The Center for Global Engagement at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, offers funding opportunities for students, faculty and staff to help build global connections with international colleagues and institutional partners. These are known as the Global Catalyst Grants Program and come in the form of student travel, programming and research grants to help foster UT global connections.
Read on to learn more about the 2022–23 Global Catalyst Student International Travel Grant recipients and the amazing work from each of these students.
To learn more about Global Catalyst Grants visit globalgrants.utk.edu.
Sadie Counts, pictured at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, France
Sadie Counts
Society of Historical Archaeology Conference Presentation: International Repatriation
Sadie Counts is from Maryville, Tennessee and is a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology.
Counts traveled to Lisbon, Portugal in January 2023 for the Society of Historical Archaeology’s annual conference to see presentations from scholars from across the globe whose research intersects with hers. She said she made connections with the researchers that otherwise would not have been possible.
“Without diverse perspectives from our international and global colleagues, I feel that our own disciplines will become insular and stagnant. The opportunity to collaborate internationally is important for producing more well-rounded and globally impactful research,” said Counts.
Samantha Kuschke pictured with her poster at the international sea turtle conference
Samantha Kuschke
2023 ISTS Presentation of “Impacts of a warming world: how incubation temperatures relate to blood values and preliminary microbiota findings in leatherback sea turtle hatchlings and post hatchlings.”
Samantha Kuschke is from Randolph, New Jersey and graduated from the UT College of Veterinary Medicine in 2021. She is now studying for a PhD focusing on performing sea turtle research.
By participating in the international sea turtle conference in Cartagena, Colombia in March 2023, Kuschke said she gained the opportunity to learn from some of the top sea turtle experts, share her PhD work and network with experts from around the world.
Kuschke was awarded the Archie Carr Student Award for her research poster titled “Impacts of a warming world: how incubation temperatures relate to blood values and preliminary microbiota findings in leatherback sea turtle hatchlings and post hatchlings.”
“This opportunity has allowed me to establish my place in the sea turtle community as a budding veterinarian, researcher and conservationist,” said Kuschke.
Kuschke’s research was also funded in part by the Sea Turtle Grants Program.
Morgan Taylor (left) and Annelyse Caffrey (right) pictured at the Xuanantunich Mayan Ruins in Belize
Morgan Taylor and Annelyse Caffrey
Implementation of an Evidence-Based Diabetic Screening Tool in Rural Belizean Communities
Morgan Taylor and Annelyse Caffrey are both graduate students in the College of Nursing.
Taylor and Caffrey first traveled to Belize together in 2022 to gather pre-implementation data and again in March 2023 to implement their project on diabetes risk screening. They focused their work in Belize on individuals in rural communities with little to no access to healthcare, where they used screening forms to identify high-risk type 2 diabetes individuals.
“One of the most amazing things to me was seeing how successful our project was. The number of rural community members who expressed gratitude for the opportunity to be screened and tested for diabetes was outstanding!” said Caffrey.
Portrait of Vlada Snyder
Vlada Snyder
Attendance to the IPSERA (International Purchasing and Supply Education and Research Association) Conference 2023
Vlada Snyder is originally from Ukraine. She immigrated to the US as a child and grew up in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin. Snyder is a graduate student in the Haslam College of Business, focusing on supply chain management and sustainability.
Snyder traveled to the IPSERA Conference in Barcelona, Spain in April 2023. She said that the conference greatly impacted her research agenda and understanding of how sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) are approached globally.
“International education and understanding the various issues different nations face in attaining these sustainable development goals are integral in my conducting impactful research. By working with and learning from international researchers, we can share ideas and help one another make a difference,” said Snyder.
Wilson Xiong pictured holding two Red Devil Cichlid fish
Wilson Xiong
Presentation of “Testing the efficacy of an aquatic nuisance species removal method in an urbanized Caribbean Island stream” at the Latin American and Caribbean Fisheries Congress 2023
Wilson Xiong is from Albemarle, North Carolina and is a graduate student in the Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries.
Xiong traveled to Cancun, Mexico to present his research at the Latin American Caribbean Fisheries Congress, where he said he had the opportunity to meet people from diverse backgrounds and learn about different fisheries research.
“International education is important to me because I believe it makes me a more open-minded person by being immersed in other cultures,” said Xiong.
Portrait of Ruchi Singh
Ruchi Singh
Creation with Opposites in Indian Art and Culture
Ruchi Singh is from Sehore, India and is a graduate student in the School of Art.
Singh traveled to India in January 2023, where she researched art for Indian folk stories. She visited the Indra Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya and the Government Museum Bangalore to help her connect Indian folk tales with American culture.
“As an international student, I realize the importance of merging cultures together and the importance of diversity. This merging dissolves the insignificant practices from each culture and makes the significant practices visible to solve differences,” said Singh.
About the Center for Global Engagement
The Center for Global Engagement works to lead, coordinate and support the university’s strategies for global education, research and engagement. Initiatives include developing and managing international partnerships, welcoming and assisting international students and scholars, providing education abroad opportunities to students and creating international and inter-cultural programming for campus and the broader community.
CONTACT:
Jason Moody (865-974-5752, jmoody9@utk.edu)