Research Abroad for Doctoral Students
At the International Center, we believe that students conducting international research need resources that enable on the ground and real time fieldwork.
In our continued efforts to contribute to the research community at the University of Florida, we are committed in our support of international graduate education. Through the RADS program, we provide a unique opportunity for research conducted in international settings. New discoveries cannot stem from literature reviews, class lectures, and second hand experiences. Often, students need the exposure, experience and data that only may be obtained by international fieldwork and, one size does not fit all.
RADS provides travel and funding for accommodations for doctoral students to travel abroad to collect data or to access resources not available on campus. The extent of time can range from one week to several months. This opportunity can provide access to human subjects, physical specimens, or laboratory facilities for their research; it enables a better understanding for the cultural assumptions that form the foundation of their unique research focus. While abroad, they expand their network of potential collaborators that will continue post-graduation. In the field, students use their real world experience to advance their critical thinking skills as they navigate the full spectrum of experiences. No question, graduate students will benefit from the abroad experience and our investment can only yield positive outcomes.
RAD Awardees 2024/2025
- Baba Salem Adou
Department: Political Science, College: CLAS
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Leonardo Villalon
Proposed Research and Location: Research seeks to reframe the approach to understanding religion and politics in the African Sahel. Student aims to investigate not only the conditions under which states appear to be successful or unsuccessful in aligning religion with their political agendas in the context of insecurity, but also the broader historical, political, and social contexts that facilitate or hinder such a process. Mauritania - Amadou Barrow
Department: Epidemiology, College: Public Health and Health Professions
Faculty Advisor: Dr Heather Stark
Proposed Research and Location: Research aims to examine the combined impact of lower perceived social support and higher psychosocial distress on antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence among people living with HIV (PLHIV) in The Gambia, specifically in the Kanifing Municipality and West Coast Region. Gambia - Dinalo Chakma
Department: English, College: CLAS
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Susan Hegeman
Proposed Research and Location: Research investigates the cultural and political activism of the Indigenous Chakma musicians of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. It will explore how the songs played an instrumental role in the Indigenous self-determination movement, a topic that has received scant scholarly attention in my field. Bangladesh - Kleydson Diego Da Rocha
Department: Forest Resources & Conservation, College: IFAS
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Dan Johnson
Proposed Research and Location: Research explores the spatial patterns of tree damage in forests and their implications for forest health, resilience, and management. By examining how damage clusters spread across taxonomic groups, research aims to identify early indicators of disturbances such as physical damage, pests, or climate stress. Germany - Silvia De Melo Futada
Department: Tropical Conservation & Development Program, College: IFAS
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Karen Kainer
Proposed Research and Location: This research aims to explore how the Waimiri Atroari people navigate overlapping territories and infrastructural projects while asserting their territorial rights while promoting the life of other species. Brazil - Stephanie Melissa Gruver
Department: Anthropology, College: CLAS
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Susan deFrance
Proposed Research and Location: Research aims to examine Pre-Columbian environmental mitigation techniques on the north coast of Peru from ~200-1470 CE. El Niño is an atmospheric-oceanic phenomenon that causes mass die-offs of marine fauna along the north coast of Peru every three to seven years. Peru - Priyank Hari Haran
Department: Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, College: IFAS
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Emilio Bruna
Proposed Research and Location: Research examines the economic and non-economic intentions, motivations, and barriers preventing people's engagement in conservation. India - Daniella Heredia Castaneda
Department: Agricultural /Food Service, College: IFAS
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Angela Gonella Diaza
Proposed Research and Location: Research focuses on developmental programming in beef cattle. Student will identify the effect of supplementing a methyl donor to beef cows when they are pregnant and identify the effect on the offspring. Canada - Richard Kweitsu
Department: Political Science, College: CLAS
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Sebastian Elischer
