GEARE Students Abroad in 2022 - Part 7
As the world begins to return to some semblance of normalcy following the pandemic, we are thrilled to have our GEARE students abroad this semester all around the world. On a weekly basis throughout the semester, I will be sharing some of the experiences of the students abroad. The goal of these posts is to highlight the accomplishments and endeavors of our wonderful cohort of students abroad in 2022. In this week’s post, Thalia May, Hrudik Shah, and Isabel Hardy have shared some of their experiences being abroad.
Thalia May is an Environmental and Ecological Engineering student currently working abroad in Magdeburg, Germany for Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg “as a student researcher in a lab in the Process System Engineering department.” Her research has been about “carbon capture using old mine tailings, which are a waste product of mining procedures.” Her work has involved “hands-on experience in the lab running experiments and testing different procedures individually.”
Later in the semester, she will “begin taking courses at the same university, participating in classes to both further [her] degree and knowledge of German.” Along with this, she plans to “take a few trips to Amsterdam, Portugal, Spain, across Germany, and hopefully more places!” One piece of advice that Thalia has for current students is that “there's going to be so many things that are new to you and you don't know how to do them, but avoiding these doesn't help you learn. Speaking from personal experience, in order to learn and grow you have to put yourself out there and do things that might be tricky or complicated.”
Hrudik Shah is a Mechanical Engineering student currently working abroad in Germany for Technische Uniersität Dresden on “Hydrogen Fuel Cell application for aircraft use.” So far it has been “a very interesting topic to do research on as it gives a sustainable way for future transportation.” After his research experience, he will be “going to Leibniz University Hanover and taking classes for the semester.” One piece of advice that Hrudik has for current students is that he “would ask them not to be afraid of new experiences and try to get out of their comfort zone.”
Isabel Hardy is an Industrial Engineering student currently studying abroad in Madrid, Spain at Universidad de Carlos III. Her favorite experience has been “exploring all the super cool hidden gems in the city, from seeing super cool old buildings to having amazing food.” She is going to “finish [her] semester of study in June and is currently working on finding an internship abroad.” One piece of advice that Isabel has for current students is to “say yes to everything! You may be tired, or want to stay home but you never know who you are going to meet and where you might end up.”
After the pandemic made global travel impossible in 2021, it is great to have GEARE students back studying and working around the world in 2022! This is the last edition of the students abroad highlight. Thank you to all our students abroad that participated and I hope that everyone who read along gained some insight into the wonderful things that students in the GEARE program have done and will continue to do in the future.