WSU’s Fulbright U.S. Student recipients, including ETA’s, to 72, with the first having been awarded in 1949, said Seehafer. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards one-year study abroad grants for seniors, recent graduates, and graduate students who will perform an individually designed study or research project or who will enter a English teaching assistant program. It is designed to expand perspectives through academic and professional advancement and cross-cultural dialogue. Fulbright creates connections in a complex and changing world in partnership with more than 140 countries worldwide.
Media contact:
April Seehafer, director of the Distinguished Scholarships Program, seehafer@wsu.edu