Proposed Research and Location: Research investigates the complex dynamics of post-election legal challenges in Africa and their impact on democratization processes. Ghana - Kenneth Oduor
Department: Agronomy, College: IFAS
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jose Dubeux
Proposed Research and Location: The research aims to contribute to the sustainable management of the invasive cactus species that is problematic among the pastoral communities in Laikipia, Kenya. Kenya - Yasmeen Ahmed Saleem
Department: Soil Water and Ecosystem Sciences, College: IFAS
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Davie Kadyampakeni
Proposed Research and Location: Research investigates the use of biochar and reclaimed water to improve soil health and water retention for blueberry production in Florida. Japan - Martha Guadalupe Ulloa Calzonzin
Department: Physics, College: CLAS
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Rachel Houtz
Proposed Research and Location: Research examines a Baryogenesis mechanism that aims to explain the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe. Spain
RAD Awardees 2023/2024
- Joshua Benjamin
Department: Biology, College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Amanda Subalusky
Proposed Research and Location: Research aims to understand the longitudinal changes in fish and macroinvertebrates assemblages and the distribution of trace element in the Mara River basin. Kenya - Viviana Rojas Bonzi
Department: Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, College: Agricultural and Life Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Vanessa Hull
Proposed Research and Location: Research focuses on evaluating the impact of hunting on mammals in the endangered Dry Chaco ecoregion of Paraguay. Paraguay - Beatrice Kyasiimire
Department: Ecology, College: Agricultural and Life Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr, Mark Hostetler
Proposed Research and Location: Research aims to reduce human-induced biodiversity threats around protected areas in Uganda. Uganda - Aswaj Punnath
Department: Entomology and Nematology, College: Agricultural and Life Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Andrea Lucky
Proposed Research and Location: Research proposes to determine the evolutionary and biogeographic history of the genus Nylanderia in India, which is geographically unique, with four biodiversity hotspots and two mountain ranges – the Eastern Himalayas and the Western Ghats. India - Mosunmola Ogunmolaji
Department: History, College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Nancy Hunt
Proposed Research and Location: Research explores the transnational history of the migration of Nigerian nurses to the United Kingdom. Nigeria - Felipe Acosta-Munoz
Department: Anthropology, College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr. George Broadwell
Proposed Research and Location: Research aims to understand the experiences of Maya-speaking undergraduate students enrolled in the Maya Linguistics and Culture (MLC) Bachelor’s program at the Universidad de Oriente (Eastern University-UNO). Mexico
- Chuangyang Chen
Department: Art History, College: Arts
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Ashley Jones
Proposed Research and Location: Research explores the forging of ancient Chinese ritual bronzes in the late imperial and early Republican China, emphasizing on the interdependent relationship between the construction of antiquarian knowledge and the practice of bronze forgery. Germany - Ana Maria Garrido Corredor
Department: Anthropology, College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Catherine Tucker
Proposed Research and Location: Research examines the transformative impacts of a REDD+ (Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) in the territory governed by the Community Council of the Black Peoples of La Plata-Bahía Mᾴlaga, Colombia. Colombia - Vivian Lantow
Department: Art History, College: Arts
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Maya Stanfield-Mazzi
Proposed Research and Location: Research aims to increase the understanding of ancient Andean feather works and the society that created them, by exploring the significance and role of feathers and feathered garments in the Chimu culture. Along the north coast of Peru. Peru - Motunrayo Ogunrinbokun
Department: English, College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Leah Rosenberg
Proposed Research and Location: Research explores the rhetoric of digital health in Nigeria, examining the discourse, communication strategies, and persuasive techniques employed in the adoption, implementation, and utilization of digital health interventions. Nigeria - Daniel Acosta Gandur
Department: Environmental and Global Health, College: Public Health and Health Professions
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Sarah McKune
Proposed Research and Location: Research aims to better understand the perceptions of climate change on food and nutritional resilience in Linguere, Senegal. Senegal - Daniela Nunez de Alvarez Stransky
Department: Spanish and Portuguese Studies, College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jorge Valdes Kroff
