Awardee Database

Awardees

Cynthia Rocha

The 2026 Gill Jacot-Guillarmod Award went to Cynthia Rocha, Public Engagement Specialist at the US Embassy Branch Office in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.  She has spent more than a decade advancing US foreign policy and public diplomacy goals in the state of Minas Gerais, through exceptional relationship-building and strategic engagement with government, industry, universities, and cultural institutions. As a key member of the U.S. Embassy branch office, she has delivered significant results related to critical minerals, commercial diplomacy, higher education, cultural preservation, and security cooperation, helping expand U.S. investment opportunities, strengthen ties with influential state and industry leaders, and promote US standards and interests. Her accomplishments include establishing Brazil’s first EducationUSA office within a federal university; securing Minas Gerais’ first Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation award; and leveraging cultural and academic partnerships to advance broader policy objectives. In periods of uncertainty regarding the future of the branch office, Cynthia remained a steadfast advocate for US interests, demonstrating the creativity, resilience, and strategic vision that have made her an indispensable contributor to the U.S.–Brazilian partnership.

Anouk Guilhaume-Levy

Anouk Guilhaume-Levy, architecture student from the University of California– Berkeley, is the recipient of the 2026 Project Support Morocco award for her project on adapting traditional building techniques for modern architectural technology in post-disaster reconstruction. With the support of the LRF award, Anouk will photograph heritage sites where reconstruction is underway, and conduct interviews with earthquake-affected communities and those involved in restoration. She hopes to make this research available to local communities and architects who combine traditional and modern techniques.

Upon her return to the US, Anouk plans to pursue a graduate degree in material research and building sciences, using her research on rammed-earth architecture techniques to apply to modern built environments.

Adel Ibrahim

Adel Ibrahim was awarded an Honorable Mention for his creativity, initiative, and measurable impact in advancing US foreign policy goals through cultural diplomacy at the Embassy Kuwait. Since joining the embassy in 2019, he has designed and implemented innovative programs that strengthen the U.S.–Kuwaiti relationship, while promoting American strengths in sports, business, and culture. His leadership in sports diplomacy—such as Embassy Kuwait’s nationally-recognized Super Bowl watch parties and the successful 2025 Sports Envoy Program—expanded engagement with key audiences and fostered lasting institutional partnerships. Adel also linked cultural diplomacy to economic outcomes through high-profile events promoting American automobiles, food products, and US brands, helping create commercial opportunities for American companies. By consistently identifying connections between Kuwaiti interests and American strengths, he has delivered programs that enhance public support for the bilateral relationship, advance US economic interests, and expand the reach of US diplomacy in the Gulf region.

Emily Boyett

Emily Boyett is the 2026 Project Support Awardee for Finland. Growing up in a newspaper family in rural Illinois, Emily’s dedication to seek the truth encouraged her to the world’s leading journalism school and learn how to engage with people from diverse background and perspectives. Her continued commitment has motivated her research project to compare media literacy and trust in Finland and the United States. This Project Support Award will support Emily pursuing a Master of Global Politics and Communication at the University of Helsinki. After learning about other countries’ digital policy and how to communicate political differences with her Fulbright Program, she plans to pursue a JD/ Master of Public Policy dual degree to prepare herself for public service. She hopes to use her expertise in research or advocacy roles to combat digital extremism.

Ahmat Djabir

 A 2026 Career Achievement Award went to Ahmat Djabir in recognition of his over 20 years of exceptional service as a Public Engagement Specialist at U.S. Embassy N’Djamena. He has provided vital continuity through staffing gaps, evacuations, and periods of political instability in Chad. Trusted by successive Embassy leaders, he has used his deep institutional knowledge, sound judgment, and strong relationships with influential leaders to advance US foreign policy and public diplomacy priorities. His long stewardship of the International Visitor Leadership Program helped build a network of more than 500 Chadian alumni across government, civil society, media, education, security, and religious institutions, strengthening Embassy outreach and the U.S.-Chad bilateral relationship. Djabir’s professionalism, integrity, crisis-management experience, leadership—not to mention a record of more than 18 performance awards—reflect a distinguished career of extraordinary commitment to the mission of the United States in Chad.

