{"id":244219,"date":"2026-04-22T07:15:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=244219"},"modified":"2026-04-22T15:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:52:11","slug":"uconn-engineering-associate-dean-selected-as-fulbright-scholar-alumni-ambassador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/04\/uconn-engineering-associate-dean-selected-as-fulbright-scholar-alumni-ambassador\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Engineering Associate Dean Selected As Fulbright Scholar Alumni Ambassador"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UConn College of Engineering is celebrating a new national honor for one of its research leaders.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Associate\u00a0dean for\u00a0research George Bollas has been selected as a Fulbright Scholar Alumni Ambassador, joining a competitive national cohort of scholars chosen to\u00a0represent\u00a0and promote the prestigious\u00a0Fulbright\u00a0program.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of the 12th cohort of the\u00a0<\/span>Fulbright U.S. Scholar Alumni Ambassador Program<\/span><\/a>, Bollas will serve a two-year term sharing his Fulbright experience<\/a>, mentoring prospective applicants, and advancing international academic collaboration across his professional networks.\u00a0The role\u00a0also\u00a0includes conference engagement, campus visits, advocacy efforts, digital outreach, and collaboration with the U.S. Department of State\u2019s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Portrait
George Bollas is a Fulbright Alumni Ambassador. (Contributed photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBeing part of the Fulbright Program has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my career,\u201d says Bollas. \u201cI\u2019m honored to serve as an\u00a0Alumni\u00a0Ambassador and to help expand access to global research opportunities, while showcasing the strength of international collaboration at UConn and across the engineering community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0alumni ambassador\u00a0role includes specialized training and engagement with the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, which administers the Fulbright Program.\u00a0Bollas\u00a0will\u00a0participate\u00a0in an orientation and training in Washington, D.C. later this month.\u00a0In\u00a0May, he will support\u00a0the Institute of International Education\u2019s efforts to advocate for the Fulbright Program on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., during Fulbright Advocacy Days.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During the 2024-2025 year, Bollas conducted research in Greece to investigate the end-to-end feasibility of ammonia as a fuel.\u00a0As a Fulbright U.S. Scholar, he conducted research at the Chemical Process and Energy Resources Institute of the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas in Greece, examining ammonia as a hydrogen carrier for decarbonizing transportation and industry.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis recognition reflects the caliber of scholarship and global impact that define our department,\u201d says Kelly Burke, head of the UConn Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. \u201cGeorge\u2019s selection as a Fulbright Alumni Ambassador\u00a0underscores the prestige of our faculty and the strength of our research enterprise, as well as our commitment to advancing innovation through international collaboration.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bollas\u00a0received bachelor and doctoral degrees from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and then worked as a postdoctoral research associate\u00a0in\u00a0the chemical engineering department of MIT.\u00a0At UConn, he is a\u00a0professor in\u00a0chemical and\u00a0biomolecular\u00a0engineering,\u00a0and\u00a0director of the Pratt & Whitney Institute for Advanced Systems Engineering.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He is leading efforts to develop\u00a0multidisciplinary collaborations across academia, industry, and government, and is engaged in clean energy entrepreneurship. His work integrates fundamental research, systems engineering, and policy-relevant innovation to support the global energy transition. His Fulbright experience has advanced his work,\u00a0bridging fundamental research, systems engineering, and policy-relevant energy innovation.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bollas will serve a two-year term sharing his Fulbright experience, mentoring prospective applicants, and advancing international academic collaboration across his professional networks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":185,"featured_media":229202,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2429,1866,2460,2467,2235],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2445],"class_list":["post-244219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-awards-scholarships","category-engr","category-faculty","category-global-cultures-perspectives","category-today-homepage"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-02 13:00:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/185"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244219"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":244500,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244219\/revisions\/244500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/229202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244219"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=244219"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=244219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}