Fulbright Visting Scholar Program Spotlight: Krenare Pireva Nuci

Applying for a program such as Fulbright can be a nerve-wracking experience. In order to ease your mind and provide you with an insider’s look into the Fulbright experience, we decided to catch up with our alumni and on-program scholars. We asked them to reflect on their experience and answer our insightful questions.

We are continuing our series of questions with our Fulbright Visiting Scholar 2022-2023 grantee, Krenare Pireva Nuci who was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at University of Illinois at Chicago.

The Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program competition for the 2024-2025 academic year is now open and will be available until October 2, 2023.

To learn more visit: Fulbright Scholar (Doctoral/PhD) Program in the United States (usembassy.gov)

This is a joint program of the U.S. Department of State and the Government of Kosovo

What is your educational and professional background?

I am a Computer Scientist, graduated from The University of Sheffield and currently working for University of Prishtina. My interests rely in Artificial Intelligence, and especially the applied techniques of AI in education and healthcare domain.

Why did you choose to apply for the Fulbright Program?

The Fulbright program is one of the highest reputed scholarships and very competitive, these are the two components that inspired me to apply. This program boosts your professional network, enhances your professional skills, and career prospects which are beneficiary for any academician.

Tell us about your experience as a Fulbrighter in the U.S.?

As part of this program, I conducted research at the University of Illinois Chicago, Faculty of Computer Science, Natural Language Processing Lab under the supervision of Barbara di Eugenio. I have been engaged parallelly in two different projects: (i) Sentiment analysis on Students Feedback in low resource languages using BERT Model; (ii) Chatbot healthcare for patient that experience any heart failures, funded by US National Institute of Health. The latter research deals with a hybrid dialogue system architecture using state-of-the-art neural-symbolic artificial intelligence technology.

I visited University of Pacific, Berkley and additionally had wonderful experience having two lectures with students from “Seattle University” and “The University of New Mexico” to discuss the research projects and recent experiences as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Illinois Chicago.

What is the most valuable component you are gained from the program?

During the Fulbright Scholar Program I participated in weekly seminars hosted by the Faculty of Computer Science and the NLP Research Lab, but I would particularly like to highlight the seminar led by Dr. Jack Dongarra, who after 40 years of contribution to numerical algorithms experienced his highest professional achievement by winning the Turing Award Price.

How do you plan to implement the knowledge gained as a part of the program at your home institution?

Additional to the post-doc program, as a side task it was a wonderful experience successfully accomplishing the Leadership and Management in Action program (LMAP) as one of 15 selected researchers from Chicago Universities. Through this project I had the possibility to learn how to run a research institute, manage researchers and generate research results. Therefore, my plan is to establish a Research Institute within the University of Prishtina that could help to transform the whole Education

System by using the benefits of Technology. This could help the institution to boost the research results, increase internationalization, increase the multidisciplinary collaboration among academic staff from different units and their respective students.

How was the application process for you and what tips do you have for the prospective candidates?

I initially contacted one of the professors that fits with my research interests, got her support, and then continued the application through a very user-friendly online system. At, the end I double checked the whole application and make sure that all documents were uploaded properly, and the references from respective invited people were submitted according to the time slots defined in the system. Tips, before submitting go through the same procedure of checking the application.

What is the biggest culture shock you are experiencing in the U.S?

The high diversity in the classes, and the ability to adapt very quickly and respect each-others discussion perspectives. And, the open-minded people everywhere which were able to help without any hesitation.

What is your favourite place you have visited while participating in the Fulbright program?

Chicago was one of my favorite places, but I could also add to the list San Jose in California which gave me the impression that I am part of Big Tech companies that tackle Global Challenges by using technology and data to transform the quality of life in a positive manner.

What is your favorite American dish/food?

I tried the Deep-Dish Pizza, which was heavy, but I could recommend trying delicious San Francisco Clam Chowder menu.