Fulbright Reality Czech

Libby Hladik is an occupational therapist.  Her work blends clinical expertise with creativity and collaboration. With a background as a theatre director and producer, she brings a unique perspective to her research on well-being and community participation for people with developmental disabilities and their families. In the 2024/2025 academic year, Libby spent a year in the Czech Republic as a Fulbright Scholar, partnering with the Institute for Research in Inclusive Education at Masaryk University in Brno. She worked alongside Czech families to adapt an Accessibility Toolkit for Cultural Institutions, helping to make community spaces more inclusive. Joined by her Czech-born husband and their daughter, Libby reflects, “My Fulbright experience was truly special in how it connected such important parts of my personal and professional life.”  My Fulbright experience was a dream come true. It sounds a little funny and a bit verbose, but it was a combination of personal and profe...

Katie Googe is an expert on American literature. During the 2024/2025 academic year, she spent eight months at the Department of English and American Studies at Masaryk University in Brno, where she explored the connections between Czech science fiction in the aftermath of the First World War and depictions of time and colonialism in early American speculative fiction. Coming from the University of Southern California, Katie was excited to experience Czech culture firsthand. While she enjoyed immersing herself in local traditions, she was also struck by how international her academic environment turned out to be. In her Brno classroom, students and colleagues from nearly every continent sparked conversations that enriched her understanding of literature and culture far beyond the lecture hall. Reflecting on her Fulbright experience, Katie shares: "Over the next two semesters, I learned more from my students than I could have even imagined." On my final night in Brno before I...

Lucie Čejková is a PhD student at the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University in Brno. She focuses on news audiences and related topics. In September 2024, she began a five-month Fulbright-Masaryk scholarship program at the Department of Film Production and Media Studies at Pennsylvania State University. Her goal was to explore how leading scholars in the media field bridge the gap between academia and the public, particularly in the areas of media literacy and conspiracy thinking. Reflecting on what the experience gave her, Lucie shares that when meeting the "big names" during her Fulbright stay: "I learned I didn't need to be so starstruck or afraid. The people I met were kind and humane, willing to mentor me at this early stage of my academic career. Without being too pathetic, I think it's fair to say I learned lessons I'll carry with me forever." Never meet your heroes, they say. Well, after my Fulbright stay, I seriously doubt that saying. ...

Jolie L'Heureux is  an astronomer. From gazing at the stars as a curious child to searching for the echoes of cosmic events, Jolie L’Heureux’s journey into astrophysics is as inspiring as the universe she studies. A graduate of Columbia University, Jolie is currently conducting post-baccalaureate research at the Faculty of Science at Masaryk University in Brno. As a Fulbright student grantee, she spends nine months hunting for electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave events—an effort to shed light on some of the most mysterious phenomena in the cosmos. Jolie’s love for science was first sparked during museum and library visits with her mother, and now she pays that inspiration forward through outreach: "I especially like to be involved with outreach events with younger children, to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to see the beauty of our universe and be inspired to become a scientist. For younger kids, I think it is important to share with them cool thing...

Sreyas Yennampelli is a neuroscientist and a philosopher. At Emory University, he researched the biological basis of various phenomena, from aggression to fatherhood. His background in philosophy reminds him of the implications of his everyday research and the need to combat the stigmatization of patients. During the current academic year, Sreyas has joined one of the few research labs focusing on eating disorders worldwide at Masaryk University’s Faculty of Medicine in Brno. With his colleagues, Sreyas tries to identify the brain regions involved in the development of eating disorders and monitors the results of their treatment. After his Fulbright experience, Sreyas plans to enroll in medical school, and upon earning his medical degree, he hopes to “post about healthy eating habits on social media and counter harmful diets endorsed by influencers. [He also wants] to develop an annual virtual research conference to create a platform for eating disorder researchers worldwide to exchang...

Tadeáš Celý is a PhD candidate in political science at Masaryk University. He specializes in political behavior. From September 2023 to May 2024, he spent nine months at the Polarization Research Lab at Dartmouth College, where he compared political polarization and disagreement in European and American contexts as a Fulbright Student grantee. Reflecting on his recent stay abroad, he says: "I learned a great deal about various computational methods, such as using large language models for research, which I had never used before. Additionally, I gained a deeper understanding of efficiency." Experiments With Belief Structures Conducting research within a great team at a top university is a unique opportunity. It provides all  the necessary resources—not just financial, but also intellectual—to develop a research thesis that  truly matters. I began with a project on ideologies and how having an ideological worldview affects  interpersonal relationships. This topic was n...

Katarzyna (Kasia) Kordas is  an environmental epidemiologist. In the Fall 2023, she spent four months at Masaryk University in Brno as a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar, supporting teaching, mentoring and curricular development in the environmental epidemiology program. Originally from the State University of New York at Buffalo, she chose the Research Center on Toxicology (RECETOX) as her host institution. RECETOX is an independent department of Masaryk University's Faculty of Science, and it strives for excellence in environmental health. It is the only program of its kind in the Czech Republic. Born and raised in Southwest Poland, Kasia experienced air pollution and saw environmental damage growing up. This personal experience sparked her interest in epidemiology, specifically the harms to health caused by environmental pollutants. During her career, she spent three years in the UK and one year in Mexico. The recent four months in the Czech Republic were an exciting opportunity ...

Kenneth C. C. Yang is a professor of  communications. As a native of Taiwan before immigrating to the US for his teaching position, he has transformed his research interests from traditional social sciences to data and computational research of unstructured texts and discourses produced by human beings. Trained as a new media researcher at Ohio State University at Columbus, Kenneth is constantly amazed by the advances and impacts of technologies on contemporary human experiences and how researchers are empowered for their research. During Fall 2023, Kenneth served as a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar at the Department of Media and Journalism Studies of Masaryk University (MUNI) in Brno. Kenneth offered an undergraduate course in New Media Advertising that introduced MUNI students to the latest developments of new technologies and how these technologies can be utilized for their careers in the field of communication. At the end of the sem...