Proposed Research and Location: Research uses Personal Network Analysis (PNA) to explore how languages change due to dynamic social interactions and altered language exposure. It will look at Mexican American migrants who are deported to Mexico after significant years in the United States where they were raised and received formal education. Mexico - Belkis Abufaur
Department: Anthropology, College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr. David Daegling
Proposed Research and Location: Research investigates the association between locomotor ecology and long bone morphology in various primate species, by using the newly developed algorithm in the R environment. Ecuador - David Sadek
Department: Physics, College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Tarek Saab
Proposed Research and Location: Research uses SuperCDMS state-of-the-art detectors to search for dark matter particles. Canada
RAD Awardees 2022/2023
- Shreyanshu Agrawal
Department Chemical Engineering, College: Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Ranga Narayanan & Dr. Kirk Ziegler
Proposed Research and Location: Research studies instabilities that occurs at the boundary of two phases which can be liquid-liquid or, solid, liquid etc. France - Xiaoxing Bian
Interdisciplinary Ecology, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS)
Advisor: Dr. Vanessa Hall
Proposed Research and Location: Research aims to evaluate the population abundance and habitat suitability of the endangered flagship species, the snow leopard in China, and to update the conservation strategies for the long-term survival of this species at a national level. China - Amanda Brock
Anthropology, College of Liberal Arts and Science
Advisor: Dr. Daniel Contreras
Proposed Research and Location: Examines how past societies engaged in place-making and landscape formation through constructing public monumental centers in dynamic environments in the Central Andes. Peru - Karen Coker
Public Health, College of Public Health and Health Professions
Advisor: Dr. Sara McKune
Proposed Research and Location: Investigates the social and cultural meaning of mental health and wellbeing in the context of climate change, through the Wolof psychology of Dimbalanté. Senegal - Kaitlin Gattoni
Nematology, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
Advisor: Dr. Dorota L. Porazinska
Proposed Research and Location: Identify key assembly processes that drive nematode community diversity and composition and define how these communities and processes change over time. Denmark - Alwin Hopf
Agricultural and Biological Engineering, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Advisor: Dr. Gerrit Hoogenboom
Proposed Research and Location: Research addresses sustainable agriculture through interdisciplinary advancement in the fields of alternative crops, appropriate technology and social sciences. The research combines mathematical modeling with participatory methods to facilitate the design and development of appropriate and user-focused digital farming technology to advance sustainable production of industrial hemp as a new and alternative crop in Florida. China - Megan LeBlanc
Anthropology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Advisor: Dr. Susan deFrance
Proposed Research and Location: Aims to reconstruct the historical ecology of a pre-Hispanic farming and fishing community (Tacahuay Tambo) in far southern Peru that was impacted by a severe El Niño debris flow, the Miraflores Event, ca. AD 1350. Peru - Abigail Lindo
Ethnomusicology, School of Music, College of Arts
Advisor: Dr. Sarah Politz
Proposed Research and Location: Examines the contemporary musical culture driven by music festivals in São Miguel, the largest of nine islands in the Portuguese autonomous region of the Azores. Portugal - James McQueen Parr
Nematology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Advisor: Dr. Dorota Porazinska
Proposed Research and Location: Research uses high-throughput DNA sequencing to characterize microbiomes of nematode species to understand their patterns of assembly, and functions to help us make better predictions about responses of nematodes to climate change and develop better tools to manage soils. Denmark - Karah Mechlowitz
Public Health, College of Public Health and Health Professions
Advisor: Dr. Sarah McKune
Proposed Research and Location: Research will evaluate the impact of a Community Advisory Boards (CAB) established for a community-based longitudinal study on project implementation, community engagement, and ethical considerations of research. Ethiopia - Megan Nakamura
Linguistics, College of Liberal Arts
Advisor: Dr. Eleonora Rossi
Proposed Research and Location: Study investigates the earliest neural (EEG) signatures of novel language learning as evidenced by event-related potentials (ERPs) and neural oscillations, and the modulation of these effects by factors of bilingual language experience. Norway - Savannah Troy
Interdisciplinary Ecology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Advisor: Dr. Robert Fletcher
Proposed Research and Location: Research examines and study the response of bird communities to savanna degradation in the eSwatini Lowveld. Eswatini