UF Announces Ten Fulbright Recipients for 2026

June 03, 2026
Ten UF Fulbrighters will travel across the world to learn and teach.

 
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The Office of Prestigious Awards and The Office of Undergraduate Education and Student Success are pleased to announce that ten University of Florida students have received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award for the 2026-2027 academic year. These students are Rocco Barbusca, Lisa Dias, Sebastian Gillespie, Daniela Gray, Divya Kishore Huilgol, Mikhail Mikhaylov, Avery Roe, Kate Rush, Neeva Sethi, and Cortney Smith.

Close to 2,000 Fulbright U.S. Students—recent college graduates, graduate students, and early career professionals—pursue graduate study, conduct research, or teach English in schools abroad each year.

Fulbright provides opportunities for exceptional Americans and participants from 160 countries and locations to study, teach, and conduct research abroad. For eight decades, Fulbrighters have been leaders at the forefront of discovery and innovation, conducting cutting-edge research, advancing critical industries, and preparing future generations with new skills and perspectives. Fulbrighters have included 46 heads of state or government, 63 Nobel Laureates, 93 Pulitzer Prize winners, 83 MacArthur Fellows, and countless leaders in all sectors and industries across the United States and around the world.

 

Rocco Barbusca

Rocco Barbusca graduated summa cum laude from the University of Florida as a triple major in Political Science, Russian, and International Studies. While at UF, Rocco helped found and edit UF's newest student publication, The Florida Finibus, where he also wrote about foreign affairs and investigative campus journalism. He was also a member of the Hamilton Center's Society of Fellows and the Bob Graham Center's student fellows. Additionally, he was active in his campus ministry, Cru, and the Florida Running Club. In August, Rocco will start his Fulbright ETA grant in Moldova, where he will teach English to Moldovan high school students while also refining his Russian and Romanian language skills.

 

Lisa Dias

Lisa Dias was born in Miami, Florida. Her upbringing in a multicultural city with Brazilian parents inspired her interest in foreign affairs. While studying abroad as an intern in the Irish Parliament, she developed a passion for international education. She received her BA in Political Science with a Minor in History from the University of Florida in 2023. After graduation, she was a Study Abroad Advisor at the University of Florida International Center. She hopes to continue sharing the beauty of cultural exchange with her students as an English Teaching Assistant in Portugal while reconnecting with her family roots. Following her Fulbright grant, she plans to attend law school with a focus on immigration.

 

Sebastian Gillespie

Sebastian Gillespie majored in philosophy and minored in German. During his time at UF, he founded Geist, or "Spirit" in German, an undergraduate club dedicated to philosophy and poetry. Since graduation, he's spent this past year working as a writing tutor at UF, writing a meta-modern play about the follies & foibles of communication, and planning (and executing!) a wedding with his now-wife, fellow Fulbright recipient Kate Rush.

Kate and Sebastian both independently received Fulbright grants to teach English in Germany. Then, out of Germany's 16 different states, they were both placed in Thuringia—all before the Fulbright Commission knew they were married to one another. In Thuringia, they'll refine their teaching skills as well as bask in the art of Wagner, Mahler, and Goethe. After that, they will return to UF for graduate school, where Sebastian will begin an M.Ed. & Ed.S. in mental health counseling.

 

Daniela Gray

Daniela Gray graduated in May 2026, triple-majoring in Spanish, International Studies, and Dual Languages (Arabic and French). During her time at the University of Florida, Daniela studied abroad in Morocco, volunteered with the Latina Women's League, and served as an Arabic Language Teaching Assistant as well as a Study Abroad Peer Advisor. Daniela will spend the next year in Spain as an English Teaching Assistant. She looks forward to strengthening her Spanish language skills in a fully immersive environment while contributing to the classrooms through dynamic, culturally responsive teaching.

 

Divya Kishore Huilgol

Divya Kishore Huilgol is a third-year undergraduate at the University of Florida studying women and gender studies and microbiology on the pre-medical track. She has three years of experience supporting adolescent and young adult patients in palliative care through UF Health's Streetlight program. Her other UF involvements include performing translational research at the Chakrabarty Lab and serving on the Center of Undergraduate Research Board of Students (CURBS) as the Director of the Access Committee. She will be investigating the impact of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) on motor function at Charité Hospital in Berlin, Germany, under the department of neurosurgery.

