Buckman named U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Brazil

Stephen Buckman, an associate professor in Clemson University’s Nieri Department of Construction, Development and Planning, has been selected as a 2023-2024 U.S. Fulbright Scholar for Brazil.

“I’m a little shocked and very humbled to be selected as a Fulbright Scholar,” Buckman said. “This is a huge honor.”

Buckman, who teaches in the Master of Real Estate Development program, will conduct research focusing on issues of land value capture and land tenure as it relates to the real estate sector and the integration of Rio De Janeiro’s favelas into the urban fabric.

“Favelas are informal settlements—often built with recycled materials—found in cities throughout Latin America,” Buckman explained. He plans to continue his examination of the Favela-Bairro Project with Professor James Miyamoto at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.

He noted that while property is bought and sold in the favelas, deals are often conducted only orally. “We’ll be looking into land-tenure rights and land value-capture and how that relates to issues of resiliency,” he said. “We’ll also study how to legitimize land valuation in areas that abut the favelas. We need to determine how to quantify that value.”

According to the U.S. Department of State, Fulbright Scholar Awards are prestigious and competitive fellowships that provide unique opportunities for scholars to teach and conduct research abroad. Fulbright scholars also play a critical role in U.S. public diplomacy, establishing long-term relationships between people and nations. Alumni include 62 Nobel Laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 78 MacArthur Fellows, and thousands of leaders and world-renowned experts in academia and many other fields across the private, public, and non-profit sectors.

Buckman plans to spend two months in Brazil in the summer of 2023, and another two months in the summer of 2024 to complete his research.

“Dr. Buckman’s selection for the Fulbright program underscores the quality of research conducted by our faculty,” noted Mike Jackson, chair of the Nieri Department of Construction, Development and Planning. “It’s exciting to see a member of our faculty chosen to represent our University and our nation in Brazil.”