Brendon Hillebrand Will Serve as English Teaching Assistant in Taiwan

Brendon Hillebrand, a December 2018 University of Houston graduate with a B.S. in computer science and a minor in Spanish, is the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship. He will serve as an English Teaching Assistant in Taiwan.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to build relations between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.

After studying abroad in Chile and volunteering in a public clinic there, Hillebrand had a strong desire to return abroad and continue to learn about other cultures and languages. He intends to apply to medical school and is interested in community and international medicine.

“Through this experience with Fulbright, I hope to share an understanding of American culture with others in Taiwan while gaining a deeper appreciation for their culture, which I can later apply to promoting better communication between patients and their healthcare providers,” Hillebrand said.

The Fulbright is funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the program, which operates in over 160 countries worldwide, with the aim of solving global challenges.

Since the Fulbright Program’s establishment in 1946, more than 380,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and scientists have been given the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

The UH Office of Undergraduate Research at UH celebrated a record-breaking year in 2018-19, with 10 outstanding UH students receiving Fulbright awards for research and teaching, the most awarded in any given year in the school’s history.

This year’s Fulbright recipients come from four colleges at UH: the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Bauer College of Business, and College of Education.

- Daniel Wallace, The Honors College