Fulbright Reality Czech

This week we share the achievements of one of our alumni, Ilana (Lani) Hartikainen, whose work in the area of teaching the socialist history of the Czech Republic in an online format has become particularly timely in the age of the coronavirus and online learning. Read on to learn more about how Ilana’s experience as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Liberec led involvement in the creation and development of the Socialism Realised project at the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (USTR) in Prague. Post originally entitled: “History Teaching in the Age of the Coronavirus.” Ilana Hartikainen was a Fulbright ETA in Liberec, Czech Republic in 2011-12. She spent 2012-14 getting her International Masters in Russian, Central and East European Studies and Political Science at the University of Glasgow and Corvinus University of Budapest, before moving to Prague and joining the Department of Education at the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. In 2018,...

This week we share the achievements of another one of our alumni, Dr. Jan Strojil, who has worked tirelessly since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis to help society and Fulbrighters alike. Read on to learn more about how Dr. Strojil’s active commitment to the Fulbright program as an alumnus led him to create English-friendly medical guidelines and services for our American grantees in the Czech Republic, who initially faced a large amount of uncertainty and anxiety due to the global pandemic. Jan Strojil from the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry of Palacký University in Olomouc, Czech Republic, is a Fulbright- Masaryk program alumnus from the 2015/2016 year. Dr. Strojil was a clear principal candidate for the selection committee, fitting all of the ideal qualities for this special scholarship as a scientist with broad involvement in civil society. The topic of his project, therapeutic drug monitoring and individualized dosing of antibiotics was a timely one, as the research in phar...

This week we share the achievements of one of our alumni, Prof. David Lukáš, who has become dedicated to applying his expertise in nanotextiles to the COVID-19 crisis. Read on to learn more about how Prof. Lukáš’s Fulbright experience at Clemson University led him to create a team of PhD students at his home institution, the Technical University of Liberec, who are now on the frontlines of mass-engineering a new textile to protect us against the virus.  Professor David Lukáš, Professor and Rector Emeritus at the Technical University of Liberec (TUL), for years the Head of the Department of Non-woven Textiles within the Faculty of Textile Engineering. He serves as an Honorary Ambassador of the Fulbright Program at TUL. David Lukáš was a Fulbright Scholar in 2009/2010, visiting the Clemson University School of Materials Science and Engineering, Lab of Nanofluidics. Already when applying for the Fulbright scholarship, Professor Lukáš was a widely-recognized scholar with remarka...

Posted by Sarah Rothmann (English teaching Assistant at Gymnázium Jozefa Bočka in Český Těšín, currently quarantined at home in USA) Some may say I am a planner. I think I would say that as well. What can I say? Plans are nice. I love being able to guess what’s going to happen and how I will react. Especially when plans work out. However, they can also be devastating when they fall apart. After these past few weeks, whether a planner or not, I think we all may agree that the grief, frustration, and utter confusion that follows absolutely blows. However, since arriving back to the United States from the Czech Republic I have found that being discouraged overshadows all the joys and love that life holds for everybody every day. Being discouraged is very easy and natural right now but is unproductive and has the power to drive anybody crazy. Letting this grief, frustration, and utter confusion consume life is the opposite of what I plan to do for these quarantine days. Instead of...

Napsala Ing. arch. Šárka Malošíková z Ústavu navrhování II Fakulty architektury Českého vysokého učení technického v Praze. Šárka posledních 7 měsíců působila na College of Architecture and Planning na University of Colorado v americkém Denveru a byla součástí certifikovaného programu Colorado Building Workshop, v němž studenti nejen navrhují projekty, ale přímo je i staví. Sedím právě v povinné karanténě na Moravě v domě po babičce a doháním resty za poslední dva týdny, které jsem místo výzkumu věnovala především plánování předčasného návratu z USA domů a cestě samotné. I když už jsme s manželem nějaký den zpátky, můj biorytmus je pořád nastaven na Denver, takže vstát před polednem se mi zatím nepodařilo. Šárka Malošíková s manželem v Denveru Ještě před měsícem nic žádnému předčasnému odjezdu nenasvědčovalo. Můj vedoucí Rick Sommerfeld naplánoval na začátek dubna pro celý pětičlenný tým Colorado Building Workshopu studijní cestu do dvou design-build programů na jihu USA – “...