Image

Congratulations to JBMSHP alum Cody Gillespie on earning the prestigious Fulbright Program scholarship! Cody will serve as an English Teaching Assistant in Uzbekistan during the 2026–2027 academic year. Through the Fulbright ETA program, he will support local English teachers while also sharing U.S. culture as a global ambassador. Cody earned both his BS in Computer Science and MCS from Arizona State University, and will be deferring his admission to Washington and Lee University School of Law for one year. Congratulations Cody, we are so incredibly proud of you for this amazing achievement!

What will you be doing in Uzbekistan? 

• I will participate in an English teaching assistantship (ETA) where I will be paired with a local teacher at a regional university to use my native English speaking skills to assist in students learning English as a foreign language.

Why did you choose Uzbekistan?

• Fulbright is a massive program comprising thousands of grants for US students to teach English and study in most countries in the world. Each applicant is allowed to apply to exactly one country and one grant type per application cycle, so it is very important to present a compelling case in one’s application as to why they are a good fit for their chosen country. I began my search for a country right at the very beginning of application season and landed on Uzbekistan fairly quick. I had three basic requirements that narrowed things down: (1) I knew that I wanted a country in Central Asia (CA) as I find it to be a culturally interesting region, (2) I was only going to apply to countries that would allow me to bring my spouse (many grants disallow bringing dependents), and (3) I wanted a country that predominantly speaks a Turkic language (e.g. Uzbek, Kyrgyz). All of these factors taken together made Uzbekistan stand out during my initial search. Once I narrowed in on Uzbekistan, I began doing further research by watching videos and reading articles about the country. I learned that there has been a massive economic reform taking place in the country over the past 10 years geared towards modernizing the economy. This lined up with my background as an engineer pretty well. On a more personal level, I also learned that Uzbeks are known for the hospitality. As someone who likes to cook and host dinner parties for others, this lined up a lot with how I envisioned spending my time outside of working as an ETA. 

What are your future plans?

• My background was working as a software engineer for five years before I took a position as an artificial intelligence patent examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). I ultimately plan attending law school in patent and intellectual property law. This really benefits from having experience working in an international context. I hope to one day leverage this experience to become an IP Attaché at the USPTO, which is a diplomat that lives and works overseas for the U.S. government as an advocate for improving international IP matters.