Lucas Simmons (‘24), who majored in political science and anthropology, was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to Taiwan for the 2024-2025 academic year. 

As a Fulbright recipient, Simmons serves as an English teaching assistant in Chiayi City, teaching students in grades one through five English and American cultural practices and traditions. He works to advance the program’s mission of fostering cultural exchange and mutual understanding between the United States and Taiwan, and hopes to advance the Volunteer spirit of UT while abroad.

As an undergraduate at UT, Simmons researched the work of transnational political and social Uyghur advocacy organizations based within the United States, conducted interviews with organization leaders, and authored an undergraduate honors thesis on the topic. 

Interested in issues of human rights, political violence, transnational advocacy, and political and legal anthropology, Simmons plans to attend graduate school in a cultural anthropology PhD program after he completes his Fulbright grant in the summer of 2025.