After a Fulbright Year in Wales, Rutgers–Camden Alumna Continues Global Academic Journey at Cambridge
One year after pursuing graduate studies at Cardiff University in Wales on a Fulbright scholarship, Rutgers–Camden alumna Sophia Westfall is preparing for another milestone.
The 2025 graduate has earned admission to the prestigious University of Cambridge, where she will pursue a doctorate in English.
Throughout her international journey, Westfall has served as a cultural ambassador for the United States while expanding on the research in environmental humanities she developed on the Camden campus.
Her Fulbright year at Cardiff, which enrolls more than 31,000 students from 142 countries, has continued her research and teaching in a new landscape.
“Everything I did at Rutgers was so beneficial and so helpful, and I’ve tried to kind of replicate it here in a new place, even though it was a much bigger school and a whole new world, but just bring everything I learned from there here and trying to show them a little bit of what American school is like in the UK,” Westfall said.
While at Rutgers, the School of Arts and Sciences–Camden and Honors College alumna, who earned degrees in English and digital studies, replicated ancient Roman and Egyptian bookbinding practices using biodegradable literature for her honors thesis.
She then drew on these principles to lead on-campus workshops and community programs, teaching others to create their own works using biodegradable materials.
At Cardiff, she worked along the Welsh coastlines and in Welsh lands, harnessing sheep's wool and marine algae as sustainable alternatives to traditional bookbinding materials. She completed her dissertation (called a portfolio at Cardiff) by writing a collection of poems inspired by the sea and crafting the poetry book with locally sourced oceanic finds.
"The entire book is made out of pieces of the sea, and it will biodegrade over time," Westfall said.
Visits to nearby England and to Caerleon, an ancient Roman site just a short drive from Cardiff, inspired her second portfolio on ancient curse tablets, which were often made of lead and inscribed with messages asking the gods and spirits for retribution or to cast spells.
Westfall is reexamining these as poems, composing what she calls a commentary on these ancient voices, and constructing her own cursed tablets from copper, aluminum, and tin.
“I’ll be creating an exhibit in which people can see all of these cursed tablets, trying to put the old ones next to the new ones, to see what the ancient voices were talking about—here's what maybe a more modern voice would be saying in the same circumstance,” she said.
Westfall's research interests in materials, history, and writing will continue at the University of Cambridge in England, where she will pursue a three-year doctoral program in medieval English literature. For her thesis, she will examine how the book trade affected both the economy and the environment in medieval England.
“I didn't visit Cambridge until I actually got in. When I went there recently, it took my breath away,” she said. “Ultimately, Cambridge ended up having a lot of the resources, materials, and a massive archive that I need for the type of project that I'm working on.”
As a Fulbright scholar, Westfall established friendships with many "Fulbrighters" based across the UK. They've gotten together for a weekend excursion to Bath, England, ventured out on hiking expeditions, and gathered in London to prepare a Thanksgiving feast since many are fellow Americans. "I have made really great connections that I foresee being lifelong," she said.
Westfall has also championed other Rutgers–Camden Fulbright applicants and recipients since earning her scholarship one year ago. She has served as a speaker at The Office of Scholar Development and Fellowship Advising's Fulbright Boot Camps and has mentored students with their applications.
For students considering the Fulbright, Westfall's advice draws on both her own application experience and her time abroad.
“Fulbright is, I would say, a year in which you can explore your deepest curiosities. It's really just about how passionate you are about what you are doing, and so that's what they want to see,” she said. “If you have something you want to explore further that maybe could only be done in another country, or the experience could be really heightened in another country, it is absolutely for you. It is worth applying because your passion will come through.”
The 2027-2028 Fulbright U.S. Student application is currently open. Interested candidates, including current seniors, graduate students, and alumni, are encouraged to visit the Fulbright website and begin their application. The campus deadline is Aug. 30. Questions may be directed to Laura Collins.
