Four Washington State University students have received Fulbright U.S. Student awards to study and teach abroad.
The recipients are:
- Nikki Delgado, Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine MD candidate, to conduct research in the Philippines
- Hollen Foster-Grahler, May 2025 bachelor’s degree recipient in Spanish, to teach in Spain with a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) award
- Marwa Mahmoud, recent master’s graduate in environmental sciences, to research in New Zealand
- Sydney Smith, PhD candidate in political science, to research in the European Union.
“We are delighted that four WSU applicants received this prestigious award to help reach their goals and build academic and professional networks worldwide,” said April Seehafer, WSU Distinguished Scholarships Program director.
Delgado’s Fulbright project is to explore the relationship between pediatric brain tumors and neurocognitive function, and to evaluate current intervention programs in the Philippines. She will work with Ronnie Baticulon, MD, pediatric neurosurgeon at Philippine General Hospital and professor at the University of the Philippines Manila.
“Receiving the Fulbright is a tremendous honor that empowers me to pursue my passions for child neurology and health equity,” said Delgado. “This award will not only advance my research career but also foster personal growth, cultural understanding, and a meaningful reconnection with my roots.”
A third-year student at the WSU medical college, the Bothell native conducts research with Luciana Fonseca and Izaskun Iglesias. Delgado’s career plan is to continue involvement with research and advocacy.
Foster-Grahler recently graduated with a BA in Spanish and minors in linguistics and mathematics, plus a certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. In 2024, the Olympia native studied abroad in Wales at Aberystwyth University’s Theater, Film, and Television Department.
She is an award-winning undergraduate researcher, and a writer-actor in a two-woman play, and writer-director for three short films — all of which premiered at WSU.
Foster-Grahler said, “Receiving the Fulbright ETA to Spain is incredible. I am thrilled to get to truly master my Spanish, get teaching experience, and live in a completely different culture.” Her career plan is to earn a PhD and become a linguistics professor.
With her Fulbright, Marwa Mahmoud, who grew up in Issaquah, will conduct independent research to understand the best ways to manage at-risk wildlife species. She will work at New Zealand’s Department of Conservation to achieve her research goals.
Mahmoud will use utilize structured decision-making — which she encountered in her first master’s degree class at WSU — to help wildlife managers make decisions about directing their programs, and will identify extinction risks for one of New Zealand’s most endangered birds, the fairy tern or Tara iti.
Her WSU graduate research in Daniel Thornton’s mammal spatial ecology and conservation lab examined how climate change and disturbance impact the montane carnivore community in the Oregon Cascades. She focused on the Sierra Nevada red fox.
Mahmoud’s career goal is to earn a PhD in conservation science and work at the intersection of wildlife management and policy.
Sydney Smith’s research with WSU mentor Amy Mazur built a foundation for her Fulbright studies. The Graham, Texas, native will look “at how different levels of government — international, national, and local — work together to shape and carry out gender equality policies,” she said. Her mentors will be Marjeta Sinko at the University of Zagreb, Croatia, along with Roman Kuhar and Milica Antic Gaber at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Her Fulbright research will add to her dissertation and build off work conducted with Mazur. Smith will apply Mazur’s Gender Equality Policy in Practice Network (GEPPN) approach to her Fulbright efforts to explore policy implementation and whether policies are being implemented and leading toward intended outcomes of gender equality.
“Receiving this award means a lot to me,” Smith said. “I put my heart into my work and care deeply about advocating for gender equality and rights for all marginalized groups, and receiving this award allows me to continue to do that and develop my research.”
Padgett Thigpen, her mother, is her “constant support”. Smith’s career goal is to earn a PhD, teach and research, and do policy work.
The four new awardees bring the total of WSU Fulbright U.S Students to 72, with the first having been awarded in 1949.
