Dr. David Efurd, associate professor and chair of art and art history, was awarded a 2025-26 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award.
Efurd, who coordinates Wofford’s Asian studies program, will use the award to study the Chaitya Hall at Karle in Maharashtra state, India. The site is a cave at a Buddhist monastery cut into a mountainside, and it dates to the first century AD.
“The sculptures are carved out of the same matrix of stone as the cave, which means they don’t change position over time any more than you can move the mountain itself,” Efurd says. “What’s important about that, in my study, is that because it’s all so well preserved, the cave gives insight into the arrangement of these sculptures as they existed 2,000 years ago.”
The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program is overseen by the U.S. Department of State. It allows for faculty and professionals who are American citizens to teach, conduct research and carry out professional projects around the world.
This is the second Fulbright award Efurd has received. He previously secured a Fulbright-Hays Award as a doctoral candidate at the Ohio State University. The doctoral dissertation research award allowed him to study Buddhist archeological sites and rock-cut caves more broadly.
Efurd says beyond the funding the grant unlocks, the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award offers resources for securing the proper permissions to conduct his research.
“I can’t do this level of research in India on a tourist visa. I must be granted a special visa,” Efurd says. “So, they assist with that, and they also help get the permissions from the government to work on my project, which involves photo documentation.”
Efurd plans to begin his study during his fall 2025 sabbatical.
“I try to go to India every year,” Efurd says. “Oftentimes, it’s right after graduation, which is not well-timed; it’s in the summertime at probably its hottest point, and I have a limited number of days before the monsoon comes in June. So, I’m very happy to be traveling to India with this grant this fall.”