West LA Times

The Fulbright Program has awarded five recent and soon-to-be UCLA graduates U.S. Student Fulbright Awards, and Chris Hanscom, a professor of Asian languages and cultures, a yearlong Fulbright fellowship to conduct research abroad. The program, primarily funded through the U.S. Department of State, facilitates cultural exchange and understanding through international academic and professional exchanges.

Award recipients will spend the 2024–25 academic year teaching English and conducting research in countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, India, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, and Vietnam.

Five UCLA students — all recent alumni or expected 2024 graduates — and one UCLA faculty member have received 2024–25 academic year awards from the Fulbright Program. The students earned U.S. Student Fulbright Awards, one of multiple award categories administered since the Fulbright Program was created in 1946. Primarily funded through the U.S. Department of State, the program offers awards and scholarships to U.S. and foreign students, scholars, educators, professionals, as well as institutions of higher education. Chris Hanscom received a yearlong Fulbright fellowship to conduct research abroad.

UCLA’s six awardees represent disciplines spanning life sciences, public health, and political science. They will spend the coming year in locations such as Cambodia, Kazakhstan, and Vietnam.

The 2024–25 Fulbright Program award recipients are:

Regina Hieap: An alumna of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health with work experience in child welfare and community health will travel to Cambodia to become an English teaching assistant while promoting American-Cambodian cultural exchanges. Hieap earned her master’s degree in public health in 2022 with a concentration in health policy and management.

Derek Ren: Graduated in June with a bachelor’s degree in human biology and society; he will work as a university-level English teaching assistant in Kazakhstan. As part of his award, he will promote American-Kazakh cultural exchanges through a university student club or a local “American Corner” sponsored by the U.S. State Department.

Siya Sharma: Due to graduate in 2024 with bachelor’s degrees in human biology and society and anthropology; she will use her India Fulbright-Nehru Open Study Research Award to conduct research on metabolic and reproductive endocrine disorders within Northern India's female population.

Ryan Silverstein: Due to graduate this year with a bachelor’s degree in political science; he will work as an English teaching assistant in Taitung, Taiwan while engaging in American-Taiwanese cultural exchanges. Silverstein pursued a concentration in international relations at UCLA and has been studying Mandarin since high school.

Elise Tran: Due to graduate in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in computational systems biology; she will use her award to conduct research on genetic mutations leading to deafness in Vietnam while promoting accessibility resources for those with hearing loss there. Tran spent three undergraduate years working at the Alexandrova Lab on campus.

Chris Hanscom: Professor of Asian languages and cultures; he will conduct research on late South Korean writer Cho Sehǔi at Korea University’s Research Institute of Korean Studies located in Seoul focusing on Cho's lesser-known works considering questions of political speech historical truth contemporary South Korean fiction.