Gabriela Pinasco Nájera

Gabriela Pinasco Nájera is a journalist, documentarian and human rights activist pursuing a Master in Journalism at NYU. Her work has focused on first-hand accounts of resistance to human rights abuses in South America. While under NYU’s Global Beat program in Argentina, Gabriela produced a report published by PBS and directed a documentary about Ramón Inama’s reunion with his sister, 47 years after she was abducted as a newborn during Argentina’s last military dictatorship. 

She was also admitted to the Gallatin Global Fellowship in Human Rights through which she collaborated with members of the Kichwa community in Ecuador in the filming of a short documentary now serving as her master’s thesis project, recently screened at the 2026 NYU Documentary Film Festival. 

The piece highlights the conservation work carried out by Kichwa communities, who resist through activism as well as their culture and ancestral language. Simultaneously, the film reveals the real scale of environmental damage caused by mining, which is polluting rivers that serve as the only source of water for many Indigenous communities. Now, more than ever, it is crucial to document and share these contrasts and realities before it is too late.

Gabriela is now in the post-production phase of this documentary, using the Lois Roth Foundation’s support to cover film color grading processes and to support the film’s distribution, including for international festival entries to reach audiences across different countries and platforms.

Joanna Zingariello

A 2026 Career Achievement Award went to Joanna Zingariello in recognition of her 35-year career at U.S. Embassy Malta, during which she has demonstrated exceptional dedication to advancing bilateral relations through cultural, educational, press, and public diplomacy engagement. As the embassy’s Established Opinion Leaders and Press Specialist, with over 30 awards to her name, she strengthened programs—including Fulbright, International Visitor Leadership Program, alumni, academic, cultural, youth, and media—while helping institutionalize partnerships between Maltese and US universities; promote collaboration in fields such as public health, sustainability, artificial intelligence, and advanced construction materials; and build an influential network of more than 550 alumni across Maltese government, media, business, education, security, and policymaking. Despite limited resources, in one of the U.S.’s smallest Public Diplomacy sections, she sustained engagement during COVID-19 and has consistently delivered high-impact programming, secured strong media coverage, mentored generations of staff and officers, leaving a lasting legacy that will benefit U.S.-Malta relations for decades to come.

Amy Weng

As a second generation Chinese-New Zealander, Amy Weng is committed to supporting emerging Asian Aotearoa artists through research on Asian diaspora identities within broader post-colonial and indigenous frameworks. Her Fulbright project at New York University is a comparative study of Asian American and Asian New Zealand art practices, with the goal of expanding curatorial methodologies and contemporary art narratives in Aotearoa.

The Lois Roth Foundation’s support will assist in research materials as well as building partnerships with NYC galleries and museums to present curated exhibitions of Asian diasporic experiences. After her research she hopes to continue to become a leader in the field, supporting artists and contributing to better public awareness through the arts.

Ben Gusdal

Ben Gusdal is the 2026 Project Support Norway awardee. His research examines how Norway navigates the tension between being both a major petroleum producer and a global climate leader, using methods such as interviews, public conversations, scholarly analysis, and empirical data to investigate whether oil wealth obstructs or enables Norway’s climate ambitions. The project explores how policymakers and citizens view the relationship between the oil sector, welfare-state stability, and environmental goals, and what lessons other nations might draw from Norway’s unique position.

Ben will use the support from the Lois Roth Foundation to increase his regional fieldwork outside of Oslo, specifically across western and northern Norway, to capture geographic variation in petroleum governance, Indigenous perspectives, and community-level environmental and economic impacts. 