 

Mikhail Mikhaylov

Mikhail Mikhaylov graduated from the University of Florida with majors in International Studies and Political Science and minors in Economics, Public Health, and Russian. He was selected for the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Program in Estonia, but after being named UF's third-ever Marshall Scholar, he declined the Fulbright opportunity and the Schwarzman Scholarship to pursue graduate studies at the University of Oxford. Following his studies at Oxford, Mikhail hopes to reapply to the Schwarzman and Fulbright programs, as he believes both will play an integral role in his development as a future diplomat and international conflict mediator.

 

Avery Roe

Avery Roe, a 2025 UF CALS graduate with a degree in Entomology and Nematology and a minor in Organic and Sustainable Crop Production, has been named a U.S. Fulbright Open Research/Study Scholar for Greece. Next fall, she will take her love of bees to the Parthenon to catalog native bee biodiversity at one of the world's most treasured archeological sites. She will gather information on the behavior and ecology of native and endemic pollinators safeguarded amidst the Acropolis UNESCO World Heritage Site using an extensive Greek bee reference collection, the Melissotheque of the Aegean, created by her Fulbright host, Dr. Theodora Petanidou. Ultimately, this project aims to highlight the importance of preserving culture and biodiversity and demonstrate how archeological sites can serve as safeguards for nature across time. It's an ambitious and exciting project.

 

Kate Rush

At UF, Kate Rush double-majored in mathematics and philosophy and minored in physics. She traveled the world as a Stamps Scholar along with her scholar cohort; played violin in the Gator Philharmonic; conducted research in various fields; and helped lead an interdisciplinary philosophy club called Geist. Since graduating, she's been working as a math and physics tutor at Santa Fe and as a writing tutor at UF. She has also written a number of short stories and married my now-husband, Sebastian Gillespie. 

Kate and Sebastian will both serve as English Teaching Assistants in Thuringia, Germany, where, in addition to teaching, she hopes to both revel and participate in the state's rich and historic classical music scene—Thuringia has served as either a home or inspiration to numerous composers, from Bach to Mendelssohn to Wagner! After their grant period, they'll return to UF for grad school, where Kate will begin her PhD in the History of Ideas at the Hamilton School.

 

Neeva Sethi

Neeva Sethi graduated with a BS in Biology and a BS in Computer Science from UF. During her time there, she was involved in Dream Team Engineering, the Mobile Outreach Clinic, hospital volunteering, health disparities research, and the Women in Computer Science and Engineering organization. Since graduating, she has been working as a software engineer on Microsoft's High Performance Computing and AI team, and building health-related applications on the side. Neeva will be going to India on her Fulbright grant to research public health policy and its relation to telehealth and health access across rural India.

 

Cortney Smith

Cortney Smith is a senior at the University of Florida studying Public Relations with an interest in international communications and cross-cultural engagement, and a Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) certificate. During her time at UF, she has been involved in leadership and international-focused programs, including being a 2023 Preview Staffer, 2025 Peer Leader, ELI Conversation Partner, and a member of the Cafe Creole language learning table. These involvements support global learning and community connection. Through the Fulbright Program, she will be traveling to South Korea to serve as an English Teaching Assistant for a year, where she hopes to build meaningful cultural connections while supporting students in the classroom. Cortney is excited for the opportunity to represent UF abroad and continue developing her passion for international education and communication.

 

Applying for Fulbright

The award competition for 2027-2028 Fulbright U.S. Student Awards opened on March 31, 2026. Learn more about Fulbright U.S. Student awards and eligibility.

The internal deadline to participate in UF's campus committee feedback process is August 28, 2026. If you are a University of Florida student interested in learning more about Fulbright, the application process, or other nationally competitive fellowship opportunities, please contact the Office of Prestigious Awards at PrestigiousAwards@aa.ufl.edu.

 

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