Northern Kentucky University
Building Chemistry Abroad
Institution
Northern Kentucky University
Faculty Advisor/ Mentor
Isabelle Lagadic; Sebastien Gauthier
Abstract
Preparing undergraduate students to succeed in a society and work platforms rapidly moving toward globalization is becoming increasingly important in all academic disciplines. For the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines with sequential and tight curricula, providing undergraduates with study abroad experiences may be very challenging. Yet, most of the future jobs awaiting current undergraduates will involve one or more STEM disciplines and will require a sense of global skills and ability to work effectively across cultures and languages. Over the past four years, the department of chemistry at Northern Kentucky University (NKU) has established an international summer research program that hosted a total of 19 students coming from China (Nanjing University), Ecuador (Universidad San Francisco de Quito, USFQ), France (Institut Universitaire de Technologie (IUT, Lannion) - Université de Rennes 1) and Romania (Universitatae Babes-Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca) to conduct research alongside NKU chemistry faculty and students during the summer. Since last year, this program has been evolving into an exchange program with the creation of research abroad opportunities for NKU chemistry students, such as a nine-week internship for chemistry major Travis Schuyler to conduct research on dye molecules for solar-cell applications at our French partner institution (IUT, Lannion). This poster will highlight the key features of this program as well as Travis Schuyler’s internship results and outcomes.
Building Chemistry Abroad
Preparing undergraduate students to succeed in a society and work platforms rapidly moving toward globalization is becoming increasingly important in all academic disciplines. For the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines with sequential and tight curricula, providing undergraduates with study abroad experiences may be very challenging. Yet, most of the future jobs awaiting current undergraduates will involve one or more STEM disciplines and will require a sense of global skills and ability to work effectively across cultures and languages. Over the past four years, the department of chemistry at Northern Kentucky University (NKU) has established an international summer research program that hosted a total of 19 students coming from China (Nanjing University), Ecuador (Universidad San Francisco de Quito, USFQ), France (Institut Universitaire de Technologie (IUT, Lannion) - Université de Rennes 1) and Romania (Universitatae Babes-Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca) to conduct research alongside NKU chemistry faculty and students during the summer. Since last year, this program has been evolving into an exchange program with the creation of research abroad opportunities for NKU chemistry students, such as a nine-week internship for chemistry major Travis Schuyler to conduct research on dye molecules for solar-cell applications at our French partner institution (IUT, Lannion). This poster will highlight the key features of this program as well as Travis Schuyler’s internship results and outcomes.