Fulbright Alums: Our Guest Speakers
Up Until Fulbright releases a new episode every Tuesday. The first three episodes will be about our co-hosts, Wesley and Thyda, along with a brief introduction about the podcast, its origin and our sponsors. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us or our guests if you are interested in learning more about their experience or their current work post-Fulbright.
Episode 4: Ann Kennedy, PhD (U.S. - Thailand, 2015)
Ann Kennedy is semi-retired after a 21-year career with Arlington (VA) Public Schools, where she served as a secondary ESL teacher and Reading Specialist. For the past 21 years, she has also been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, initially in the Department of Linguistics and currently in the Educational Transformation program. Ann has taught ESL through Art in India, Environmental Science through Art in Brazil, Coding in K–12 schools in Brazil, South Africa, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. She has been a teacher trainer in Guatemala, Jamaica, Thailand, Kazakhstan, and across the United States. Guided by a deep belief in the Fulbright mission, Ann has been an active member of the National Capital Area Chapter of the Fulbright Association for the past six years, where she currently serves as President.
You can find Ann at a.akennedy@gmail.com;
aak38@georgetown.edu or check her Linkedin out!
Episode 5: Muhammed Sabaz (Turkey - U.S., 2021)
Muhammed Sabaz was born in 1989 in Norşên, Bitlis. He completed his undergraduate studies in Turkish Language Teaching at Pamukkale University in Denizli. In addition to his work as an educator, Muhammed is an active translator and editor, contributing to a wide range of projects. Currently he is doing a masters in Kurdish Language and Culture department.
You can find Muhammed at m-sbz@hotmail.com!
Episode 6: Marietta Lopez Moreira (Paraguay - U.S., 2023)
Marietta Lopez Moreira is a Fulbright alumna from Paraguay whose multidisciplinary background in the arts and nonprofit sectors led her to pursue graduate studies in the United States. She earned her Master of Public Administration in May 2025 and is now a PhD student in Public Administration in the Department of Public Policy, Management, and Analytics at the University of Illinois Chicago. Her research focuses on government–nonprofit collaboration in public service delivery, with a particular emphasis on arts and culture organizations.
You can find Marietta at mariettaalessandralopezm@gmail.com or check her LinkedIn out!
Episode 7: April Lim (U.S. - Cambodia, 2024)
April Lim is a Teochew-Cambodian American writer from Houston, TX. She has received fellowships and scholarships from Tin House, Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, The Watering Hole, and elsewhere. Her works have appeared in Honey Literary, Sweet: A Literary Confection, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. She has an MFA in Poetry, and was a Fulbright Research Fellow in Cambodia
You can find April at aprillim.com!
Episode 8: Matías Jackson (Uruguay - U.S., 2019)
Matías Jackson is a lawyer from Montevideo, Uruguay. He holds a LL.M. in Intellectual Property Law from The George Washington University, thanks to a Fulbright Scholarship. Born and raised in the coastal neighborhood of Malvín, Montevideo, where he still lives.
Matías is the co-founder of Jackson Bertón Legal + Contable, a firm focused on IP strategy, tech start-ups, entertainment law, and data protection. He is also a professor of Computer Law at the Universidad de la República, where he teaches topics such as internet governance, AI regulation, and the interplay between law and emerging technologies.
Recently, he became the father of a baby boy, and is now joyfully navigating the balance between a demanding professional life and the everyday adventures of parenthood together with his wife, Pía
You can find Matías at mjacksonuy@gmail.com or check his LinkedIn out!
Episode 9: Dini Noor Arini (Indonesia - U.S., 2022)
Dini Noor Arini is a Fulbright Scholar and Ph.D. candidate in Language, Literacy, and Technology at Washington State University. She is pursuing her doctorate through the Fulbright Ph.D. General Program (2022–2026), with a focus on English as a Second Language (ESL), Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL), and the ethical integration of artificial intelligence in education.
Before beginning her doctoral studies, Dini served for nearly a decade as an Associate Professor of English Language Education at Lambung Mangkurat University in Indonesia. Her teaching and research experience spans English for specific purposes, teacher education, curriculum development, and multilingual learning in resource-constrained contexts. These experiences shaped her long-standing interest in how technology—particularly AI—can expand access, engagement, and instructional quality for learners and educators.
At WSU, Dini’s work explores AI-supported language learning, task engagement, AI Literacy, and teacher preparation, with particular attention to multilingual learners, technology use, and classroom practice. She is also actively involved in academic service, interdisciplinary research, and professional development through conference presentations, journal publications, and collaborative projects.
