Fulbright Reality Czech

Petr Liška is a physical engineer. But the world he works in is almost unimaginably small: he studies materials so thin they are only a few atoms thick, exploring how they can manipulate light through quantum phenomena that continue to work even at room temperature. The vision behind his research sounds almost futuristic, creating an electrically controllable optical component thinner than a strand of human hair by a factor of one hundred thousand. Originally from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Brno University of Technology, Petr is currently spending the academic year at Stanford University in California as a Fulbright Visiting Student. Yet this story is not only about cutting-edge science. It is also about moving across the world with a wife and a newborn daughter, adjusting to life under the Californian sun, discovering how everyday kindness can shape one’s state of mind, and perhaps unexpectedly realizing what people back home in the Czech Republic often take for gran...

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...

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...

Veronika Bednářová is a journalist, Fulbright alumna and one of the few Czechs, who personally experienced the tragic events of 9/11 in New York City. After graduating from Film and Theatre Studies at Charles University in Prague, Veronika won a Fulbright scholarship to continue her education at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts. Today, Veronika writes for the Czech weekly magazine Reflex, and she teaches Travel Writing at New York University in Prague.  Veronika Bednářová wrote about her 9/11 experience the following text for her book “ Má americká krása ” (My American Beauty), published by Ringier/Daranus in 2006. Below Veronika's preface written this week, we publish the  English translation of the  original text acquired with the author’s permission. ________________________________________   New Ground Zero During this year’s reverent anniversary ceremony of 9/11, I wish I could be at the National September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan - two gia...

Pavla Hubálková dokončuje doktorát v oboru neurovědy na 3. lékařské fakultě Univerzity Karlovy a na Fyziologickém ústavu Akademie věd ČR.  Současně také působí jako vědecká redaktorka v magazínu Univerzity Karlovy Forum  a o vědě píše také pro týdeník  HROT , víkendovou přílohu Hospodářských novin, web VedaVyzkum.cz a elektronický časopis vysokých škol Universitas . Komunikaci vědy se plánuje věnovat i v budoucnu. Ke změně oboru Pavlu inspiroval výjezd do USA s Fulbrightovým stipendiem, při kterém se devět měsíců věnovala výzkumu v laboratoři i vědecké komunikaci na Northwestern University v Chicagu.    S Pavlou Hubálkovou hovořil Ladislav Loukota ze stránky  Vědátor . Rozhovor je desátým dílem seriálu příběhů k 30. výročí Fulbrightovy komise. Videozáznamy najdete začátkem každého měsíce na našem  YouTube  kanále a  Facebooku . V pátek Vám přinášíme částečný přepis rozhovorů zde na blogu . Čemu jste se věnovala ve vědě doposud? Studuji N...

Mira Markham arrived in the Czech Republic at the beginning of January of this year. A PhD candidate in the College of Arts and Sciences at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Mira won a 9-month Fulbright student grant to move forward with her dissertation research at the Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University in Brno. When Mira planned her research project called, “Power in the Village: Rural Politics in Moravian Wallachia, 1945-1953,” there was no sign of a worldwide pandemic; thus, her original plan was to rely heavily on local in-person library, museum and archive research, communication with Czech scholars and field research in the rural area of Moravian Wallachia, the mountainous region located in the eastern part of the country. Mira is fluent in Czech and has been to the country four times prior to her Fulbright grant. How has she adjusted to the new realities of today? And how successful is she in conducting her research given the current limits?  When I arrived at...

Zdeněk Mihula studuje matematickou analýzu na  Matematicko-fyzikální fakultě Univerzity Karlovy v Praze. Matematika je podle jeho názoru méně o počítání a více o hledání pravdy. Většinu akademického roku 2019/2020 Zdeněk strávil na The Ohio State University jako stipendista studentského Fulbrightova programu. Hned v začátku pobytu Zdeňka překvapila upřímná vřelost vůči novým zahraničním studentům, takže začlenění do studentského života, který na Ohio State probíhá převážně na půdě campusu, netrvalo dlouho. Právě komunitní až rodinná atmosféra na univerzitě, kterou navštěvuje přes 60 tisíc studentů, by podle Zdeňka mohla sloužit některým českým univerzitám jako vzor.    Rozhovor se Zdeňkem Mihulou je třetím dílem seriálu příběhů k 30. výročí Fulbrightovy komise. S absolventy různých Fulbrightových programů si povídá Ladislav Loukota ze stránky  Vědátor . Videozáznamy najdete každou první středu v měsíci na našem YouTube kanále a na našem   Facebooku . V pátek Vá...