SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (KEYT) – Three Cal Poly educators have been awarded Fulbright awards for the 2026 academic cycle and another has been designated as an alternate recipient.
The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program awards hundreds of U.S. educators the opportunity to teach and conduct research in more than 120 countries on an annual basis.
The prestigious academic awards program, sponsored by the U.S. State Department since its inception in 1946, is the nation's flagship educational and cultural exchange program and was created to foster mutual learning and peaceful relations around the world detailed the State Department.
"These awards highlight the exceptional caliber of Cal Poly's faculty and their dedication to addressing global challenges through research, teaching and collaboration," shared Cari Vanderkar, assistant vice provost for International Programs and Cal Poly's senior international officer. "We are proud of their achievements and the impact their work will have both internationally and within our campus community."
Each of Cal Poly's Fulbright recipients and their plans for the award are detailed below.
Dr. Natasha Neumann. Image courtesy of California Polytechnic State University.Associate professor Natasha Neumann of the Bailey College of Science and Mathematics in the School of Education received a Fulbright award to study at the Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera in Valencia, Spain.
There, Dr. Neumann will conduct her project entitled "Multilingual Learning in Spain & the U.S.: Educational Policy Leadership, and Teaching Practices" which will focus on the intersection of language and education policy.
Dr. David Askay. Image courtesy of California Polytechnic State University.Professor of communications studies David Askay in the College of Liberal Arts, received a Fulbright award to study how embracing ambiguity, known as yuragi, can improve educational outcomes in collaborative environments at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan.
Dr. Askay will also teach classes during his research as well as establish the infrastructure for future student exchanges between the Japanese university and Cal Poly shared the local university.
Dr. Jasmine Nation. Image courtesy of California Polytechnic State University.Professor Jasmine Nation with the Bailey College of Science and Mathematics will collaborate with colleagues at the Universidad del Bío-Bío in Chile on her project entitled "Science Teachers as Researchers: Learning from Place-Based Science".
Dr. Nation will also co-teach graduate courses and mentor teacher-led research projects while conducting her own research noted Cal Poly.
Dr. Clay McKell. Image courtesy of California Polytechnic State University.Additionally, professor Clay McKell with the College of Engineering was selected as a Fulbright alternate awardee for his proposed project entitled "Game Theoretic Protocol Design for Energy Efficient Multi-Hop LoRa Networks" which would explore how game theory-based approaches can improve the performance of Internet of Things systems.
Dr. McKell's research would be in collaboration with the University of Klagenfurt in Austria.
Background
The Fulbright Act, named after its author Senator Fulbright of Arkansas, established a 12-member board appointed by the President of the United States which creates policy guidelines and manages the multi-million dollar educational program.
On June 11 of last year, 11 of its 12 members resigned after the Trump Administration proposed a 93 percent cut to the program's funding, rejected a "substantial number of recipients" in the 2025-2026 cycle, and conducted "an unauthorized review process" of 1,200 Fulbright international scholars.
"Effective immediately, members of the Congressionally mandated Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board voted overwhelmingly to resign from the board, rather than endorse unprecedented actions that we believe are impermissible under the law, compromise U.S. national interests and integrity, and undermine the mission and mandates Congress established for the Fulbright program nearly 80 years ago," read a statement posted by resigning members on June 11, 2025. "Injecting politics and ideological mandates into the Fulbright program violates the letter and spirit of the law that Congress so wisely established nearly eight decades ago."
In response to the mass resignation, the State Department called the action "a political stunt attempting to undermine President Trump" and issued the following statement to CBS News, "It's ridiculous to believe that these members would continue to have final say over the application process, especially when it comes to determining academic suitability and alignment with President Trump's Executive Orders."
Federal law states that the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board has final approval over awards, but the members of the Board, who serve three-year terms, are appointed exclusively by the President.
Originally, the program authorized the Secretary of State to enter executive agreements with nation's managing funds from the sale of surplus property in the aftermath of the Second World War.
Those early foundations established at the beginning of the program through post-War executive agreements became the 49 Binational Fulbright Commissions still managing portions of the program today.
According to the Fulbright Association, over 35 countries now contribute more annually, even multiple times more, to the program than Congress appropriates each fiscal year and a draft appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2026 restored funding to the program.
Your News Channel reached out to major universities in our coverage area after the resignation was announced last year and a Cal Poly spokesperson shared the changes to the program did not appear to impact any of the students or faculty receiving awards at the time.
This week's announcement shows that program will continue at least through the current cycle of awards and Your News Channel reached out to Cal Poly as well as the U.S. Fulbright Program for more information about the future of the flagship education program.
Their respective responses will be added to this article when they are received.
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