Data Science MS Student Abigail Stokes Earns Fulbright Scholarship

Department of Computer Science & Engineering graduate student Abigail Stokes earned the Fulbright Scholarship and will join the 2024-25 United States Student Program. The Fulbright Scholarship is awarded to students and professionals who want to do research or teach English abroad and learn at host universities. Stokes will be participating in a nine-month-long research program on the geographic spread of wildfires at the Andrés Bello National University in Santiago, Chile.

“I am going to be collaborating with the University of Andres Bello, with their research center for sustainability,” said Stokes. “For my research project, I will be developing a data science methodology to help predict the geographic spread of forest fires in the central region of Chile. Primarily, I will be working with satellite imagery data as well as historical wildfire records.”

The purpose of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program is to increase mutual understanding between people of the U.S. and other countries through the exchange of persons, knowledge, and skills. Approximately 1,900 awards are available to over 140 countries. Chile has a personal connection to Stokes because in 2020 she was supposed to study abroad in Chile but was halted because of Covid-19, and she is excited to participate in the research and culture of Chile.

“My first piece of advice for people interested in the Fulbright program would be to make sure to pick a country that has a personal meaning and connection to you,” said Stokes. “The Fulbright committee wants to see that you have a personal reason for choosing that country and that you will be able to actively engage in the culture. I would also recommend starting the application process early. I know there are a lot of steps involved, such as getting recommendation letters and finding an affiliate host, but if you break down the steps and start early, you will be fine.”

Learn more about Abigail’s project on the graduate school website.