UA Professors Chosen for Fulbrights

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Three members of The University of Alabama’s faculty will receive Fulbright Scholar Grants for the upcoming year.

The U.S. Fulbright Scholar Program offers nearly 470 teaching, research or combination teaching and research awards in more than 125 countries. In addition, a UA instructor received a Fulbright Specialist Award for work in Egypt.

The faculty members are:

Dr. Anwarul Haque, associate professor, department of aerospace engineering and mechanics, College of Engineering

Haque will receive a Fulbright Teaching and Research scholar award for spring 2020 to the European University of Madrid, Spain, where he will teach a course in “Resistance of Materials and Elasticity” that is relevant to the European curriculum in the department of aerospace engineering. He also will deliver guest lectures to faculty, graduate students and researchers in the areas of nanotechnology and digital manufacturing of composites. He will share his current research interests to international researchers for collaboration among UA, the European University of Madrid and European companies such as Airbus.

Dr. Edward Sazonov, professor, department of electrical and computer engineering, College of Engineering

As a Fulbright Distinguished Chair, Sazonov will perform a research study using the sensor-driven assessment of infant feeding at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He will collaborate with the nutrition and dietetic researchers at the Priority Research Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition. The study will use infant feeding sensors developed in Sazonov’s lab and investigate feeding patterns of infants during the first year of life, focusing on transition from milk and formula to complementary foods. Sazonov will also collaborate on processing of the collected data with researchers from the School of Electrical Engineering and Computing and develop metrics of feeding behavior that may describe and explain the differences in feeding patterns. Sazonov’s research overall focuses on technological solutions for monitoring of diet and feeding behaviors in infants, children and adults and the uses of these technologies in weight loss interventions.

Dr. Kevin H. Shaughnessy, professor and chair, department of chemistry and biochemistry, College of Arts and Sciences

With this fellowship supported by the Polish-US Fulbright Commission, Shaughnessy will perform a research and teaching project in the Center for Molecular and Macromolecular Studies at the Polish Academy of Science in Łódź. He will work with Dr. Piotr Kaszynski to study the mechanism of palladium-catalyzed functionalization of boron cluster compounds. These compounds play roles in medicine and LCD display devices. He will use novel boron cluster materials prepared in Kaszynski’s lab to carry out a detailed study of mechanism of palladium-catalyzed modification of these compounds. Through this work, the researchers hope to develop a better understanding of how these reactions occur to improve the efficiency and scope of the synthesis of these compounds. He also will teach a course on mechanistic organometallic chemistry to graduate students at the academy and the University of Lodz.

In addition, Dr. Fran Oneal received a Fulbright Specialist Award. She spent 12 days in Egypt in April at the American University of Cairo. She made a university-wide presentation on the future of American foreign policy. She also guest lectured in six political science courses and attended events in honor of the 100th anniversary of the founding of AUC. Fulbright scholars returned to Egypt this year after a hiatus of eight years. Oneal is an instructor in the Capstone International Center.

Faculty who are interested in learning more about applying for a Fulbright award can contact Dr. Teresa Wise in the Capstone International Center or visit international.ua.edu/fulbright/faculty.