Jennifer Eaglin, associate professor, Department of History in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded a 2025-2026 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to Brazil to research “Going Nuclear: The Rise of Brazilian Nuclear Energy.”
From July 2025 – August 2026, for four non-consecutive months, Eaglin will use her Flex Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Fellowship to develop a political and environmental history that examines how state and private actors laid the foundations for Brazilian nuclear energy development. Eaglin will conduct research at several libraries and archives across Brazil.
“At the University of Pará, I will assess Brazilian engineers’ involvement in the country’s nuclear energy development and uranium mining extraction by examining architectural, mechanical and electrical engineering collections, and periodicals at the Institute of Technology (ITEC) library. I will use the Pará State Archives to consult documents on popular opposition to nuclear waste placement in and near the Serra do Cachimbo,” Eaglin said.
Eaglin will consult government documents on nuclear development at the National Archives and the Biblioteca Eletrobrás/Memoria de Energia in Rio de Janeiro and the National Archives and the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brasília. At Angra dos Reis, the site of the country’s only nuclear energy plants, Eaglin will conduct interviews with local citizens about the nuclear industry’s impact on the region.
“I will also visit important places in Brazil’s nuclear history. For example, I will consult the municipal archives in Goiânia, Goiás, which was the site of Brazil’s own nuclear incident in 1987. I will also consult the municipal archives in Caetité, Bahia, the only place in Latin America that currently extracts uranium, to assess the impact of uranium mining on the community and the environment,” Eaglin noted.
In addition to her research work, Eaglin plans to participate in courses and serve on panels discussing energy and sustainability in the Amazon while at the University of Pará and also help the country prepare to host the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Belém in November.
Eaglin is eager to foster collaboration between students. “I hope to connect students at the University of Pará with students at Ohio State to foster more collaborative engagement on sustainability issues. I hope to deepen this relationship when I bring students from Ohio State back to Belém for the international conference in the fall through the Politics of Climate: The United Nations Summit Education Abroad Program,” Eaglin explained.
Fulbright
The Fulbright Scholar Program is administered by the Institute of International Education and is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State.
For more information about the Fulbright Scholar Program contact Joanna Kukielka-Blaser. View a complete list of Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program recipients.