Following his Fulbright grant and research project, Ben plans to enroll law school with a  focus on energy law. He will use his research in Norway as a foundation to contribute to renewable energy law and policy.

Alison Chan

Alison Chan is the 2026 Project Support Sweden awardee. Her research works to answer the question: “How does culture influence the way we interpret biological data, define progress, and assign meaning to illness?” Throughout the research process, she has come to appreciate that understanding disease often requires more than biochemistry alone. Using Lois Roth support to combine patient-centered interviews, narrative documentation, and visual storytelling, Alison extends her Fulbright research to examine how individuals living with Parkinson’s in Sweden experience diagnosis, treatment, and identity. This project extends beyond the laboratory, examining how science and society jointly shape the meaning of disease. By situating biomarker research within its broader social context, the project highlights that data are not culturally neutral: they gain meaning through language, ethics, and shared understanding.

Zeynep Tüfekçi

The 2026 Fulbright Distinguished Lecture was held by Zeynep Tüfeçki, a renowned sociologist and Princeton professor, New York Times columnist, and leading voice on AI and social media ethics.

In this lecture titled, “Are We Having the Wrong Nightmares about AI?”, Dr. Tüfekçi challenges the prevailing narratives around generative AI. Rather than debating optimistic visions of abundance or doomsday scenarios of mass unemployment, she argues that the most profound risks of generative AI are already here. From shattering the social mechanisms that rely on proof of accuracy, effort, and authenticity, to unleashing AI-driven persuasion at the scale of billions, she makes the case that we need to be having very different conversations about this technology.  You can view the lecture here and her TED Talks here.

Tatum Hartford

The first grant was awarded to Tatum Hartford for her work on two projects at Denmark’s National Gallery. A recent graduate of the Univ. of Toledo, she will work with the curatorial and education departments on a major reinstallation of the permanent collection that focuses on increasing the public appeal and accessibility of traditional art museums for new and underserved audiences.

Sandra Jackson-Opoku

The second grant went to award-winning novelist Sandra Jackson-Opoku to conduct research for a historical novella on Emilia Regina and her son, Hans Jónatan, both enslaved in St. Croix and brought to Copenhagen in the late 18th century. As an adult, Hans joined the Danish Navy, fought with valor, sued for freedom in the courts, and (despite commendations from Crown Prince Regent, Frederick VI) lost his case; he then fled to Iceland, becoming the first Black man in that nation’s history. While Han’s place in the historical record is being documented, she is interested in fictionalizing Emilia, the mother left behind, who lived and died in Europe, far from her native land.”

Andrew Davies

Andrew Davies is a doctoral student in Plant Biology and Conservation at Northwestern University and is undertaking research in Ecuador focused on the conservation and reforestation of endangered Magnolia trees. His project, Advancing the Reforestation of Endangered Ecuadorian Magnolia Trees, uses population genetics to better understand genetic diversity among endangered Magnolia species and to inform more effective restoration efforts.

Support from the Lois Roth Foundation funded field research and collaboration with Ecuadorian conservation partners, including Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE-Quito), where Andrew will work with botanist Dr. Álvaro Pérez. His research will include collecting leaf and fruit samples from wild and reforested trees, studying pollination and seed dispersal, and evaluating whether current reforestation efforts are preserving genetic diversity.

Through his research, Andrew is focused on strengthening international collaboration among conservation organizations and generating scientific data that can be directly applied to ongoing reforestation efforts. He will also train students at PUCE-Quito in DNA extraction and preparation, contributing to the development of local scientific capacity while helping establish living collections of endangered Magnolia species in Ecuadorian botanical gardens.

Bethany Battafarano

Bethany Battafarano is a doctoral student in Ethnomusicology at the University of Chicago and is undertaking research in Ecuador on the role of Kichwa music in preserving and transmitting ecological knowledge in the Amazon rainforest. Her project, Music for the Amazon Rainforest: Ecuadorian Kichwa Musicians Conserve Ecological Knowledge, explores how traditional music carries knowledge about the environment and the cultural roles of Kichwa women.

