On February 20, 2020, the Romanian-U.S. Fulbright Commission organized its traditional Orientation Seminar devoted to the American Fulbright grantees present in Romania for the academic year 2019-2020 and to greeting the newly arrived U.S. Fulbright Scholars.

The seven new Fulbright grantees were welcomed by U.S. and Romanian high officials, and received information on different topical subjects, including consular, security, political, economic and health briefings, from U.S. Embassy experts. Romanian and U.S. alumni of the program briefed the new grantees on adjusting to Romanian academic life and culture, on adapting to the teaching and research environment in Romanian universities.

The entire group of U.S. grantees then participated in the mid-term seminar, a roundtable discussion in which they shared their experience after the conclusion of the first semester teaching and/or doing research in Romania.

In the evening, the U.S. Fulbright grantees participated in the Reception organized at Casa Oamenilor de Știință, where they were welcomed by H.E. Adrian Zuckerman, U.S. Ambassador to Romania, who recently assumed his duties in Romania and was present for the first time in a Fulbright event. The event was attended by a large number of U.S. and Romanian officials, Romanian alumni and friends of the program.

On the second day of the event, Friday, February 21, the group participated in a Bucharest City tour including visits to the Palace of Parliament and the National Museum of Art.

More photos are available on the Commission's Facebook Page.

Elli Wiita and Colin Cutler recently joined fellow Fulbrighters from around Europe for the annual EU-NATO seminar in Brussels and Luxembourg.

Over four days, they explored and spoke with representatives of the US Embassy in Luxembourg, the European Court of Justice, the European Commission, and NATO. Representatives included an EU judge at the General Court, embassy public affairs officers, and experts in cybersecurity at NATO.

For Colin, who studied in England in the middle of the Brexit debates, it was a helpful insight into the EU’s processes for passing legislation and representing Europeans and how that has played into the rhetoric of Brexit. “On the one hand, ‘the unelected bureaucrats’ don’t actually pass laws—their proposals have to be approved by the Council, which has a representative from every member state. But, on the other hand, it was only in 2009 that the European Parliament, whose members represent constituencies, received legislative power under the Treaty of Lisbon.”

“In December 2019, I was invited by EUROAVIA Bucharest (the European Association of Aerospace Students) to give a seminar at the DebateX Unity 2019. Part of the event I had the opportunity to talk with the aerospace engineering students from University Politehnica of Bucharest about my academic experience as a Fulbright scholar at Georgia Institute of Technology and share my technical knowledge on the topic of supersonic propulsions systems. The seminar titled ‘Recent Developments in Scramjet Propulsion: elements of plasma assisted combustion & plasma spectroscopy’, discussed a novel approach for igniting and stabilizing scramjet engines using laser-generated plasma (this was the main topic of my PhD research at Colorado State University).

EUROAVIA is an international student association with several Local Groups across Europe that spread and live the EUROAVIA spirit, a set of common values based upon hard work, innovation, cultural awareness, team-work and international networking. EUROAVIA comprises of 42 local groups, in 18 countries for a total of more than 2000 members.

DebateX stands out from the other projects of the Association and is one of the events that strongly supports the mission of EUROAVIA Bucharest, namely to help shape the future leaders in the aerospace field. With the main tool being the debate, the event has its own proposes to highlight an essential feature that underlies human relations: communication. The topic of this edition's discussions was closely related to the concept of ‘Supersonic Aircraft’, a relevant topic in the current context, which has repercussions on contemporary aviation, given the massive intensification of air traffic and the need to facilitate the process transport.” – Ciprian Dumitrache, 2011-2012 Fulbright Student @ Georgia Institute of Technology, in the field of Aerospace Engineering

On Wednesday, January 29, the FEAC-EducationUSA team attended the Community Day at ”George Coşbuc” National Bilingual College, an event bringing together several not-for-profit organizations, volunteering associations, as well as the high school’s very own clubs, for the benefit of students interested in exploring further study opportunities and extracurricular activities.

We were happy to meet lower secondary students and high school students alike and tell them more about the U.S. higher education system, the application process and the ways in which FEAC-EducationUSA can help them prepare a strong application.

Many thanks to Florina Ruse, dedicated teacher and FEAC friend, for kindly inviting us to take part in the event!