UAH welcomes first Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence to expand international chemical engineering education and research
Student researchers working in the UAH Chemical Engineering labs.
The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of The University of Alabama System, is welcoming its first Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence, marking a milestone in the university's international engagement, while opening new opportunities for global engineering education, research collaboration and student exchange. Professor Giovanni Morales Medina of the Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS) in Bucaramanga, Colombia, will spend the 2026-27 academic year with UAH's Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering (CME) through the Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Program (SIR), an initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of State that places international scholars at U.S. colleges and universities to strengthen teaching, research and campus internationalization.
“Hosting a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence is a significant milestone for both UAH and our department,” says Dr. Yu Lei, professor and chair of the Department of CME. “To our knowledge, Professor Giovanni Morales Medina will be UAH's first Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence, making this an important step in the university's continued expansion of international engagement.”
For Lei, the Fulbright appointment is the culmination of a partnership years in the making. The relationship between UAH and UIS began through the U.S. Department of State's IDEAS Program and has since grown into an innovative virtual international senior design collaboration linking engineering students and faculty in Alabama and Colombia. Over the past three years, Medina has served as the senior design instructor at UIS, working alongside UAH faculty to mentor student teams, coordinate joint engineering projects and strengthen the academic partnership between the two universities.
Professor Giovanni Morales Medina of Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS) in Bucaramanga, Colombia.
“I’m excited about engaging with the UAH community through teaching, academic collaboration and participation in both academic and non-academic activities,” the appointee says. “I looked forward to contributing to student learning, sharing my international perspective and building meaningful connections with students, faculty and staff, as well as the broader Huntsville community.”
Because of that successful collaboration, Lei notes, bringing Medina to UAH as a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence was a natural next step. “Engineering challenges such as energy, manufacturing, sustainability and infrastructure are global, and our students benefit tremendously from learning alongside faculty with international perspectives and experience.”
Medina has a strong background in both industry and academia, with experience in chemical process modeling, simulation, process control and process design. The new appointee has contributed to industrial projects involving crude oil distillation and FCC simulation and optimization, environmental assessment and techno-economic evaluations. His academic work includes teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, supporting accreditation and curriculum improvement processes and developing active-learning strategies for engineering education.
During his residency, Medina has been tapped to teach Process Control and Numerical Methods while also contributing to UAH's interdisciplinary Design of Coffee course. As a faculty member from Colombia, one of the world's leading coffee-producing countries, Medina will bring both technical expertise and cultural perspective to the course, helping students explore the engineering, sustainability and global supply-chain considerations behind one of the world's most widely consumed products.
The residency also will strengthen ongoing engineering education research. Faculty at UAH and UIS are documenting their virtual international senior design collaboration as a case study that other institutions can adapt to develop global learning experiences for engineering students.
Beyond the classroom, UAH plans to use the Fulbright appointment as a foundation for expanding its international partnerships. Goals include establishing a bilateral student exchange program between UAH and UIS, pursuing joint research initiatives, developing collaborative courses and creating additional opportunities for faculty and student exchanges. A recently awarded IDEAS Microgrant will help formalize many of those efforts.
“Our goal has always been to build a sustainable partnership rather than a one-year exchange,” Lei says. “Professor Medina’s residency provides an opportunity to establish long-term collaborations that will continue well beyond the Fulbright appointment.”
Medina also is expected to engage with the broader campus and North Alabama community through the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, multicultural programs and K-12 outreach activities that will encourage students to explore engineering and international education.
“Ultimately, I hope this partnership becomes a model for future collaborations throughout Latin America and beyond,” Lei explains. “International partnerships are not just about exchanging faculty; they are about creating lasting relationships that expand opportunities for students, strengthen research and prepare the next generation of engineers to work in an increasingly interconnected world.”