For five UT San Antonio students, significant investment in their research and career ambitions will open doors to new opportunities across the world.
As finalists of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, the students will receive support to conduct research and work in countries across the globe during the 2026–2027 academic year. This matches an all-time high for the number of UT San Antonio students selected for the program in a single year.
The Fulbright Program is a prestigious international educational exchange program funded by the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The international academic exchange program was founded in 1946 with the goal to increase mutual understanding and support friendly and peaceful relations between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.
In the upcoming school year, approximately 1,800 students will participate in the program with funding for their work teaching, conducting independent research, or earning a graduate degree. The following five students from UT San Antonio will serve as cultural ambassadors while also conducting important roles in four countries.
Andrew Cervantes will conduct space research in Belgium
Cervantes is a 2025 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. As an undergraduate, he conducted research in Associate Professor Christopher Combs’ Hypersonics lab and was also in the Aeronautics and Rocket Club.
Cervantes will conduct research in high-speed thermal mapping with temperature sensitive paint in hypersonic tunnels with the von Karman Institute (VKI) for Fluid Dynamics in Belgium. VKI was established in 1956 through the NATO center and now operates as an open and international hub where European and United States researchers share methods and results.
Jorge Cruz will conduct small business research in Chile
Cruz is a PhD candidate in economics. He will travel to Chile next year to conduct doctoral research on how Chilean stakeholders have adopted and reinterpreted the U.S. Small Business Development Center (SBDC) models.
Cruz will research how Chile has built a nationwide system of Centros de Desarrollo de Negocios (CDNs), which includes studying programs run by UT San Antonio’s Center for Global Development, which has worked in Chile since 2015. To create his research proposal, Cruz worked with Minerva Garcia-Delgado and Monica Alcoz of the UT San Antonio SBDC International Trade Center to connect with research partners in Chile.
Mariel Ortega will conduct research on human connections to urban nature in South Korea
Ortega, who is currently working on a master’s in environmental sciences at UT San Antonio, will travel to South Korea to conduct a research project titled “Soundscapes as Cultural Bridges: Birds, Urbanization, and Human-Nature Relationships in Korea.”
She will work with Dr. Jang Yikweon at Ewha Womans University in Seoul to record birdsong and interview residents about their connections to birdsong and nature. Ortega speaks fluent Korean and has visited South Korea multiple times through study abroad and personal trips.
Margarita Solis and Dee Torres will teach English in Argentina
Solis, who is working on a bachelor’s in public health, will travel in Spring 2027 to Argentina on the English Teaching Assistant Program. Solis is a member of the Honors College, where she has participated in a variety of programs related to her degree. She spent Spring 2026 in Washington DC on the Archer Fellowship program, interning with Monument Advocacy and was an Institute of Educational Sciences Pathways Fellow in 2025, researching the impact of health misinformation on Hispanic communities.
Solis also participated in the Medical Humanities and Healthcare Interpreting study abroad program in Alicante, Spain, through the College of Liberal and Fine Arts, and the Honors College Intentional and Sustainable Living program in Costa Rica. This past year, she taught English as a Second Language in the Woodland Church ESL program.
Torres, who is working on a master’s in public administration, will also travel in Spring 2027 to Argentina on the English Teaching Assistant Program. Torres’ master’s thesis examines public funding in Texas K-12 schools. They founded the Diversity Alliance while an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Tyler and volunteered with the Center for Applied Science and Technology in San Antonio. They served as a member of UT San Antonio’s President’s Advisory Council in 2025-2026.
Torres was an intern in Washington, D.C. as an Archer Fellow at Girl Up, part of the United Nations Foundation, which unites youth across 155 countries to lead change for gender justice — training more than 430,000 young leaders to create a more equitable world. Following their Fulbright year, they plan to pursue a PhD in public administration, using their local and international education experience to continue studying public school funding.
The University of Texas at San Antonio is committed to preparing students for success by connecting classroom learning with real-world experience. This year, a record 35 Roadrunners applied for the Fullbright U.S. Student Program, with 17 students making the semi-finalist stage. Seven UT San Antonio students were named alternates to the program, with the possibility of traveling next year: Abel Garcia Chavez ’24 (statistics and data science), Karen Cruz ’22 (public health), Quentin Hernandez ’25 (modern languages – Russian), Madeline Navarrete ’26 (communication), Mariana Pasillas ’25 (communication), David Felipe Rodriguez Mora (current PhD candidate in anthropology) and Jade Romero ’26 (global affairs).
“We are excited to see so many students from across UT San Antonio colleges show interest in applying to Fulbright,” said Alexandra Sheldon, program manager of the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards. “As Fulbright Program Advisors for UT San Antonio, we work with students throughout the summer to develop applications for our September 1 campus deadline.”
