Jeffrey Meier, Archana Reddy, Denise Nepveux, and Kara Babrowski, one undergraduate and three advanced degree students, are Fulbright fellowship recipients. The highly competitive grants enable students to plan their own research projects and provide full funding for a year of study abroad in one of more than 140 countries.

Jeffrey Meier, a UIC Honors College student, is investigating expanding the Q-methodology research technique that produces a quantitative measure of subjective data. He will conduct his research with Dr. James Good at the University of Durham in the United Kingdom. Meier hopes to help doctors improve their ability to get at the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs their patients have trouble expressing in order to improve treatment.

Archana Reddy is a medical student at the UIC College of Medicine. She is in Ecuador to analyze ethnomedicine—or medicine of the indigenous people—while conducting field research in two hospitals that serve that population. She also is conducting a study that surveys the ethnomedical, ethnobotanical, and community health practices of an indigenous group.

Denise Nepveux, a Ph.D. candidate in disability studies, is using her Fulbright fellowship to conduct research with urban Ghanaian women with disabilities in the city of Accra. She is looking at how these women define and negotiate their autonomy with respect to their social and economic context.

Kara Babrowski is a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology. She is researching the duration and intensity of regional trading in the Swahili state on the coast of Kenya. As part of her study, she is collecting DNA samples from the Taita people to determine the level of intercultural mixing along the trade route.