IIE Centennial Fellowship

The IIE Centennial Fellowship was established in 2019 to celebrate IIE’s centennial year and recognize IIE’s long relationship with the Fulbright Program. Each member of the inaugural cohort of IIE Centennial Fellows is an alumnus or alumna of the Fulbright Program. Throughout their fellowship year, all members of the inaugural cohort of IIE Centennial Fellows will be posting blogs and photographs of their projects and the people they are helping. 

Responsible Computing: What I Learned While Working at the Electronic Waste Markets in Bangladesh

Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed reflects on his IIE Centennial Fellowship and its impacts on electronics waste recycling in Bangladesh

Takataka Impacts

Paige reflects on how Takataka Plastics has changed the community in Gulu, Uganda

Virtual Transition for Project Buku Buku

Sabrina discusses Project Buku Buku’s virtual English library and expanded resources to support Indonesian English language educators.

Words into Actions

Krizia Lopez shares how COVID has exposed deep inequity in her Queens neighborhood and how she pivoted her Fellowship to help close these gaps.

Repairing and Recycling of Digital Electronics during COVID-19

Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the electronics repairers and recyclers of Bangladesh.

Beat COVID Together

Paige Balcom describes how Uganda has responded to COVID-19 and the impact on communities as they innovate to #BeatCOVIDTogether.

Service Focused Education Inspired Project Buku Buku

Sabrina Verleysen reflects on how her experience with community and service-focused education helped inspire her Fellowship project.

Puentes in the Time of COVID

Krizia Lopez shares how the COVID outbreak in Queens disrupted Puentes Community Translators and how they adapted to serve their community in need.

Mutual Understanding: Listening to the Consumers

Ishtiaque Ahmed presents the result of a consumer survey about electronics usage and waste in Bangladesh

Insights from the Field: Cultural Sensitivity & Adapting to COVID-19

Paige shares her insights on how to design culturally sensitive development projects and how she has adapted Takataka to respond to COVID-19

The Books that Kept Us Dreaming

Sabrina Verleysen shares an update on Project Buku Buku and why cross-cultural communication matters now more than ever.

New Year: We Have 2020 Vision!

Krizia Lopez speaks about what inspired her to create Puentes Community Translators to build opportunities and services for immigrants in Queens, NYC.

New Year: 2020 Vision of Hope

Paige Balcom reflects on her 2020 vision for Takataka Plastics and what inspired her work in Uganda.

New Year: Tackling Literacy in Indonesia from 9,000 Miles Away

Sabrina Verleysen reflects on how the Centennial Fellowship will impact Project Buku Buku.

New Year: Electronic Waste Market in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed explains how e-waste is processed in Bangladesh’s informal markets and how his project looks to support these bhangaris.