Dual BA Students Win Fulbright Grants for 2026-27

Two graduates of the Dual BA Program (DDP) between Trinity College Dublin and Columbia University have received the prestigious Fulbright U.S. Student Grants for the 2026-27 academic years, for their academic excellence, leadership, and international engagement.

Cassidy Murray and Ruby Topalian are two of the newest Fulbright teachers and researchers to go abroad. Columbia University released their awards as part of the Fulbright U.S. Student Grant recipients for 2026-2027.

Columbia University's Dual BA Program graduate Cassidy Murray (Political Science/Middle Eastern and European Languages and Cultures) has been granted a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in the Palestinian Territories.

As an undergraduate, Murray's interests included international security, political violence and Middle East and Russian studies. She also worked as a scholar and research assistant at Columbia University's Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies where she supported faculty research and public policy efforts. Before attending university, she served refugee populations in Greece and Turkey, and has a background in public service with the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.

Cassidy believes that the Fulbright program will allow her to make an impact on a local school community and provide her with valuable teaching experience that will help her stay dedicated to immigration, public service, and human rights as an active teacher in the future. Upon completion of her Fulbright year, she intends to go on to pursue graduate school and employment in the fields of immigration, human rights, and law.

Key Highlights:

• Cassidy Murray and Ruby Topalian win Fulbright U.S. Student Grants 2026–27
• Murray to teach in the Palestinian Territories
• Topalian to research hate crimes against journalists in Germany

Dual BA graduate Ruby Topalian has been awarded the Fulbright Young Professional Journalist Scholarship to go to Munich, Germany. Her studies focused on 20th-century international history and Middle Eastern and European Languages and Cultures, as well as her interest in global affairs and conflict reporting.

Ruby is an accomplished student journalist, having worked as features editor of the Trinity College Dublin student newspaper, Trinity News and then as deputy editor of The Eye, long-form magazine of Columbia Daily Spectator. She also interned as an investigative journalist at the Scripps Howard Fund with Oklahoma Watch and the NBC News Investigative Unit.

Her investigative reporting has exposed problems with eating disorder care to an Oklahoma prison extortion racket and more, stories featured by NBC News and The Guardian. As a Fulbright scholar, she will spend time abroad to study hate crime networks targeting German journalists reporting on the Middle East, with the aim of becoming an investigative journalist reporting on that region.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State is one of the most prestigious international academic exchanges programs in the world. It offers recent college graduates and young professionals the chance to conduct research, continue with graduate studies or teach English in over 140 countries and fosters mutual understanding between the United States and other countries.

Cassidy and Ruby's success demonstrates the success of the Trinity College Dublin – Columbia University Dual BA Program in equipping students with the skills and knowledge required to successfully lead and engage in cross-cultural interaction across the globe. The Fulbright awards are not only for academic excellence but also for a shared passion for public service, journalism, education and international cooperation.