Kurkovsky selected for Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award

Dr. Stan Kurkovsky, chair of the Computer Science Department, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to Poland for the 2026–2027 academic year. 

The Fulbright Program is dedicated to increasing mutual understanding between the people of the United States and those of other nations. As the world’s largest and most diverse international educational exchange program, Fulbright provides scholars with unique opportunities to share expertise and foster global partnerships.

As a Fulbright U.S. Scholar, Kurkovsky will spend the spring 2027 semester at Wrocław University of Science and Technology in Poland where he will teach and conduct research focused on human-centered software engineering. 

“My work is centered on helping students develop technology that not only works but also addresses real societal needs. In collaboration with Polish faculty, I will co-teach courses in software engineering and project management in which student teams work in small groups to design and build software for real clients” Kurkovsky says.

Kurkovsky also will study how modern software teams function in an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence. 

“By embedding research directly into classroom activities, I will examine how communication, trust, and collaboration influence project success and how AI tools change the way developers divide work and make decisions,” he says. “The goal is to develop practical teaching methods and tools that help students use AI effectively while maintaining strong critical thinking and ethical responsibility.” 

Kurkovsky’s research has been supported by more than $8 million in external funding from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Security Agency, and the Association for Computing Machinery.