Two days after I arrived in Lisbon, I had the first meeting with Otília Macedo Reis and Dora Reis Arenga at the Fulbright Portugal office. Thank you for coordinating everything for all Portuguese and American Fulbright scholars and for the information that has made my transition to Lisbon easier. I am looking forward to participating in future Fulbright events in Portugal. #fulbright #fulbrighter #Fulbrightportugal #culturalambassador

They also recommended that I attend a “football” game while in Lisbon. We found tickets to a Benfica game on that Sunday. The European football culture is so much different from the American football culture and I love both of them!

Last week I had an opportunity to visit University of Economics-Hue University in Vietnam. I gave a research presentation to the marketing faculty where I discussed my community engagement research on healthy consumption among vulnerable populations and my experience working with various community partners including my most recent partner – Haymaker Farmers Market.

I also gave a teaching presentation on the Critical Trends and Issues in Integrated Marketing Communications to more than 300 students, which was very well received. The students were very engaged and interested in new trends in marketing and social media. It was the biggest class size I have taught to date 😊

Thank you, Hue University of Economics faculty and students and ANH TRAN for a very warm welcome and hospitality. I am looking forward to future collaborations on research and teaching/programs between College of Business – The University of Akron and Hue University of Economics 😊
#research#teaching#internationalcollaboration

One of my research interests is how to increase and promote healthy consumption among vulnerable populations (i.e., kids, low-income individuals, and refugees). I have been working with Haymaker Farmers’ Market in Kent, OH on the Power of Produce kids program, which is a program that encourages kids to try and learn about fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers’ markets. I help them design and assess the success of the program. With my help, they use the data and results to secure future funding for the program.

They are a great community partner and we have been tracking the effectiveness of this program at the market since 2022. We hope to disseminate the results of this intervention and share them with other farmers’ markets, stakeholders, academics, and policymakers. We hope that through implementing this program at farmers’ markets around the country, children will have more knowledge about and a positive attitude toward fresh produce, which will lead to healthy eating.

This summer I had an opportunity to present my research at NIDA Business School. They are one of the leading business schools in Thailand. I mostly discussed my research area in attention and multitasking and some cross-cultural gift-giving research.

Several faculty and PhD students attended my talk and they found that it was helpful and inspiring. I cannot wait to collaborate on future research with the faculty and students at NBS 🙂