Several University students have received scholarships to pursue science and engineering internships at prominent research institutions in Germany this summer as part of a prestigious program known as DAAD-RISE.
The highly competitive program was established in 2005 and is sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service, Germany’s publicly funded but independent organization of higher education institutions, which is known by its German initials as DAAD. RISE stands for Research Internships in Science and Engineering. RISE scholars are mentored by German doctoral students. Knowledge of German is not required, since work is conducted in English.
In addition to their research projects, RISE students also participate in a three-day RISE Germany meeting held in Heidelberg in early July—an opportunity for scholars to meet fellow participants and attend research presentations, as well as visit Germany’s oldest and most famous university town. Some students also give presentations.
The total number of DAAD-RISE scholars represents the largest single group since Rochester began participating in the program in 2007. Here are the University’s 2016 recipients:
Austin Bailey ’17, a chemistry major from West Hartford, Connecticut, will be conducting research in carbon nanotube photophysics at the Ruprecht-Karl University of Heidelberg, founded in 1386 and the oldest university in present-day Germany.
Raymond Chin ’18, a biomedical engineering major from New York City, will work at the University of Leipzig, on a project focused on 3-D matrix engineering. Leipzig is the second-oldest university in Germany.
Eric Holmgren ’17, a chemical engineering major from Elgin, Illinois, will travel to the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz to conduct research on how charges behave at the phases between solids and liquids.
Haberly Kahn ’18, a chemical engineering major from Newton, Massachusetts, will work at the Hamburg University of Technology assisting in research for an alternative combustion process.
Natalie Jara ’18, an electrical and computer engineering major from Monroe, New York, will conduct research in microelectromechanical implantable devices at the Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg’s Institute of Microsystems Engineering.
Marina May ’17, a biomedical engineering major from Mount Sinai, New York, will work at a chemical engineering research lab at the Berlin University of Technology. She will investigate micro-aeration in nanomembrane technology.
William Porter ’17, a chemical engineering major from Chardon, Ohio, will participate in research at Kaiserslautern University of Technology, investigating nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
Ge Song ’17, a biomedical engineering major from Vancouver, British Columbia, will travel to Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg to investigate how light propagates through certain types of tissue.
Clara Wolfe ’18, a biochemistry major from Roxbury, Connecticut, will conduct biological research involving inflammation and programmed cell death at Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg.
Nearly 1,700 undergraduates studying in the United States and Canada as well as British students applied for more than 580 internship positions through DAAD-RISE this year. About 300 applicants were funded. Thirty students from Rochester applied. This year’s group brings the total number of participants from the University to 54 since 2007.
