As a service to our vibrant Fulbright community and in keeping with the Fulbright mission of peace and understanding among diverse cultures, Kansas City Chapter broadcasts the life-changing stories of Kansas and Missouri Visiting Fulbrighters to a community of internationally engaged individuals via its Fulbright Forums.
Roberta Meloni (left) is a Ph.D. candidate in History at Kansas State University. She was awarded a Fulbright fellowship in 2019 to conduct her dissertation research in the United States. Since then, Roberta has expanded her research interests specializing in American-East Asian relations, the history of technology, and radio studies. She has also been awarded the Shirley A. Martin Scholarship, the Cora Stewart Wilcoxon Graduate Fellowship, and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Research Grant to carry out her research in the United States. Her dissertation examines the interplay between radio and U.S. foreign policy in American-East Asian relations during the Cold War.
About Meloni’s presentation: ‘Radio and Misconceptions in Cold War American-East Asian Relations‘ examines the interplay between radio and U.S. foreign policy in American-East Asian relations from 1950 to the late 1970s. It does so by exploring separate American radio projects in Japan, Korea, China, and Vietnam. Each initiative was informed by unrealistic expectations about the extraordinary power of radio to facilitate international cooperation and mutual understanding that benefited Americans and Asians alike. In each instance, however, the main outcome was to accelerate animosity in U.S.-East Asian relations and crystallize pre-existing misconceptions of East Asia societies that served America’s Cold War politics and ideology.
Ana Luiza Favarão Leão (center) is a PhD candidate at the State University of Londrina in Brazil. She is conducting Fulbright sponsored research for her dissertation in the People, Health & Place Unit at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Anna holds a Masters degree (2019) and Bachelor degree (2016) in Architecture and Urban planning as Brazilian Ministry of Education scholarship holder. She specializes in Constructed Space Composition and Statistics with an Emphasis on Quantitative Research, with experience in geoprocessing and technology applications to place-based research. Her research focuses on environmental factors that compose walkability in multiple scales and health disparities, with the aim of developing contextually adapted evidence to subsidize urban planning in low and middle-income countries.
About Leão’s presentation: ‘Multiscaled Walkability: Exploring Multiscale Built Environment Features Through Artificial Intelligence‘ Low and middle-income-countries’ urban dwellers experience lower levels of car ownership and higher levels of transport related physical activity, despite possible adverse street-level (micro-scale) conditions. Several tools measuring walkability of the built environment have been used to assess street-level attributes that impact walking, but for the most part, these are time consuming, costly, and implemented on a small scale. Recent advancement on access and to big data and improvements in deep learning techniques allow capturing larger volumes of built environment attributes automatically and could help expedite efforts for assessing street-level built environment characteristics in cities of low and middle-income countries. Considering this context, the objectives are the identification of tools for assessing walkability in a middle-income country, understanding the use of deep learning techniques in walkability analysis, and creating an overall visual representation of the patterns of active behaviors in low- and middle-income settings.
Kyaw Zin (right) is a Master candidate, studying Social Work in Washington University St. Louis. He is the founder and director of Call Me Today, the first Myanmar mental health helpline since 2018, which has provided counseling services to over 3,000 individuals nationwide. His approach in delivering mental health services was awarded 1st Runner Up in Breaking the Walls of Inaccessible Counseling at the Falling Walls Lab Myanmar 2020. His entrepreneur experiences and social work experience are merging into one contribution to Myanmar society. Previously, he served as a member of the U.S. Ambassador’s Youth Council Myanmar.
About Zin’s presentation: ‘Psycho-social Support to Poor Families‘ In a time of crisis, it is hard to stablise ourselves from anxieties and stress. As a social worker, it is harder to stablize unless securing the physiological needs. When poor families ask for food and cash for their security, how can/does a social worker help to stablize their situation with limited resources? Zin shares his expereince related to providing psycho-social support to residents and migrants in peri-urban regions in Myanmar.
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