Six Kansas University faculty and administrators are U.S. Fulbright Scholars for the current academic year, the university announced this week.

Each year, more than 1,100 U.S. college and university faculty and administrators, professionals, artists, journalists, scientists, lawyers and independent scholars are awarded Fulbright grants to teach or conduct research overseas.

Fulbright also has a program for students and young professionals.

KU’s 2015-16 faculty and administrator Fulbright recipients are:

• J. Christopher Brown, professor, department of geography and atmospheric science and environmental studies program. Researched at the State University of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, on his project titled “Building Greater University of Kansas-UNICAMP Interaction Through Studies on Food vs. Fuel Production.”

• Renee Frias, program coordinator, Office of Study Abroad. Participated in the International Education Administrators program in South Korea, including visits to 13 Korean universities.

• Kiran Jayaram, former lecturer in KU’s African and African-American studies department, now a researcher with York College of the City University of New York. Will travel to the State University of Haiti for a project titled “Consequences of Mango Cultivation for Contemporary Haitian Agriculturalists.”

• David Petr, professor, electrical engineering and computer science department. Will travel to Graz Technical University in Austria for a teaching/research project titled “A Novel Approach to Signals and Communications; Networking Performance Analysis.”

• Clifton Pye, associate professor, department of linguistics. Traveled to the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Merida, Yucatán, for a project titled “Expanding the Comparative Study of Mayan Language Acquisition.” This project continued an international collaboration documenting how children acquire the Mayan languages of Mexico and Guatemala.

• Lance Rake, professor of design, School of Architecture, Design and Planning. Currently at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai to work on his project titled “Using Design Thinking to Create Sustainable Craft-Based Enterprise in India.”

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, KU this year has the sixth most Fulbright recipients of any research institution nationwide. KU is one of 14 institutions with six recipients.