{"id":40050,"date":"2025-10-28T14:57:44","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T18:57:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=40050"},"modified":"2025-10-29T09:51:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T13:51:17","slug":"furman-professor-earns-second-fulbright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/furman-professor-earns-second-fulbright\/","title":{"rendered":"Furman Professor Earns Second Fulbright"},"content":{"rendered":"

Suresh Muthukrishnan, director of the GIS and Remote Sensing Center and professor of earth, environmental and sustainability science at Furman University, has earned his second Fulbright award, this time as a Fulbright Specialist<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since 1964, Furman has celebrated 28 different Fulbright winners in the U.S. Scholar and Visiting Scholar categories. The most recent were Lori Alvin<\/a> in mathematics and Roger Sneed<\/a> in religious studies in 2024-2025.<\/p>\n

Bringing Technology and Opportunity Together<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In collaboration with the University of Mpumalanga in South Africa, Muthukrishnan\u2019s project focuses on developing innovative curricula, mentoring faculty and students and building the institutions capacity to integrate geospatial technologies, drone applications and experiential learning across natural and social sciences.<\/p>\n

His official term as a Fulbright Specialist began in October 2025, with his first visit to South Africa planned for March 2026. During the initial visit, he will meet with faculty from multiple disciplines, conduct workshops and deliver talks aimed at identifying specific needs and opportunities for curricular enhancements and pedagogical improvements.<\/p>\n

Later in the summer, Muthukrishnan will return to design and implement a new interdisciplinary course on drone and data technologies, lead advanced workshops and help University of Mpumalanga faculty incorporate project-based teaching strategies and workforce development into their courses.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngaging the local faculty in the curriculum development process is critical,\u201d Muthukrishnan said.\u00a0 \u201cThey understand community needs, available data sources and can design effective projects that empower students to solve real-world challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

The initiative aims to build practical skills and create new job opportunities in fields that are shaping the future of technology and sustainability.<\/p>\n

Building on a \u201cTransformational\u201d First Fulbright<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Muthukrishnan first received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award in 2017, when he and his family journeyed to Malawi for a year. That experience, he said, changed the trajectory of his teaching and research.<\/p>\n

\u201cProfessionally, it really helped me branch off in a direction I never would have taken otherwise,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

During that time, Muthukrishnan co-founded the African Drone and Data Academy<\/a> in partnership with UNICEF and Virginia Tech. The academy, now established in Malawi and Ethiopia, has trained more than 1,300 students from 28 African countries in geospatial and drone technologies, and is continuing to train and produce a highly skilled workforce within Africa.<\/p>\n

Strengthening Global Connections<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Muthukrishnan also hopes to deepen Furman\u2019s ties with South Africa by creating collaborative research opportunities there for Furman students. \u201cIt can be a transformative experience for them, directly working on an active project abroad,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For Muthukrishnan, Fulbright\u2019s purpose extends far beyond professional development.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeyond sharing the expertise, it\u2019s about cultural exchange,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about bridging cultures, sharing knowledge and working together toward peaceful collaboration. That\u2019s the real goal of Fulbright.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Current and former Furman faculty since 1964 who have been Fulbright U.S. Scholars<\/h2>\n

Lori Alvin \u2013 Mathematics \u2013 2024-2025<\/p>\n

Roger Sneed \u2013 Religious Studies \u2013 2024-2025<\/p>\n

Wade Worthen \u2013 Biology \u2013 2022-2023<\/p>\n

Laura Kennedy \u2013 Music \u2013 2019-2020<\/p>\n

Jason Hansen \u2013 History \u2013 2018-2019<\/p>\n

Suresh Muthukrishnan \u2013 Environmental Sciences \u2013 2017-2018<\/p>\n

Tami Blumenfield Kedar \u2013 Anthropology \u2013 2015-2016<\/p>\n

Charles Andersen \u2013 Environmental Sciences \u2013 2014-2015<\/p>\n

Mark Kilstofte \u2013 Arts \u2013 2013-2014<\/p>\n

Wendy Matsumura \u2013 Humanities \u2013 2012-2013<\/p>\n

Timothy Hanks \u2013 Physical Sciences \u2013 2010-2011<\/p>\n

Pongracz Sennyey \u2013 Professional\/Other \u2013 2010-2011<\/p>\n

Courtney Tollison \u2013 History \u2013 2009-2010<\/p>\n

Daniel Koppelman \u2013 Music \u2013 2007-2008<\/p>\n

Michael Svec \u2013 Education \u2013 2004-2005<\/p>\n

Erik Ching \u2013 History \u2013 2004-2005<\/p>\n

Mark Woodard \u2013 Mathematics \u2013 2002-2003<\/p>\n

Nicholas Radel \u2013 Language \u2013 1999-2000<\/p>\n

William Teska \u2013 Environmental Sciences \u2013 1998-1999<\/p>\n

Edgar McKnight \u2013 Religious Studies \u2013 1995-1996<\/p>\n

William Teska \u2013 Environmental Sciences \u2013 1991-1992<\/p>\n

Edgar McKnight \u2013 Religious Studies \u2013 1981-1982<\/p>\n

Rudolph Bates \u2013 Department? 1967-1968<\/p>\n

Thomas Flowers \u2013 History \u2013 1966-1967<\/p>\n

David Smith \u2013 History \u2013 1965-1966<\/p>\n

Edward Jones \u2013\u00a0 History \u2013 1964-1965<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Suresh Muthukrishnan, professor of earth, environmental and sustainability science at Furman University, earned his second Fulbright award and will work in South Africa to introduce emerging technology to universities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":389,"featured_media":40055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,2,3269,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth-environmental-and-sustainability-sciences","category-featured","category-honors-and-awards","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40050"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40076,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40050\/revisions\/40076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}