Going global: UCLA honored as a top producer of student Fulbright winners for 2025–26

Key takeaways

• With 12 students and recent alumni selected for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, UCLA is among the top 31 universities in the nation in the number of awardees.
• Fulbright grants provide funding for students and graduates to teach and conduct research in more than 140 countries across the world.
• Currently, six UCLA awardees are engaged in the program, from Spain and Germany to Canada, Taiwan and Kenya. Meet them.

The Fulbright Program

Since 1946, the Fulbright Program, the U.S. State Department's flagship international academic exchange program, has provided more than 400,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists and professionals the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research abroad. Fulbright alumni have included 44 heads of state or government, 63 Nobel laureates, 93 Pulitzer Prize winners, 83 MacArthur Fellows, and countless leaders from all sectors and industries across the United States and the world.

Serena Gill
English Teaching Assistant Award

Gill graduated from UCLA in June 2025 with a bachelor's degree in molecular, cell and developmental biology. As a student, she worked with the UCLA Mobile Clinic Project, serving Los Angeles' homeless and vulnerable populations, and as a peer learning facilitator through the Academic Advancement Program.

She also conducted cancer-related research in the Shackelford Lab at UCLA, was an officer with the student-run medical group PULSE and worked with Camp Kesem, an organization for young children impacted by a parent's cancer.

Gill is currently teaching English to students of diverse backgrounds in Galicia, Spain, and has launched an afterschool program that allows students to engage in conversations about different cultures around the world. She hopes to pursue a career in medicine.

Emma Montilla
English Teaching Assistant Award

A June 2025 graduate who earned a bachelor's in applied linguistics, Montilla was deeply involved in language acquisition and cochlear implant research at UCLA's Speech and Cognitive Development Lab under Meg Cychosz, former assistant professor of linguistics. The experience convinced her to pursue a career related to language learning and language development for deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

Montilla has been teaching English to elementary and junior high students in two rural schools in Taiwan while working on her Mandarin.

After her grant ends, she hopes to become a pediatric audiologist and earn both a clinical degree and a Ph.D.

Gabriel Portilla
English Teaching Assistant Award

Portilla graduated magna cum laude in June 2025 with a bachelor's degree in sociology. At UCLA, they also researched language ability as a builder of social identity and took courses in German; they were encouraged by UCLA German lecturer Cara Tovey to apply for a Fulbright.

Having grown up in Guatemala and spent much of their adolescence in Los Angeles, they have been heavily influenced by their bicultural and multilingual upbringing.

Portilla currently teaches English at a German secondary school in Berlin, promoting cross-cultural understanding and dialogue between Germany and the United States. At the same time, they are continuing to pursue their interest in urban sociology and regional planning - inspired by courses at UCLA - and hope eventually to earn a doctorate in sociology.

Michael Suh
English Teaching Assistant Award

A June 2025 graduate with a bachelor's degree in molecular, cell and developmental biology, Suh also took four quarters of Chinese instruction at UCLA, which heavily influenced his decision to pursue a Fulbright in Taiwan. He credits Yuwen Yao, a UCLA lecturer in Asian languages and cultures, with inspiring him to apply for the grant.

Suh has been teaching English in Taiwan's Yilan County while also engaging in meaningful cultural exchanges.

He said he hopes his Fulbright experience will help him to become a culturally competent physician after medical school, as he intends to practice in California, one of the most racially and ethnically diverse states in the nation.

Laurel Thomas
Study/Research Award

Thomas graduated in June 2023 with a major in environmental science and minors in conservation biology and environmental engineering. At UCLA, she was involved in community-based conservation work through the Ecological Restoration Association and helped build a volunteer group to preserve biodiversity on campus.

Since then, she has taught ecology at Grand Teton National Park; developed a National Park Service restoration plan for Salt River Bay in the U.S. Virgin Islands; and collected plant and soil data for the Bureau of Land Management in Wyoming and Colorado.

Thomas' Fulbright study/research grant supports her graduate studies at the University of British Columbia, where she works with the Indigenous Ecology Lab to support the ecological and cultural revitalization of Kwiakah First Nation's territory.

Laila Wheeler
English Teaching Assistant Award

Wheeler, who graduated from UCLA in June 2025 with a triple major in public affairs, education and sociology, said her campus experiences with education, research and community engagement sparked her passion for international education.

As an undergraduate, she was a peer learning facilitator with the Academic Advancement Program, an academic mentor to high school students, an editor for the Daily Bruin and a participant in the Bunche Fellows Program. She was also the recipient of an Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship for Public Service, aiding the academic development of impoverished Ghanaian children, and an intern for a human rights organization in Cape Town, South Africa.

Wheeler is currently teaching English to secondary-school students in Malindi, Kenya, along with a community service learning course to advance civic engagement. She is also learning Swahili and immersing herself in Kenyan culture, history, language and nature.