04/07/2022
Mason is earning his PhD at Purdue in rhetoric and composition. During his PhD he started teaching iCap before becoming a mentor for the PW program. Mason applied to the Fulbright in October 2020 doing workshops at Purdue 10-6 months before the deadline. He went through six full drafts of his application, constantly redrafting to improve his idea and his application. He applied for Chile because he wanted to go to a non-traditional location for Fulbright and already knew that Chile was very well-known for entrepreneurship, an area of research he’s very interested in. His Fulbright application for Chile also aligned well with another grant that he applied for but was turned down. Part of his application process for Fulbright was getting in contact with people in Chile to see if his research idea was feasible, and he actually managed to connect with a profession in Chile for a letter of support. Despite worries due to COVID-19, Mason successfully left for his 9 month Fulbright research project on February 27!
In Chile, Mason is working for an organization called Start-Up Chile. It’s an internationally known business accelerator that’s funded by the government of Chile and invites entrepreneurs from 80 countries. In Chile he wants to study how the performance of startups is correlated with the persuasive structures they use, how the whole organization functions as a network, and what intercultural communication looks like when people from 80 different countries converse.
Once he returns from Chile, Mason plans to finish his PhD. At that point he expects to be mostly done writing his dissertation, having gathered all data during his time in Chile. After that he hopes to become a professor and follow a tenure track.
If you’re interested in applying for a teaching or research grant through Fulbright, Mason encourages you to apply. “It’s possible. It’s a lot of work, but it’s possible. Purdue has an amazing network of support that can make your dreams into reality.”