Grantee

Brenna Rose Prevelige is a third-year PhD candidate in Integrative Biology at Oregon State University, where she works under the guidance of Dr. Dee Denver. She earned her Bachelor of Science from Bucknell University in 2020. Brenna’s dissertation employs mixed methods to study the medicinal Ganoderma mushroom complex in Oregon and Nepal. Combining ethnography and genomics, her research explores the intersections of Buddhism and mycology, examining fundamental questions about the nature of medicine.

As a Fulbright Study/Research Award recipient, Brenna will conduct ethnomycological and genomic research in the Nepal Himalayas during her 8-month grant period. Drawing on her prior experience in Nepal—including travel, volunteer work, and co-advising a 2024 study abroad program—she will utilize Oxford Nanopore sequencing technologies to advance her investigations. Her work builds on collaborations established through previous research, detailed in her Contemplative Currents article, “Mushrooms in Nepal: Piloting Transdisciplinary Research at the Intersections of Mycology and Buddhist Philosophy.”

Committed to transdisciplinary scholarship, Brenna seeks to bridge science and cultural studies, with aspirations to teach as a study abroad professor after completing her PhD. She eagerly anticipates beginning her Fulbright journey in Nepal this August.

Anooj Bhandari is an artist, educator, and community organizer. He is a MacDowell Fellow and a 2025-28 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow. As a faculty member at Marymount Manhattan College, his work has been featured in the Teaching Artist Journal and Visual Inquiries. Anooj’s Fulbright research explores art, ecology, and survival stories in post-earthquake communities, collaborating with The Open Institute for Social Science. He also serves as Deputy Director of Community Practice for New York’s Restorative Justice Initiative, focusing on violence prevention, decarceration, and harm reduction.

A member of the New York Neo-Futurists theater company, Anooj has toured his show Chai Chai by bike and created short films like Blossoming Wasp and KNOWN, blending puppetry and fabric art. His past residencies include the BEAM Center’s Lighthouse Residency and the Bandung Residency with the Asian American Arts Alliance. Previously, he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco, working in youth development.

Amrit Tamang is a Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, blending academic research with community engagement. Born in Nepal’s Langtang Valley and raised in the U.S., he brings a unique perspective to his work on Indigenous labor and tourism economies. With a BSc in Community Health (George Mason University) and MSc in Health and International Development (LSE), Amrit previously served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Botswana (2018-2020). He now partners with Kathmandu’s Center for Tamang Studies to advance Indigenous-centered scholarship, honoring the communities that inform his work.

A dual Fulbright awardee (U.S. Student Research and National Geographic Explorer Awards 2025-2026), Amrit returns to Nepal to study how Tamang porters navigate their roles in trekking tourism. His research combines ethnography with visual storytelling to explore how global tourism intersects with local kinship and aspirations.

Divya Chauwan is a recent graduate of SUNY Brockport, where she earned her BA in Political Science and International Studies with minors in Women & Gender Studies and Sociology. As a 2025-2026 Fulbright U.S. Student Researcher in Nepal, she will study barriers to girls’ education in rural versus urban communities, examining how gender, geography, and policy intersect through both data and personal narratives.

A dedicated advocate for social justice, Divya has worked with nonprofits in Rochester and Washington, D.C., focusing on civic engagement and gender equity. In 2023, she co-founded BreakFree, a refugee-led Rochester nonprofit supporting women navigating domestic violence, divorce, and resettlement. The organization amplifies refugee women’s voices while connecting them to critical resources.

Her work is deeply inspired by her mother’s resilience as an immigrant woman. By documenting her mother’s story, Divya honors both personal history and the broader struggle against the erasure of marginalized voices. As she begins her Fulbright journey, she remains committed to community-centered research that elevates overlooked perspectives in discussions of education and gender justice.