Engineering faculty members named Fulbright Scholars, Fulbright Specialist

June 9, 2022

Editor’s note: The original version of this article appeared on Penn State News.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Thomas Boothby, professor of architectural engineering, and Hui Yang, professor of industrial and manufacturing engineering, received two of the 15 Fulbright Scholar Awards bestowed on Penn State faculty for the 2022-23 academic year, according to the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, the government's flagship international educational exchange program.

Boothby received the Hauts-de-France award. He will spend seven months studying the preservation of historic structures at the Université de Picardie Jules Verne in France.

Yang received the Fulbright-VTT Award in Science, Technology and Innovation, which will fund a research visit of four to six months at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. He will investigate data-enabled innovations in smart manufacturing, such as artificial intelligence and sensor informatics.

Frank Koe, teaching professor of engineering entrepreneurship in the School of Engineering Design, Technology, and Professional Programs, was selected as a Fulbright Specialist, another honor from the Fulbright program. Specialists spend between two and six weeks at several host universities over a four-year term. Koe plans to help build early-stage engineering entrepreneurial programs and special topics curricula at universities in countries that do not have established programs in these areas, including in Indonesia, Cambodia and Tajikistan.

Administered by the Institute of International Education, Fulbright Scholar Awards are prestigious and competitive fellowships that provide unique opportunities for scholars to teach and conduct research abroad.

The program gives Penn State faculty members, staff and administrators the opportunity to conduct advanced research, teach or do both, as well as attend seminars abroad. The program also affords recipients the opportunity to interact with, and make an impact on, their host communities during their Fulbright tenure. The Fulbright program plays a critical role in U.S. cultural diplomacy, establishing long-term relationships between recipients and their international collaborators in host institutions and countries around the globe.

See the full list of recipients and learn more about Penn State and the Fulbright program on Penn State News.