Daniel Mladek and Andrew Nupp receive Fulbright grants
Daniel Mladek, YC’2026 double major in Physics (Intensive) and Humanities and a member of Sigma Pi Sigma, and Andrew Nupp, YC’2026 double major in Physics (Intensive) and Mathematics and a member of Sigma Pi Sigma were two of three-dozen recent granduates who received grants from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program from the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. They join participants from more than 160 countries who study, teach English, and conduct research abroad with the support of Fulbright each year — as well as an international network of over 400,000 scholars who have earned grants from the Fulbright Program since its inception in 1946.
Daniel Mladek, Fulbright Combined Award
As recipient of the Fulbright Combined Award, Daniel Mladek ’26 who worked with Maureen Long, Bruce D. Alexander 65 Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, received a Fulbright Combined Award to teach English while also joining the research team of Ivana Stiperski in the Department of Atmospheric and Cryospheric Sciences at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. In that role, he would have examined turbulence over mountainous and glaciated terrain in the Austrian Alps.
Ultimately Mladek declined the Fulbright award and instead accepted a Robert C. Bates Yale Postgraduate Fellowship, see related story linked below.
Andrew Nupp, Open Study/Research Award for Graduating Seniors
Andrew Nupp ’26 will conduct research on the Belle II experiment, an international collaboration exploring fundamental questions about the nature of matter through electron-positron collisions, at the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization in Tsukuba, Japan. In his role, he will focus on the vertex detector, which measures where collisions occur, particularly on integrating a new pixel detector, OBELIX, designed to provide precise vertex detection at high-luminosity conditions.
Nupp commented, “I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to pursue research at the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) in Japan as a Fulbright Scholar. I will be contributing to the vertex detector upgrade for the Belle II experiment, an effort that will help prepare the detector for operation at its target, world-leading luminosity. I’m excited to learn more about high-energy particle physics and collider experiments through this work. ”
Nupp continued, “During my time at Yale, I studied abroad in Japan through fellowships including the Richard U. Light Fellowship, which allowed me to develop both my language skills and my familiarity with Japanese culture. I hope those experiences, together with the education and mentorship I received from Professors Diana Qiu, David Moore, Steve Lamoreaux, and many others in Yale’s physics department, will enable me to contribute meaningfully during my time at KEK.”
Nupp concluded, “Following the Fulbright grant, I will begin graduate study in physics at the University of Tokyo. I hope my Fulbright experience will provide a strong foundation for my graduate studies and allow me to contribute to the continued exchange and collaboration between the physics communities in the United States and Japan.”
Diana Qiu, assistant professor of materials science and Andrew Nupp’s advisor, commented, “Andrew worked with me on a computational physics project involving developing and benchmarking machine learning models for interpolating material bandstructures. He seems to have a real passion for Japanese language and culture, which should help him thrive as a Fulbright scholar.”