DU Student Awarded Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Fellowship

Meseret重金 (BS ’11), a third-year doctoral student in the 新MG线上电子游戏’s 莫里奇教育学院她被授予了a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation 研究 Abroad Fellowship来自美国.S. 教育部.

This particular fellowship program awards grants to colleges 和 universities to fund individual doctoral students conducting research in other countries for a period of six to 12 months.

作为她一年奖学金的一部分, 从2017年3月开始, 海驴 will travel to Ethiopia to conduct her dissertation research on the factors that lead to the persistence of women in undergraduate science 和 technology majors at Ethiopian universities. 海驴, who is studying higher education at DU, will conduct her research in various cities throughout Ethiopia, 包括亚的斯亚贝巴, Hawassa和Bahir Dar.

海驴 notes that the project requires the use of “a sequential, exploratory mixed-methods design that requires both qualitative 和 quantitative methods. 最终, this research is important because it can influence future development of education policy 和 highlight the resilience of women.”

海驴说 the qualitative portion of her large-scale research involves recruiting 30 undergraduate women from three public universities who have studied a science or technology discipline. The three universities include: Hawassa University, Bahir Dar University 和 Addis Ababa University. She’ll then conduct semi-structured interviews to underst和 the women’s life experiences 和 identify the factors that have contributed to their success 和 graduation from college.

下一步, 海驴说, will be to use the emerging themes from the interviews to design a quantitative, electronic survey instrument that will be widely distributed to collect responses from approximately 275 women across all public universities. The large number of responses will help to ensure statistical reliability.

The Fulbright Fellowship aligns well with 海驴’s research interests 和 her long-term goal of remaining in higher education after completing her doctorate at DU.

In addition to using her research to complete her dissertation, 海驴 will also use it to address the gap in the literature about Ethiopian higher education 和 African education in general. Her work will also provide key stakeholders in the Ethiopian Ministry of Education with resources/research to promote the success of women.

“I plan on continuing this research trajectory as a faculty member, 和 this experience will provide me with really important research experience 和 ‘on-the-ground’ skill development,海璐说。. 为此目的, the Fulbright Fellowship is a wonderful opportunity to advance my research agenda 和 provide me with valuable experience that I can draw from when I apply for faculty positions next year.”