Sophomore Chapal Bhavsar ’26 (BUS) spent four weeks in England this summer as part of the prestigious Fulbright UK Summer Institute. The Danbury native, who is majoring in finance, was awarded the University of Exeter’s Summer Institute for Global Sustainability, an interdisciplinary program that emphasizes climate change, sustainability, and citizen responsibility for the future of the planet, by a U.S.-UK Fulbright Commission. selected to study at.
“As a participant in the Fulbright Summer Program, I was able to explore the University of Exeter and all it has to offer, and further explore my interest in a more interconnected and sustainable world. ” says Babusar. “My work has enabled me to become a more active and global citizen, and I hope that the knowledge I bring back will help build broader connections between communities.”
The U.S.-UK Fulbright Commission works to improve knowledge, foster civic engagement, and develop caring leaders through educational exchanges between the United States and the United Kingdom. It is the only academic awards program operating on both sides of the Atlantic, providing grants for graduate study. research and education.
Each year, the committee supports up to 60 undergraduate students from the United States to participate in rigorous academic and cultural summer programs at leading educational institutions across the UK. Institutes typically last 3 to 4 weeks.
The application to the Fulbright UK Summer Institute, which begins in November, is rigorous, involving four essay questions of varying lengths. Babusar learned she was a finalist for the program while attending a conference in Washington, D.C., in March, and had a virtual interview with the Fulbright committee the following month.He learned that he had been selected for the program a few days after the interview.
Babusar left for the UK in early July and spent time getting to know London and meeting fellow Summer Institute participants. He then moved to the University of Exeter in the south-west of the country, where he made the Streatham campus his home.
“We had lectures from different professors every day,” Babusar says. “Exeter is one of the top schools in the world for global sustainability and climate research, and we were able to conduct research there and use the labs.”
Babsart’s research project was an economic analysis of waste-to-energy solutions in Algeria. He worked on the project while at Exeter and presented it to members of the Faculty of Environment, Science and Economics. Bahsar completed his final thesis after his return.
“I met a lot of people from all over the world, including Australia, Canada and France,” says Babusar. “It was really interesting. …I had never met anyone from Australia before. It was really cool to explore the culture of another country so deeply.”
Mr. Babsar is the first UConn student selected to participate in the program since Erin Puglia ’17 (CLAS), who studied conflict resolution at Queen’s University Belfast in the summer of 2015.
When Babsar returns to academia, he hopes to study infrastructure in developing countries and the United States to see how policymakers can make decisions that are both fiscally sound and for the population as a whole.
He has already begun looking for a post-graduation job focused on how the United States can positively support other countries.
Babusar credits Luann Sanders-Kanabay, who recently retired from UW. National Scholarship and Fellowship Officeand his mentor, anthropology graduate student Roxanne Rubenzon, who helped him through the process of winning the fellowship.
of National Scholarship and Fellowship Office (ONSF) is a resource for students who want to find out more about the Fulbright UK Summer Institute and other prestigious externally funded scholarships and fellowships that support both postgraduate and undergraduate study. ONSF is part of the Enrichment Program and is open to all graduate and undergraduate students at the university, including students at regional campuses. For more information about Fulbright, please contact us. michael cunninghamFulbright Program Advisor at UConn.
