Hajimemashite (Nice to meet you)! I'm Elena Mailander, and I'm a graduate student working to get a PhD in history. I'm originally from Reno, Nevada, and as a child, I grew to love visiting new places and learning new things. I took my love of exploration and became a world traveler after college, and I have lived and worked in four different countries. But I love Japan very much, and I'm so happy to be in a place I've never lived before: Tokyo, the capital of Japan and one of the world's biggest and most exciting cities.
I was fortunate to receive a U.S. Fulbright Research grant to study the history of physics in early twentieth-century Japan and how it became such a popular scientific subject, and I am based at the University of Tokyo, Japan's oldest university. While I spend a lot of time in libraries and archives looking for original documents for my research, in my free time I love to wander and discover new places, meet new people, and learn new skills. I also love drawing, painting, and being creative! I hope you'll come on this journey with me through Japan (and through history) and I look forward to hearing the stories you will create this year too!
Want to learn how you could be a Fulbright Scholar like me? The Fulbright Program is the United States government's flagship international exchange program. Fulbrighters foster mutual understanding between the United States and partner nations, share knowledge across communities, and improve lives around the world. Learn more by clicking here!