Through Fulbright, Dini aims to bridge U.S. and Indonesian higher education by strengthening research-informed teaching, supporting educator capacity building, and contributing to more equitable and responsible uses of AI in language education.
Episode 10: Hercílio Zimila (Mozambique - U.S., 2021)
Hercílio Zimila is a Mozambican Engineer (Ph.D. candidate), Fulbright Alumnus and the Co-Founder and CEO of Scholars2Scholars, an organization dedicated to expanding access to education and professional opportunities for underserved youth. He has over 14 years of experience across Environmental Engineering, Chemistry, Project Management, and Sustainability Analysis. His research focuses on modeling and optimizing sustainable water treatment technologies to deliver safe, affordable drinking water to vulnerable populations.
Hercílio is also a grantee of AEIF, the same sponsor as this Up Until Fulbright Podcast. His AEIF project focuses on using AI for applications, entrepreneurship, among other things, in Mozambique
You can find Hercílio at herciliozimila@gmail.com or check his LinkedIn out!
Episode 11: Piphal Heng (Cambodia - U.S.)
Piphal Heng specializes in the archaeology of Southeast Asia, with research interests in political economy, urbanism, and heritage. The region is renowned for its rich hominin evolutionary remains, its premodern kingdoms—especially the Angkorian Empire—and its long-standing role as a crossroads connecting the East and the West. Dr. Heng’s archaeological research centers on Cambodia, where he investigates the emergence and transformation of Angkorian states. His work traces Angkor’s protohistoric foundations, spatial expansion, and the organizational and ideological shifts that accompanied the transition from Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism to Theravada Buddhism during the late Angkorian and post-Angkorian periods (ca. 14th–18th centuries).
Drawing on archaeological evidence from the last 3,000 years in the Lower Mekong basin, Dr. Heng has led and co-led numerous field projects and training initiatives in Cambodia through close collaboration with Cambodian institutions and international academic partners. Committed to international collaboration, training, capacity building, and community engagement, his research also addresses the role and visibility of Cambodian scholars in shaping archaeological knowledge. His current initiative, Phum Archaeology, integrates remote sensing (including LiDAR), geophysical prospection, surface surveys, and excavation to investigate settlement patterns, urban development, landscape use, and temple economies in northwestern and southern Cambodia.
You can find Dr. Heng at piphal.heng@yale.edu or check his LinkedIn out!
Episode 12: Merzia Naeem Adamjee (Pakistan - U.S.)
Merzia Naeem Adamjee is a machine learning engineer working at the intersection of data, automation, and artificial intelligence.
She currently works remotely in the property technology industry, where she develops AI-driven systems for the US multifamily housing market. Her work focuses on building systems that help transform unstructured data into structured knowledge to inform insightful decision-making and product development.
Merzia is a Fulbright alumna and earned her Master’s in Computer Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts. Born and raised in the coastal city of Karachi, Pakistan, she continues to work remotely from there while engaging with global technology ecosystems.
Before pursuing graduate studies, she worked at Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Limited as a Data Analyst, where she focused on quantifying the impact of on-ground merchandising efforts using data and software systems.
Her broader interests lie in the potential of AI to improve access to education, particularly through the power of linguistics and language technologies. She is interested in building systems that can deliver personalized learning experiences and make educational content accessible in people’s own languages, especially low-resource Pakistani languages.
You can reach Merzia at merzia.adamjee@gmail.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.
Episode 13: Emmanuel Awohouedji (Benin - U.S.)
Emmanuel Awohouedji is a practitioner-scholar working at the intersection of urban studies, environmental politics, and human geography. His work examines how complex urban and environmental challenges can be understood and translated into actionable policy and public knowledge.
His earlier research explored pathways toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through solid waste management. More recently, his doctoral research at the London School of Economics and Political Science analysed urban masculinities, peripheries, and place-making in Benin, deepening his engagement with questions of people, infrastructure, participation, peripheries, development and social transformation.
Beyond academia, Emmanuel has collaborated with independent research and civic organisations, including the Civic Academy for Africa’s Future (CiAAF) and SANUS NGO. He is also engaged in initiatives that support and narrate the work of local producers and small businesses.
He writes about People and Places on Substack https://emmanuelawohouedji.substack.com/ where he reflects on urban change, environmental questions, and the movement of knowledge between research and lived reality.
Outside of research and writing, he sings with a choir whenever possible. You can book a call with him here https://calendar.app.google/xaKfVPf8LTaxaapG6 to discuss possible collaboration.
You can find Emmanuel at emmanuel.awohouedji@gmail.com or check his LinkedIn out!
