The U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board awarded Dr. Kelly Ronald — assistant professor of biology at Hope College — the prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award for the 2026–2027 academic year.
The award will help support Ronald’s biology work in Brazil, where she will collaborate with Dr. Lilian Manica and her Laboratory of Behavioral Ecology and Ornithology (LECO) at the Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR) in Curitiba, Brazil. Ronald’s project, “City Sounds and Sights: Avian Sensory Ecology in a Brazilian Green City,” will investigate how urbanization affects the sensory physiology of birds. Her research will specifically study how the birds hear across urban and rural environments in and around Curitiba, one of Latin America's leading models for sustainable urban planning. The research will contribute to a growing understanding of how animals adapt to human-dominated landscapes and the implications for urban planning and wildlife conservation.
Ronald is a recently tenured professor of biology at Hope College and is the third Hope biologist in recent years to receive a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award. She also secured a $5,980 supplemental grant through the International Brain Research Organization that will be used to fund travel, fieldwork, materials and supplies for her research in Brazil.
About Fulbright Scholars
Fulbright U.S. Scholars are faculty, researchers, administrators and established professionals teaching or conducting research in affiliation with institutes abroad. Fulbright Scholars engage in cutting-edge research and expand their professional networks, often continuing research collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for forging future partnerships between institutions. Upon returning to their home countries, institutions, labs, and classrooms, they share their stories and often become active supporters of international exchange, inviting foreign scholars to campus and encouraging colleagues and students to go abroad.
Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided over 400,000 talented and accomplished students, scholars, teachers, artists, and professionals with the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research abroad. Fulbrighters exchange ideas, build people-to-people connections, and work to address complex global challenges. Notable Fulbrighters include 62 Nobel Laureates, 93 Pulitzer Prize winners, 82 MacArthur Fellows, 44 heads of state or government, and thousands of leaders across the private, public, and non-profit sectors.
Over 800 individuals teach or conduct research abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program annually. In addition, over 2,000 Fulbright U.S. Student Program participants — recent college graduates, graduate students, and early career professionals — participate in study/research exchanges or as English teaching assistants in local schools abroad each year.
Fulbright is a program of the U.S. Department of State, with funding provided by the U.S. Government. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the Program, which operates in over 160 countries worldwide.