Seven Vanderbilt students were selected as Keegan Traveling Fellows for 2026. These students will embark on immersive global experiences designed to deepen their academic interests and broaden their perspectives through independent travel.
Three postgraduate Keegan fellows will spend a year pursuing self-designed projects around the world, while four rising juniors and seniors have been named Summer Keegan Traveling Fellows and will participate in an eight- to 10-week international experience, pursuing immersive cross-cultural projects as part of Immersion Vanderbilt.
The three postgraduate Keegan fellows are Andrew Blakemore, Francesca Ducker and Holland Perryman. The Summer Keegan Traveling Fellows are sophomores Alexander Cheng and Matthew Drasnin as well as juniors Riyanka Narasimhan and Ousmane Dieng.
Summer traveling fellows
Cheng shared some of the details of his research, initially explaining his early interest in the aging process and its relation to his project. Cheng also serves as The Hustler’s Data Editor.
“I was inspired to do this project, because I had worked in nursing homes all through high school, and I got involved with Vanderbilt’s Center for Quality Aging,” Cheng said. “I got the opportunity, and I was thinking specifically Taiwan and Japan both have pretty extensive care networks for elderly individuals. I was really interested in the process, which differs from the United States, and Ghana is [also] going through a process of developing. It seemed that it would be a good contrasting experience to look at.”
Cheng further detailed his thinking about his personal goals of learning beyond the classroom through his project.
“What I’m really excited to learn about myself is, how do I learn, what’s that process that I learn by and what way do I learn best when I don’t have a syllabus to guide me through,” Cheng said.
Narasimhan shared her inspiration for her project and traveling to South America this summer.
“I’ve been a runner all my life, and I’ve become really passionate about movement and mobility, especially in my experience at the Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital working with patients that have had strokes or are paralyzed and are working to regain their ability to control their body,” Narasimhan said. “Then also being a Spanish major, I combined these two passions for my Keegan proposal project. I’ve been wanting to study rehabilitation resources and adaptive sports programs in Latin America.”
Narasimhan plans to work with the Mexican Paralympics Committee sports development camps in Mexico City as well as visit an orthopedic clinic in Buenos Aires and 16th century hospitals in Peru to compare them with modern hospital infrastructure. Narasimhan also detailed how she hopes to improve her Spanish skills and grow through the process.
“The biggest goal I have is to improve my Spanish speaking skills and my leadership, independence and confidence throughout this trip,” Narasimhan said. “I decided to study Spanish because it’s something I will use in my future career in medicine and, personally, because I’m very interested in Hispanic culture between what I’ve learned in my classes and my own experiences. There are a lot of similarities between my own Indian culture and Hispanic culture.”
Drasnin detailed the focus of his project on secular Jewish music, with plans to travel through Greece, Tunisia, Morrocco, Spain and Italy.
“I was inspired a bit by my upbringing and also my studies as a Blair student. Music is a very important part of my life, and so is my Judaism culturally,” Drasnin said. “[I want] the opportunity to explore what Jewish music looks like in different places and compare that to the music I experienced growing up, especially music from Jewish summer camp or the songs we sing in my family. Seeing how that music changes in different parts of the world and [is] influenced by the different communities that it’s a part of.”
Drasnin mentioned his personal and academic aspirations for the project as well.
“I’m trying to go into the project with Anthony Bourdain’s style of travel, where I take on everything that comes at me and see where it leads me. I think it will make me a stronger and more confident person than who I am and what I value,” Drasnin said. “Academically, I’m hoping to turn some of my research into a senior thesis in the musicology department.”
Postgraduate traveling fellows
Blakemore detailed his interest in prosthetics and how it influenced the locations he plans to visit during his full year as a Keegan Travel Fellow.
“I tried to balance technical relevance with personal curiosity. For instance, Sierra Leone recently established its first accredited prosthetics and orthotics program, which provides a unique look on the formation of a prosthetics care system from the ground up. In contrast, countries like Germany and China have well-established, highly advanced biotech sectors, where I can explore cutting-edge developments,” Blakemore said.
Blakemore continued to elaborate on his interest in learning more about prosthetics and their use in everyday life in various settings.
“I’m most excited to meet people from a wide range of backgrounds, including both professionals working in the field and individuals who use prosthetics in their everyday lives,” Blakemore said. “I’m hoping to develop a deeper understanding of how prostheses are actually experienced in different parts of the world. In a classroom, it’s easy to focus on design and performance metrics, but this project is really about the human side. I want to capture perspectives and stories that don’t always make it into academic discussions.”
Perryman talked about how her hometown in South Carolina influenced her project, which consists of looking into communities and how they handle natural disasters.
“I grew up in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, a region defined by its elevation. We live in communities built at or below sea level. For us, hurricane prep was a seasonal occurrence and floods were commonplace,” Perryman said. “I intend to discover stories of hope and power amidst our changing world. I seek to understand how people of different cultures confront floods, as well as the community attributes that create resilience.”
Perryman discussed learning about flooding in her classes at Vanderbilt and how she hopes to learn more about places that were less covered.
“In many ways, my time at Vanderbilt has shaped my interest in my Keegan topic. Each time one of my Climate courses or Anthropology courses would cover disasters and recovery tactics in places around the world, I would wonder what it would be like to see these places and live alongside these people,” Perryman said. “As I prepared my project proposal, I conducted research about places that were overshadowed. I included these places to see how communities with a history of flooding approach the experience differently than communities that are seeing their first floods in many generations.”
