Three of Colorado State University’s own will soon be going abroad as part of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, the State Department’s flagship international exchange program.

Helen Flynn, Daniel Morris and Logan Blakeslee accepted the prestigious honor and are part of the 2022-23 Fulbright cohort. Alexander Schaff also received the award but declined due to an employment opportunity. Natalie Montecino was named an alternate for 2022-23. She is currently in Japan on a Fulbright as part of the 2021-22 cohort.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards approximately 2,000 grants annually for select students to travel abroad to conduct research or teach English as a way to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Since 2015, 24 CSU students have participated in the prestigious program.

Helen Flynn — an ecosystem science and sustainability student in the Warner College of Natural Resources — will be going to Spain for her Fulbright to conduct research on the interactions between understory plants and winter snowpack in the Pyrenees Mountains.

Understory plants use water from winter snowpack in snow-dominated watersheds and play an important role in mountain ecosystems. In the Pyrenees, P. uncinata forests use spring snowmelt, which is beginning to shift in time and quantity due to climate change, Flynn said.

“By understanding the connections between these different parts of the ecosystem, I will be able to predict more accurately what will happen to the understory, and, thus, forest health, as temperatures warm, snowpack decreases, and the growing season lengthens,” she said. “By gaining an understanding of these processes, land management entities and government agencies in Spain will be able to make more informed decisions about ecosystem conservation efforts.”

Flynn plans to pursue a research-based master’s degree in watershed science and a career as an environmental data analyst.

Daniel Morris — a music therapy master’s student in the College of Liberal Arts — is also heading to Spain, having received an English Teaching Assistant Fellowship from Fulbright. Morris plans to draw upon his experiences as a music therapist to help Spanish students gain a better understanding of the English language.

“Music therapy is an effective intervention that is used with many different populations and goal areas,” said Morris, who has significant previous experience traveling in Spain. “It is often implemented in group settings and made openly available to communities. My experiences working in community music settings would be the foundation for my community project in Spain.”

Morris added that the ETA Fellowship will help with his career goal of working with Spanish-speaking and bilingual individuals as a clinician and researcher. “Spain has a rich musical tradition and a strong music therapy community,” he said. “I want to further develop my skills as a musician and therapist by experiencing Spanish musical culture and connecting with therapists in Spain through my community project.”

“We in the college are proud of Daniel, and all students who received a Fulbright,” said Ben Withers, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. “This kind of achievement is a testament to the effort and dedication he puts toward his studies and toward helping others.”

Logan Blakeslee — a mechanical and biomedical engineering student in the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering — is heading to Mongolia. He will be leading a project focused on identifying the need for prosthetics and leading causes of missing limbs in Mongolia, with the ultimate goal of creating, equipping and leaving behind a 3D printing/scanning workshop staffed by volunteers. The goal is to produce low-cost, effective, custom-fit prosthetics for individuals who would not otherwise have access to effective alternatives.

Blakeslee explained that the process of designing, proposing and beginning to work on his Fulbright project has given him a direction that will allow him to improve people’s lives.

“Being named a Fulbright Scholar/Independent Researcher has been an extremely exciting, humbling and life-altering experience already,” he said. “I am honored to have the opportunity to directly apply my education and passion for engineering to those in need and help support the development of Mongolia, which is already a rapidly developing and very inspiring nation, in any small way that I can. I am certain that my time living in Mongolia will be informative, exciting and rewarding, and I hope to foster new channels of cross-cultural collaboration and contribute directly to improving the lives of individuals.”