Mines PhD Student, Carmen Villarruel, Named Semi-Finalist for 2024-2025 Fulbright U.S. Student Program

(Golden, CO, February 9, 2024) Colorado School of Mines’ Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships is  pleased to announce that Carmen Villarruel, an Environmental Biogeochemistry PhD student, has been named a semi-finalist for the 2024-2025 Fulbright  U.S. Student Program by the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Final selection of US Student Fulbright awards will be confirmed in spring 2024.

Carmen is a PhD student of Dr. James Ranville who is planning to complete her degree in December 2025.  Through the Fulbright grant and in collaboration with the Institute of Conservation and Biodiversity at the Universidad Austral de Chile in Chile, Carmen proposes a study to quantify environmentally mobile and bioaccessable metals in ash from Chilean wildfires and structure fires that can impact human and environmental health. Through this research project, Carmen hopes to improve understanding of metal mobilization in wildfire prone environments, thereby informing safety protocols for first responders and communities, as well as quantify the contamination potential of ash to local resources such as drinking water and agricultural areas. This research will contribute to Carmen’s PhD thesis, helping to shape her career in wildfire research and allowing her to create global scientific connections that will be essential as wildfire activity continues to increase due to the pressures of climate change.

In 2024-2025, more than 1,800 U.S. citizens will study, conduct research, and teach abroad for the  academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected in an open, merit-based competition that considers leadership potential, academic and/or professional achievement, and record of service. As Fulbright alumni, their careers are enriched by joining a network of thousands of esteemed scholars, many of whom are leaders in their fields. Fulbright alumni include 60 Nobel Prize laureates, 88 Pulitzer Prize recipients, and 37 who have served as a head of state or government.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to forge lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries, counter misunderstandings, and help people and nations work together toward common goals. Since its establishment in 1946, the Fulbright Program has enabled more than 390,000 dedicated and accomplished students, scholars, artists, teachers, and professionals of all backgrounds to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and find solutions to shared international concerns. The Fulbright Program is funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the Program, which operates in more than 160 countries worldwide. For further information about the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State, please visit http://eca.state.gov/fulbright or contact the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Press Office by telephone 202-632-6452 or e-mail ECA-Press@state.gov.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is administered at Colorado School of Mines through Ashley Weibel, Assistant Director, Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships. For more information about applying for Fulbright or other national and international scholarships and fellowships, please contact  Ashley at ashley.weibel@mines.edu  and visit: nationalscholarships.mines.edu