ASLA-Fulbright Alumni Association Board

CEO, Researcher
Kaupunkitutkimus TA - Urban Research TA
ASLA-Fulbright Mid-Career Professional Development Grant 2021-22

Maija Urponen is an entrepreneur and researcher at Kaupunkitutkimus TA, an independent company specialising on interdisciplinary analysis, impact assessments and practice-oriented research on urban development. She is a sociologist by training, with a PhD in Gender Studies (2010) and long-term experience in research management and international collaboration at the University of Helsinki. She was an ASLA-Fulbright Mid-Career Professional Development Grant holder at the University of Michigan in 2022. Her MCPD project was focused on multi-disciplinary collaboration between researchers and practitioners in seeking practical solutions for societal challenges. 

Master of Social Sciences in Environmental Policy
University of Eastern Finland
Study of the U.S. Institutes for Student Leaders from Europe on Civic Engagement 2021-22

Laura Andersson holds a Master's degree in Social Sciences with a major in Environmental Policy and minors in Environmental Law and Sociology. During her studies, she has specialized in climate change adaptation, waste management, recycling, and promoting sustainability. Her previous bachelor's level research focused on the current state and development potential of recycling opportunities in the city of Joensuu, and her master's thesis was on the development of the collection system for end-of-life textiles in North Karelia and the attitudes of various waste policy actors towards the institutional void created by the reform of the Waste Act. She was a Study of the U.S. Institutes for Student Leaders from Europe on Civic Engagement grantee in 2021–22 at the University of South Carolina at Columbia. 

Finnish and Finnish as a Second Language Teacher
Tampere Vocational College Tredu
Fulbright Foreign Language and Culture Teaching Assistant (FLTA) 2022-2023

Laura Niemeläinen teaches Finnish and Finnish as a second language at Tampere Vocational College Tredu. She graduated with a Master of Arts degree from the University of Jyväskylä, specializing in the teacher education program for Finnish language and literature. After graduation, Laura taught Finnish as a second language at a summer university and worked as a Finnish as a Second Language Teacher and a Co-Teacher in vocational education. In the academic year of 2022-2023, Laura was a Fulbright Foreign Language and Culture Teaching Assistant (FLTA) at Indiana University. Laura began serving as a board member on the ASLA-Fulbright Alumni Association after her grant year, in the summer of 2023.

Doctoral Researcher in North American Studies and Political Science
University of Turku
ASLA-Fulbright Pre-Doctoral Research Fellows grantee 2021-22

Mila Seppälä is a doctoral researcher at the John Morton Center for North American Studies (JMC) and the Department of Philosophy, Contemporary History and Political Science at the University of Turku, Finland. Her research focuses on youth political participation and the development of political imagination, strategies and aims in the gun violence prevention movement in the United States. She was an ASLA-Fulbright Pre-Doctoral Research Fellows grantee in 2021-2022 at the University of Texas at Austin, where she interviewed activists for her dissertation research.

Professor of Commercial Law
University of Eastern Finland 
U.S. – E.U. Fulbright Graduate Study Award for graduate studies related to E.U. affairs or E.U.-U.S. relations 2005-06

Lecturer, Finnish as a second language and academic writing
Aalto University
Fulbright Foreign Language and Culture Teaching Assistant (FLTA) 2013-2014

Elisa Räsänen is a Lecturer of Finnish as a second language and academic writing at the Aalto University Language Centre. She is also finishing her doctoral studies at the University of Jyväskylä Centre for Applied Language Studies. In her Ph.D. dissertation, she explores and analyzes how US learners of Finnish learn the language beyond the classroom, with the aim of developing pedagogical practices that support learner agency. In the years 2016-2023, Elisa worked as a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer of Finnish language and culture at Indiana University Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. In the academic year of 2013-2014, Elisa was a Fulbright Foreign Language and Culture Teaching Assistant (FLTA) at Indiana University. Elisa is excited to continue building connections between US and Finnish scholars and to serve on the ASLA-Fulbright Alumni Association board as its newly elected Vice President.