Three OSU students and recent graduates have been named finalists for the 2025-2026 Fulbright U.S. Student Program, meaning they’ll be funded to travel and conduct research abroad for a year.
Brenna Prevelige is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in integrative biology, and is expected to graduate in 2028. For her Fulbright, she will conduct transdisciplinary research on Gandomera mushrooms in Nepal with Shiva Devkota of the Gendaki Province Academy of Science and Technology. Prevelige’s proposed research will shed light on the cultural role of the Ganoderma mushroom as well as generate biological data which she will share with a local nonprofit conservation organization. Prevelige hopes to co-develop affordable genomic technologies in Nepal. This work will directly inform her dissertation on Ganoderma ethnobiology in the US and Nepal. She aims to become an international professor working at the intersection of scientific and place-based knowledge.
Sahana Shah graduated in 2024 with an Honors Bachelor of Science in biochemistry and biophysics and minors in chemistry and Spanish. With her Fulbright, Shah will travel to Spain to join the Institute for Research in Biomedicine Barcelona with Xavier Salvatella and contribute to the institute’s research on autism spectrum disorder. Shah’s research will center on a protein that regulates over 200 genes involved in ASD development. She will work as a part of Salvatella’s lab to investigate the use of a designed peptide to slow down the protein aggregation associated with the development of ASD. She hopes her work will lead to a therapeutic development and enhanced social and cognitive function for people with autism. In the future, she will pursue a career as a pediatric neurologist and continue research into mechanisms underlying ASD.
Kenneth Kang graduated in 2024 with an Honors Bachelor of Science in computer science and business analytics. Although Kang declined the Fulbright for a career opportunity, he was selected to earn a Master of Science degree at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom in data science with a focus on environmental science. His interest in data science is to help businesses understand how to align sustainability initiatives with profitability.
Additionally, Kendal Hobbs is currently an alternate for the 2025-26 Fulbright. She will graduate in spring 2025 with a Bachelor of Science in oceanography and minor in chemistry. If promoted, Hobbs will spend the academic year in Sweden, where she will collaborate with Andreas Nilsson of Lund University to analyze marine sediment samples using Nilsson’s novel geomagnetic modeling technique. Hobbs will contribute directly to Nilsson’s global model by analyzing marine sediment samples she collected from Alaska’s Baranof Fan. With this data, Hobbs seeks to fill the gaps in the Pacific’s magnetic record and contribute to the greater understanding of Earth’s magnetic field.
The program is run by the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Oregon State University’s National and Global Scholarships Advising office helps guide students through the process.
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