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Fulbrighters Stavros Vougioukas and Eleftheria Arapoglou-Vougioukas
The Fulbright Alumni Share Their Experiences
Stavros Vougioukas is assistant professor at the Agricultural Engineering Laboratory in the Department of Hydraulics, Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Eleftheria Arapoglou-Vougioukas is adjunct faculty member in the Department of American Literature and Culture of the School of English at Aristotle University and also teaches at Anatolia College. Stavros and Eleftheria met at the Fulbright Alumni Association, chapter of Northern Greece, of which they have been active members since their return to Greece upon the completion of graduate degrees in the U.S. Stavros served on the board of the Fulbright Alumni Association as secretary and treasurer for six years (1999-2004). Stavros received his Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the Faculty of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Aristotle University in 1989. Following his graduation magna cum laude, he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to pursue a M.Sc. in Computer Graphics at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of The State University of New York at Buffalo from which he graduated in 1991. Subsequently, Stavros was offered a research assistantship from the Department of Electrical, Computers and Systems Engineering of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, where he completed his Ph.D. in Robotics and Automation in 1995. Eleftheria received her B.A. (1995) and Ph.D. (2005)--both with high distinction--from Aristotle University, and her M.A. (1998) from The University of Texas at San Antonio where she pursued studies as a Fulbright grantee. Eleftheria has received several scholarships and fellowships, among which a two-year post-doctoral fellowship from the Greek State Scholarship Foundation (2006-2007), a Research Grant from the Lucy Kulukundis Foundation (2006), a Research Grant from The Friends of The Princeton University Library (2005), a Transatlantic Grant by The European Association for American Studies (2004), and a Quarry Farm Fellowship from The Center for Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College in New York (2003). Stavros’ current research deals with the applications of information, communication, robotics and automation technologies in agricultural production. The utilization of such technologies can maximize production efficiency, reduce the impact of chemicals on human health and the environment, and increase food safety through traceability. Eleftheria’s academic work focuses on nineteenth- and twentieth-century American literature, while her research interests include the cultural production of space, literary sociology, and cultural studies. Stavros and Eleftheria consider their Fulbright experience unique—both in terms of the academic progress it allowed them to mark as graduate students and researchers, as well as in terms of the cultural stimulation it offered them. To them the Fulbright Program allows grantees the rare opportunity to pursue a wide variety of educational projects at some of the world’s best academic institutions, but, more importantly, it facilitates and encourages cultural exchange, thus contributing to global understanding and fostering world ties. A final note: it was the Fulbright Program that brought Stavros and Eleftheria together in life …