At American University, research isn’t confined to a classroom or lab, or even to a single country.

This year, six AU faculty members will live and work in Tanzania, Taiwan, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Belgium and Portugal and other parts of Europe to pursue questions with broad international implications.

The questions include:

• What happens when economic security becomes a tool for geopolitics?
• How has the idea of the “slum” shaped the way the world understands poverty?
• Can community health workers help expand access to HIV prevention?
• Can plant pigment become a forensic tool?

The traveling researchers are recipients of Fulbright awards, which support scholars who seek solutions to complex global challenges. They will conduct studies, gather new data, collaborate with international colleagues, and teach and mentor students.


Michelle Egan explores how Europe is responding to a changing global economy.

Egan, a professor in the School of International Service and the Program on Global Economics, received a Fulbright-Schuman Award, funded by both the United States and the European Union, to go to Belgium and Portugal, with research trips to two additional European countries.

Egan’s project, European Economic Security: Protecting Markets, Advancing Geopolitical Interests, will examine how Europe is responding to geopolitical pressures, as tension between China and the United States is pushing changes in European economic policy, including investment screening, export controls, and anti-coercion measures, as part of increased efforts to address growing economic vulnerabilities.

David L. Pike studies how the “slum” has shaped the way the public understands poverty.

Pike, a professor in AU’s Department of Literature, will spend the academic year in Denmark as a Distinguished Scholar in American Studies at the University of Southern Denmark working on his project, Slum Lore: A Cultural History of Modern Urban Poverty. 

Pike’s research examines how the meanings and emotions attached to urban poverty and the “slum imaginary” continue to shape the way the world understands poverty.

Nina Yamanis will travel to Tanzania to examine how community health workers can help expand HIV prevention.

Yamanis, a professor in the School of International Service, will work with Tanzanian colleagues to develop health worker training aimed at expanding access to HIV prevention medications like PrEP and the new long-acting PrEP injectable, lenacapavir.

“This opportunity will allow me to build on nearly two decades of HIV prevention research in Tanzania by collaborating with colleagues, students, and communities,” she said.

Christine Haight Farley will examine how the United States and Europe approach intellectual property and industrial design differently.

Farley, a professor of law, will collaborate with scholars in Finland at the Hanken School of Economics. Farley’s research examines how U.S. and European, particularly Nordic, law protects modern industrial design and the differences between trademark-based protection in the United States and copyright-based protection in Europe.

Raychelle Burks will investigate ways to make forensic testing more affordable and accessible.

Burks, Provost Associate Professor of Chemistry, will build on her research into “frugal forensics” at Curtin University in Australia. Burks will focus on developing portable tools for resource-limited settings and investigate whether anthocyanins, natural pigments found in plants, can act as color-based sensors to detect substances such as illicit drugs, explosives, and chemical warfare agents.

“Anthocyanins are globally abundant and highly responsive compounds, making them promising candidates for simple, low-cost chemical detection,” Burks said.


Ying-Chen Peng will examine how art shaped China’s image during the Cold War.

Peng, an associate professor of art, will travel to Taiwan to study how the Republic of China (ROC) used visual art to shape and project its image of modern China during the Cold War.

Peng will examine artworks, archival materials, and cultural diplomacy projects to explore how art became a tool of geopolitical competition and how the ROC’s approach to cultural diplomacy influenced later efforts by the People’s Republic of China.


These research projects may have begun at AU, but the search for answers is taking these scholars around the world to bring new ideas home.