Funding for this project supported Bethany’s field research and community engagement with Kichwa musicians and organizations in Napo, including the Napo Kichwa Artists Association (ASARKIN) and the Napo Kichwa Midwives Association (Amupakin). Her research will involve interviews, music lessons, archival research, and participation in community events, working closely with musicians Mishki Chullumbu, Silverio Grefa, and Roxana Tanguila.

Through her research, Bethany hopes to document the relationship between Kichwa music and ecological knowledge while contributing to the preservation of Indigenous cultural traditions. As part of her community engagement, she will establish a multilingual community choir with ASARKIN, bringing together local participants to sing in Kichwa, Spanish, and English and creating opportunities for cultural exchange and intergenerational learning.

Eric Brassil

The 2026 Lois Roth Award went to Eric Brassil in recognition of his exceptional creativity and strategic vision in using public diplomacy tools in Bulgaria to advance US foreign policy goals, counter strategic competitors, and build sustainable, force-multiplying institutions. Through integrated educational, exchange, alumni, cultural, and speaker programs, he transformed the Ambassador’s Youth Council into a national, alumni-led NGO; expanded youth engagement through American Corners and private-sector partnerships; advanced US commercial and security priorities in nuclear energy, cybersecurity, and NATO interoperability; and leveraged Fulbright, YTILI, and alumni networks to promote pro-US leadership and innovation. By maximizing limited resources, mentoring his team, and creating scalable models with long-term impact, Eric has shifted US public diplomacy in Bulgaria from reactive to proactive, and exemplifies Lois Roth’s legacy of creativity, public service, and strategic foreign policy impact.

Merlyn Schultz

An Honorable Mention was awarded to Merlyn Schultz for her role in redefining cultural and educational diplomacy as a strategic tool to advance US foreign policy, national security, and bilateral cooperation with Mexico. Her initiatives include: a landmark partnership with the University of Guadalajara to renew the American Space and deliver 500 AI certifications; a nationwide YLAI alumni campaign countering cartel recruitment; the CodeCup 2026 / America 250 Hackathon, supporting World Cup security; English training for 200 first responders in Jalisco; and Spanish-language media outreach to counter asylum misinformation that reached 44 million viewers. She has delivered measurable outcomes that strengthen US influence, protect US citizens, and build durable institutional capacity. Her work exemplifies creativity, strategic vision, and results-oriented public diplomacy in the spirit of Lois Roth.

Karen Ward

The 2026 Ilchman–Richardson Award went to Karen Ward for her exceptional leadership of the ECA Office of Private Sector Exchange Designation and her over three decades of stewardship of the Exchange Visitor Program’s designation framework, which supports over 300,000 annual participants and approximately 1,400 Department-designated sponsors. She has strengthened the credibility, continuity, and effectiveness of one of ECA’s most important public diplomacy platforms through her oversight of sponsor designation and redesignation, SEVIS coordination, regulatory modernization, participant protections, visa integrity, national security priorities, and sponsor accountability. Karen’s work on complex regulatory reforms, interagency and overseas coordination, government-to-government agreements, sponsor engagement, and mentorship across ECA reflects institutional expertise, sound judgment, and her deep commitment to mutual understanding, making her profoundly deserving of this recognition.

Scott Righetti

An Honorable Mention went to Scott Righetti for his outstanding service in advancing the Fulbright Program in Europe through expert program management, strategic diplomacy, and sustained mentorship. As a central force behind Fulbright’s Europe portfolio for over 30 years, he has helped establish and strengthen bilateral agreements and commissions across Central and Eastern Europe; expanded and innovated programs such as English Teaching Assistantships; secured greater foreign government support; and guided sensitive participant safety responses during crises, including the war in Ukraine and the death of a US Fulbrighter in Germany. His deep regional knowledge, cultural fluency, collaborative leadership, and ability to build trust with foreign governments, commissions, embassies, implementing partners, and participants have produced lasting institutional achievements, while strengthening U.S. foreign policy objectives. Equally important, Scott has shaped generations of Fulbright colleagues and partners through his generous mentorship, personal humility, and principled leadership, embodying Lois Roth’s legacy of cross-cultural communication, service, and care.

