Anne Helby Petersen is doing her PhD in biostatistics at the University of Copenhagen and as part of her studies, she spent a semester in Pennsylvania as a Fulbright student at Carnegie Mellon University. Below, you can read more about her stay.

“2021 was an odd year for all of us but for me, it was also a very exciting year: It was the year I became a Fulbrighter and spent a semester as a visiting student researcher at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I am a Danish PhD fellow in biostatistics, and my research focuses on statistical methods for causal discovery, that is, inferring causal models or hypotheses from empirical data.”

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Fulbright Grants

Each year Fulbright Denmark awards grants to top Master and PhD-students wanting to study in the U.S.

The deadline to apply for the academic year 2022-2023 has passed, but we encourage you to read more about our grants through the link below.

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"Fulbright did not only help me by facilitating the exchange financially but being a Fulbrighter also opened a lot of doors when I arrived at CMU."

- Anne Helby Petersen, Fulbrighter 2020-2021

“In my field, Carnegie Mellon is not just any other university. It’s where the causal discovery discipline was founded about 30 years ago, and it continues today to be a source of many new and exciting results. The founding fathers – including Clark Glymour, Peter Spirtes, and Joseph Ramsey – are still present at the university, and during my Fulbright stay, I got the opportunity to collaborate with them on my research. During my time at CMU, we developed a new algorithm for causal discovery, and we are currently co-writing a scientific paper about it so that others can make use of it as well. Once we finish that, we have more projects in the works.

I believe our collaboration will last far beyond my Fulbright and PhD studies and that my time at Carnegie Mellon will be fundamental in shaping my future path as a researcher – and as a citizen of the world.”

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Anne spent a semester at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania as part of her PhD studies

“Fulbright did not only help me by facilitating the exchange financially but being a Fulbrighter also opened a lot of doors when I arrived at CMU.

Once I mentioned I was a Fulbrighter, people knew what I was about, why I was there, and that I was serious about making my research stay worthwhile. But spending a semester in the U.S. is inherently not only about high academic ambitions. It is also an opportunity to learn about a different culture and meet new people from all over the world. I had visited the U.S. quite a few times before my Fulbright stay, both for work and pleasure, but I had never come to understand American culture the way that I do now. Being a part of daily life and interacting with my local community has been very interesting, and I truly feel like I have gotten to know the Americans.”

If you want to apply for a Fulbright grant, please click here to learn more about our grants, deadlines, and eligibility.