{"690127":{"#nid":"690127","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Double Major Graduate to Take Her STEM and Intercultural Skills to Spain as Fulbright Scholar ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBiology major Sonali Kaluri is a STEM expert. Spanish major Sonali Kaluri is a language and culture expert.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPut the two together and you have a sharply educated researcher with a passion for healthcare. Kaluri is headed to Barcelona after graduation this Spring as a Fulbright Scholar to study the health of migrant workers under\u0026nbsp;the digital platform economy. She plans to later embark on a career in medicine.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s something she says she couldn\u2019t have done without her experiences at the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts.\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYou need to have a deep understanding of people and the systems that surround us to be able to effectively and ethically help people as a physician,\u201d Kaluri said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKaluri\u2019s Applied Languages and Intercultural Studies degree from the School of Modern Languages helped shape that understanding, including through classes studying Spanish literature.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cLiterature is such an important window into the lives of people different from you,\u201d Kaluri said. \u201cStudying another language\u2019s great works is an excellent way to understand the experiences of different people and build that empathy, which translates to real life for me in being able to better connect with the people I meet.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKaluri, who was fluent in her parents\u2019 languages of Telugu and Kannada before arriving at Georgia Tech, had always wanted to combine language training with her work in healthcare.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEarly in high school and college, I would shadow doctors, and if they had a patient that couldn\u2019t speak English, I\u2019d be able to follow along with the conversation even without an interpreter using my knowledge from high school Spanish classes,\u201d Kaluri said. \u201cI figured that one day as a doctor, it would be cool to be able to talk directly to a larger number of patients without needing an interpreter and to be able to build greater rapport with patients. That was the spark for why I wanted to pursue more rigorous study of Spanish.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHer interest in medicine derives from seeing how cultural norms around gender and caregiving can shape and even sideline women\u2019s own healthcare needs.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI realized that was a big part of why I wanted to pursue medicine \u2014 to advocate for people on a deeper level, to try to bridge these gaps that I\u0027ve noticed in research, in the clinic, et cetera,\u201d Kaluri said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKelly Comfort, one of Kaluri\u2019s Spanish professors, said Kaluri\u2019s success shows what\u2019s possible with a combined STEM and liberal arts education.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cSonali is the kind of student who proves that the humanities are not separate from science and medicine \u2014 they strengthen them. Her ability to think critically about culture, identity, and social systems through her ALIS major has shaped her into a more thoughtful future healthcare professional,\u201d Comfort said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cShe is not only highly skilled in pre-health and pre-medicine fields, but she is also multilingual, interculturally competent, empathetic, reflective, and prepared to improve the human condition across cultures, languages, and borders,\u201d Comfort said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBiology and Spanish major Sonali Kaluri is headed to Barcelona after graduation this Spring as a Fulbright Scholar to study the health of migrant workers under the digital platform economy.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Biology and Spanish major Sonali Kaluri is headed to Barcelona after graduation this Spring as a Fulbright Scholar to study the health of migrant workers under the digital platform economy."}],"uid":"35766","created_gmt":"2026-05-04 19:28:11","changed_gmt":"2026-05-04 19:31:27","author":"dminardi3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-05-04T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-05-04T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680167":{"id":"680167","type":"image","title":"MERCURY--2-.jpg","body":null,"created":"1777923045","gmt_created":"2026-05-04 19:30:45","changed":"1777923045","gmt_changed":"2026-05-04 19:30:45","alt":"Sonali Kaluri","file":{"fid":"264409","name":"MERCURY--2-.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/04\/MERCURY--2-.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/04\/MERCURY--2-.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":166993,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/05\/04\/MERCURY--2-.jpg?itok=zvQJc3fG"}}},"media_ids":["680167"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1283","name":"School of Literature, Media, and Communication"},{"id":"1284","name":"School of Modern Languages"}],"categories":[{"id":"193157","name":"Student Honors and Achievements"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMichael Pearson \u2014 \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:michael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emichael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E \u2014 Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["michael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}