Alexandra (Lexi) graduated from Florida Southern College with a bachelors of science in Political Science and a self-designed interdisciplinary second major in Social Justice with minors in Pre-law, Communication, and English. During undergrad, Lexi held multiple leadership positions in organizations on campus such as the Student Government Association and Poetry Club. For Lexi's Fulbright, she will be completing a one year masters degree in Southeast European Studies at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. The programs interdisciplinary nature attracted Lexi, because it allowed her to continue her own interdisciplinary approach to her academics, especially considering that the program is a mixture of Politics, History, and Economics. Lexi hopes to complete a masters thesis on Immigration policy (and human rights related issues) in the region. Then, she hopes to complete a comparative analysis of the research when she return's to the United States upon enrollment in a Political Science Ph.D. program (with focuses in Comparative Politics and Political Theory). Regional experience in Southeast Europe will be instrumental for comparative analysis (of different democracies such as the United States) which Lexi finds important in order to develop solutions to social and economic problems. Lexi wants to develop a career doing research on social issues that can be addressed through public policy. Through her research, she hopes to propose and/or advocate for policy change that will have a positive impact, especially in fostering better representation and equality for marginalized groups under the law. Lexi is especially excited to be studying In Greece considering its history as the birthplace of democracy and its unique cultural (and historical) background. Lexi looks forward to forming relationships with other individuals who also have a passion for protecting human rights and developing a global perspective.

Gavin is a PhD candidate in Ancient History at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is writing a dissertation on the inscribed honorific statue monuments of Athens during the Roman period (ca. 86 BCE-267 CE). Adopting a combined epigraphical, material, and spatial perspective, his project aims to better understand the significance of such monuments in Athenian political, social, and religious life. It shows how the practice of erecting honorific statues was bound up with the question of what it meant to be Athenian within the context of Rome’s empire, both as an individual citizen and as a collective civic community, while at the same time grappling with the age-old question of who deserves to be honored, remembered, and celebrated by society. During his Fulbright year, Gavin will be based at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and will conduct research in museums and at archaeological sites throughout Attica, including the Epigraphical Museum, National Archaeological Museum, the Agora, the Piraeus Archaeological Museum, and Eleusis. Gavin is also an active field archaeologist with a decade of experience in the eastern Mediterranean, especially at the port of Kenchreai on the Saronic Gulf and Corinth, where he is currently working on publishing Greek and Latin inscriptions from the Roman city. Outside of his research, he looks forward to furthering his knowledge of modern Greek, exploring the neighborhoods of Athens, and to training and competing with a local swim team.

Madelaine is a recent graduate of Cranbrook Academy of Art, where she received her MFA in Fiber. She attends artist residencies, teaches weaving and fiber courses, and recently edited “BLUE”, the third issue of TATTER Journal with the Tatter Textile Library in New York City. Madelaine’s research-based art practice moves fluidly between textiles, sculpture, drawing, and writing. Her recent work and book, “The Stuff of Everyday Magic”, endeavor to unearth the space between home and land, human and more-than-human. She is developing naturally dyed fiber works to explore these relationships through color—the origins of color and its destinations. In Greece, Madelaine will deepen her research about the loss of the color blue and the climate crisis as a crisis of color. She will collaborate with ARTEX, the Hellenic Centre for Research and Conservation of Archaeological Textiles in Athens, to study ancient textile remains and travel to Crete to work with a local ethnobotanist and forager to collect dye plants. She is looking forward to visiting Alatzomouri Pefka, a Middle Bronze Age workshop for making natural dyes, including one dye said to have produced a particular blue that now appears purple. Her project in Greece will include researching craft traditions and making a body of work about where color comes from and potent moments of loss. She will use the foraged dyestuffs to dye fibers and weave sun-sensitive pieces on a traditional, warp-weighted loom. She looks forward to collaborating with artists and thinkers of other disciplines to realize this work. When Madelaine isn’t weaving or distilling color from plants, she looks forward to learning about Greece’s spectacular food and exploring natural areas and hiking trails.

Racheal is a recent graduate of Howard University, where she earned her B.S. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. Racheal pursued a passion for ancient Greek art and literature with a second minor in Classical Civilization throughout her undergraduate studies. Racheal’s undergraduate studies were supported by the Karsh STEM Scholars Program, a selective student development program at Howard University that aims to increase the number of minority students in research. Before coming to Greece, Racheal participated in cancer biology research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Tri-Institutional M.D.- Ph.D. Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Memorial Sloan Kettering Gateways to the Laboratory Program. During her Fulbright grant, Racheal will work to understand the role of epigenetics in bladder cancer development. Throughout her time in Greece, Racheal will be supported by the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA), one of the few institutes in the country that conducts translational research in cancer.  As a Fulbright grantee, Racheal will have the opportunity to collaborate with leading research advisors in Greece to expand the breadth of her research. Outside of the laboratory, Racheal looks forward to maintaining her interest in studying ancient and contemporary Greece by exploring the country’s numerous historical landmarks and learning the Greek language.

Sophia is a Ph.D. candidate in applied anthropology at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX where she has also filled the role of Coordinator at the Forensic Anthropology Center since 2011. Her dissertation is focused on the application of bone histology for the identification of skeletal remains in a medicolegal setting. As part of this work, she specifically focuses on the use of bone histology for the identification of migrants who die crossing the US-Mexico border. For her Fulbright grant, Sophia will be exploring the process of identification in the Greek medicolegal system from an anthropological perspective. As part of this, she will be conducting a transnational comparative analysis of the Greek and Texan approaches to migrant identification and repatriation. She will carry out this research in collaboration with forensic scientists at the University of Crete and the Democritus University of Thrace. While at the University of Crete, Sophia will also analyze the Cretan Skeletal Collection. Sophia has previously studied in Athens for a summer abroad program and participated in a Greek Bronze Age bioarchaeological field school. As a Greek American she has visited Greece in the summer, but she has never enjoyed extended months in Greece. She is looking forward to the opportunity to immerse herself in the language, improve her speaking ability, explore parts of Greece she has never visited, and hike in the national parks with her children.