Ben Branaman

Fulbright Research Grantee Ben Branaman, Arizona State University graduate, is the recipient of the 2025 Project Support Award Norway. Ben’s research in Norway involves studying the use of Electronic Monitoring (EM) as an alternative criminal sentencing practice, determining its impact on life outcomes, public safety and human rights. Working with Kriminalomsorgens Høgskole og Utdanningssenter (KRUS), Ben will examine experiences in Norway’s EM program through interviews with probation staff and incarcerated individuals that use EM. Through these interviews, he hopes to understand how serving criminal sentences at home, as opposed to in prison, affects life outcomes. 

The Lois Roth Award will enable Ben to conduct additional interviews outside of Oslo and collect vital research data that enhance understanding on Electronic Monitoring in Norway.

Prior to his Fulbright and LRF award Ben studied criminology, and plans to return to Arizona to use his research and experience in carceral environments to work towards a PhD and a career in prison reform research. Ben hopes to use the knowledge gained from his Project Support activities in the US to influence methods of sentencing and impact recidivism rates. 

 

Lydia Barrett

Lydia Barrett, PhD researcher at the University of California Santa Cruz, is the recipient of the 2025 Project Support Award Morocco for her project “Singing Resilience in the Climate Crisis: Women’s Musical Migration to Morocco. Lydia’s musical anthology research focuses on the sharing of songs by women migrants from across the African Continent.

“These women and children come to Morocco in the hopes of crossing into Europe, but once they arrive, returning home becomes as difficult as migrating to a new country. Many continue to attempt European migration, while others make a new home on Morocco’s northern coast. These women sing together to remember, to connect, and to survive.”

With the support of the LRF award, Lydia aims to produce an anthology album of songs, as well as a companion website to share interviews, field recordings, and soundscapes. The album and companion website expand the scope of the project, inviting listeners from around the world into the artistic sound worlds of these women composers and performers.

Megan Thiede

Megan Thiede is the 2025 Finland Project Support recipient for her research project to optimize the job application service lifecycle for individuals with cognitive and visual impairments. 

“Working alongside students from 10+ different countries, while learning how to conduct research for individuals with disabilities and neurodiversity, is as challenging as it is rewarding” She hopes that her research will expand upon the connection between service design and accessibility on a more holistic level.

The Project Support award will fund Megan’s participation in the Green Innovators’ Challenge at the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées in France where she will conduct a research project on increasing university accessibility and developing sustainability strategies through site visits and workshops with sustainability experts. In addition, the award will assist her in attending the Smart Accessibility Conference in France, an annual convention of thought leaders, gathered to share research and insights about current accessibility challenges and techniques to enable equal opportunity.

A graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder, Megan is completing a Master of Social Sciences at Tampere University in sustainable societies and digitalisation, with a specialization in accessibility and diversity in digital services.

Nicole Tong

Nicole is currently pursuing graduate education at Stanford University. She aims to contribute to the development of ethical AI through her project, “Design of Artificial Intelligence Systems through Gender and Intersectionality.” Nicole’s research investigates the historical and modern discrimination faced by the Sámi people, with a focus on privacy and data. Nicole will use the Award to develop educational materials demystifying AI for marginalized communities, collaborate with organizations focused on AI literacy, and present her findings at conferences. She hopes to provide insights into the potential positive applications of AI in preserving indigenous knowledge through language technology and supporting traditional practices.

*The Prix Coindreau Prize, The Jeanne Varnay Pleasants Prize for Language Teaching, and the CASVA-Henry & Judith Millon Award are currently inactive.