Asunda named as 2023-2024 Fulbright U.S. Scholar to Kenya

Paul Asunda has been named as a 2023-2024 Fulbright U.S. Scholar and will partner on a project in Kenya.

Asunda is an associate professor of Engineering/Technology Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and a member of the Center for Advancing the Teaching and Learning of STEM (CATALYST).

Asunda will partner with Ronald Michieka from Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) in Kenya, the Lutheran World Federation, and Finn Church Aid organizations that oversee refugee Camp schools in Kakuma and Kalobeyei, Kenya. The two-pronged project will include a Teaching Project that will prepare middle school grade teachers at Masinde Muliro’s University of Science and Technology campus in Turkana West to model problem solving activities that support STEM instruction through engineering design practices; and a Research Project that will explore how middle school grade students in that region of the country form STEM identities.  

Asunda thanked Steve Elliott, interim associate dean of Undergraduate Programs and Head of the Department of Technology Leadership and Innovation, and Daniel Castro-Lacouture, dean, both in the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, for their support; and Chris Lukasik, associate professor of English and American Studies and a Provost Fellow of Fulbright Faculty Awards, for his mentorship.

“This is a dream come true to work with teachers and students on the African continent (Kenya), having done closely related work in South America (Peru),” Asunda said. “I look forward to the new experiences and the learning over this period, and how that will shape my future teaching, and research insights toward preparing students who are global citizens of the world.”

The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program offers over 400 awards in more than 135 countries for U.S. citizens to teach, conduct research and carry out professional projects around the world.

Source: Paul Asunda, pasunda@purdue.edu