Rangel, Nayga and Wingenbach among Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award winners
Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences celebrates three faculty who earn award
Three Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences faculty members received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award in their field of study for the 2026-2027 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
Juliana Rangel, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Entomology; Rodolfo Nayga, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics; and Gary Wingenbach, Ph.D., professor and associate department head for graduate programs in the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications, were among this year’s Texas A&M University faculty receiving the recognition.
Fulbright U.S. Scholars are accomplished faculty, researchers, administrators and established professionals who teach or conduct research in partnership with institutions around the world. The Fulbright Program operates in more than 160 countries worldwide and is marking its 80th anniversary in 2026.
Rangel to study honey bees in Colombia
Rangel, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research entomologist, conducts research focused on the biological and environmental factors that affect the reproductive quality of honey bees, the behavioral ecology and population genetics of feral honey bee colonies, and the quality and diversity of honey bee nutrition in changing landscapes.
Rangel’s host country for the Fulbright collaboration is Colombia, where she is originally from.
During her Fulbright Scholar tenure, she will draw on the crosscutting fields of entomology, molecular biology, epidemiology, bioinformatics, apiculture and Extension to assess how environmental and biotic factors — including lack of food sources, poor reproductive quality, parasite and pathogen pressures, and pesticide exposure — affect the health and productivity of managed honey bees in central Colombia. Rangel will collaborate with researchers at the University of Antioquia in Medellín.
Philippines to host Nayga’s health ecomics research
Nayga is also an AgriLife Research economist and an associate member of the Texas A&M AgriLife Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture. His research focuses on food and nutrition policy, consumer behavior, health economics, food security and experimental economics.
The Philippines is Nayga’s host country for the Fulbright collaboration.
As a Fulbright Scholar, he will collaborate with researchers at the University of the Philippines Mindanao to examine dietary quality, nutrition challenges and food security among children and households in vulnerable and underserved communities.
Wingenbach takes rural development collaboration to Chile
Chile will be the Fulbright collaboration country for Wingenbach, an AgriLife Research senior scientist.
His Fulbright research investigates the influential effects of educator-learner homophily and planned behavior on Chilean smallholder farmers’ adoption of agricultural innovations. A longitudinal mixed-methods study conducted in collaboration with the University of Chile faculty in the Department of Rural and Innovation Management and Extension professionals at the Instituto de Desarrollo Agropecuario, Institute for Agricultural Development, begins in August.
Wingenbach’s research spans Chile’s diverse agroecological zones. He will deliver seminars on community empowerment and rural development at the University of Chile in late November.
