Four Stony Brook University students, all New York natives, earned prestigious Fulbright grants for 2015-16 — doctoral candidate Erica Mukherjee, graduate students Allyssa Schoenemann and Masra Shameem, and undergraduate Michelle Chiarappa.
The highly competitive Fulbright Program, created by U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright in 1946 and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, provides grants annually for international research and teaching in an effort to foster global partnership and cultural exchange.
Mukherjee and Shameem will both travel to India on Fulbright Study/Research grants, while Chiarappa and Schoenemann will join the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Program (ETA) in Turkey and Germany respectively.
Together, this year’s four Fulbright grant recipients tie the Stony Brook record for most in one year, accomplished in 1988 and 1999. Since 1973, SBU students have earned a total of 69 Fulbright grants.
“We are delighted that our students’ hard work has paid off so spectacularly for them,” said Kathleen Ehm, Director of the Office for the Integration of Research, Education, and Professional Development (IREP). “With the establishment of the new IREP Office, Stony Brook has renewed its commitment to supporting our students applying for prestigious fellowships like the Fulbright. I look forward to leveraging our students’ successes this year into even greater support we can provide in the future.”
The IREP Office serves as a central resource for students, postdocs, faculty and staff engaged in Stony Brook’s research and educational missions, ensuring that undergraduates, graduate students and postdocs receive a well-rounded, multi-dimensional education.
“I was surprised, yet very grateful for how systematic Stony Brook University was in providing information and assistance for students wishing to apply to Fulbright,” said Schoenemann. “It was wonderful to have had all of the support from fellow Fulbright grantees as well as other professionals and professors to point me in the right direction.”
With the help of the IREP Office, Seawolves doubled Stony Brook’s annual Fulbright application average this year with 14 submissions.
Meet Stony Brook University’s 2015-16 Fulbright Grant Awardees
(Click each name to learn about their Fulbright plans and application experience.)
Michelle Chiarappa
Hometown: Centereach, NY
Program: TESOL – Undergraduate
Destination: Turkey
Grant type: English Teaching Assistantship
Erica Mukherjee
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Program: History – Doctoral
Destination: India
Grant type: Study/Research
Allyssa Schoenemann
Hometown: Lake Grove, NY
Program: TESOL – Graduate
Destination: Germany
Grant type: English Teaching Assistantship
Masra Shameem
Hometown: Dix Hills, NY
Program: Public Health – Graduate
Destination: India
Grant type: Study/Research
— Brian Smith
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