Two Georgetown professors received Fulbright Scholar grants from the U.S. State Department and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board to lecture and conduct research abroad this year, university officials announced on Tuesday.

The Traditional Fulbright Scholar Program awarded a grant to Abbe Smith, a professor of law and co-director of the Criminal Justice Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center, to study in Australia. Stanley Nollen, a professor in the McDonough School of Business, received a grant to study and lecture on international business at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.

Smith said that she is conducting research at the University of ebourne about the Australian legal profession, focusing on Australian lawyers who represent “unpopular clients” like prisoners and asylum seekers.

“I am exploring the ethics and culture of practice of lawyers who take on these sorts of cases and comparing it to lawyers in the United States. So far, I have interviewed nearly 20 lawyers,” she said.

Nollen said that he is analyzing data from a Czech company and conducting follow-up case study visits to other companies.

“I am offering one elective course to graduate students at Charles University whose centerpiece is consulting projects which teams of students conduct with organizations in Prague,” Nollen said.

Nollen said that one of the reasons he selected the Czech Republic as the place for his Fulbright program was to learn more about the country.

“I have been engaged in management education and company-based field research in the Czech Republic since . 1991, but despite many trips to the country, I never lived or worked there. I wanted to know the country, its businesses, its students and its ways better,” Nollen said.

Nollen said that he finds it a “privilege to be able to spend a semester abroad.”

“The greatest benefit of a semester abroad is the new and different experiences you can embrace,” he said. “These enrich and enliven your work life and personal life. They are the essence of education.”

Smith also said that she was excited to receive the Fulbright Scholar Award.

“Being able to live in Australia for a year and getting to know the criminal defense and human rights bar has been a dream of mine,” she said.

The Fulbright Program has paid for thousands of American scholars and professionals to study abroad since its establishment in 1946. Currently, the program sends approximately 800 U.S. faculty and scholars abroad each year to lecture and conduct research in various academic fields and brings about 800 academic professionals from other countries to the United States.

In addition to the programs for faculty and professionals, Fulbright awards around 800 additional scholarships to foreign graduate systems and graduating seniors.

“Fulbright scholar program is designed to promote mutual understanding among people of different countries,” said Nancy Gainer, director of external relations at the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, which administers the program.

“We have scholars going to 140 countries,” Gainer said. She added that about 80 percent of the scholarship recipients from United States lecture, while most of the recipients from overseas to perform research.

Georgetown has received 10 scholars from foreign countries like New Zealand, Russia, Chile, Japan and China for the current academic year under the Fulbright Scholar Program.

For Smith, Australia was an especially appropriate destination for a criminal defense lawyer, as British colonists originally used the country as a place to exile convicted criminals.

“I am with my people,” she said.