乔·加维
When Erem Ujah, a biomedical engineering scholar at Old Dominion University’s Center for Bioelectronics, arrived in Cape Town, 南非, 世界工程教育论坛和全球工程学院院长委员会, he said “he didn’t know what to expect.”
他和ODU小组的其他成员带着一次难忘的经历离开了.
“这非常鼓舞人心，”乌贾说，他出生在尼日利亚，但从未去过南非. “It was like, ‘There’s more to come.“我可以去更多的地方旅行，做更多像这样有趣的事情. There’s more than where I’m based.”
Ujah was one of eight Ph.D.-track students in ODU’s 研究生研究训练计划(G-RISE) program who made the trip. Jaylynn Anasco, Christopher Animashaun, 亚历山大·亨特和马库斯·伊斯特林也是生物医学工程专业的学生. They were joined by 内森荷兰 (mechanical engineering), 蕾拉拉沙德(生物医学科学)和布莱恩•汉森(计算机科学).
The G-RISE program at ODU, which accepted its first cohort in 2021, is designed to increase diversity among students pursuing Ph.D. degrees in biomedical research-related disciplines.
Gymama屠杀, director of the Center for Bioelectronics, 说这次旅行是与马里兰大学合作的一部分, 巴尔的摩县, and the University of California, 戴维斯, called the 全球 Promise Engineering Institute Alliance, which aims to increase the number of minorities in STEM fields. Professor Jamie Gurganus and Vice Chancellor of Diversity, 公平与包容Renetta Tull领导了UMBC和UC 戴维斯的努力, 分别.
Slaughter learned about the conference from her mentor, 珍妮特·拉特里奇, vice provost and dean of the 研究生院 at UMBC, in September and worked with ODU’s Center for 全球 Engagement as she sought funding for the trip. The Center for Bioelectronics and the 研究生院 还为该项目的首次国际访问提供了资金支持. 他们11月离开的。. 25 and returned Dec. 3.
“Most minority students have not been outside of the U.S., let alone having been to Africa,” Slaughter said. “The opportunity to take them to Cape Town was really exciting. I felt like I had to do everything I could to get them there.”
Ujah and 荷兰 were among 10 students who gave Three-Minute-Thesis-style presentations at the conference.
荷兰, 他的研究重点是生物力学——特别是利用机器学习来预测下肢活动水平——知道他会在会议上发表演讲吗. Ujah, 谁正在开发超灵敏的生物传感器，以比现有方法更少的侵入性来检测前列腺癌, 没有. Slaughter encouraged him to present after a spot opened.
“It was definitely interesting,” Ujah said. “You had to talk about the background, what you’re trying to do and convey everything in three minutes.”
“That was a lot of pressure,” 荷兰 added.
学生们在会议上建立了许多有价值和有意义的联系.
汉森在学生下榻的酒店遇到了一名员工，该员工8岁的侄女患有糖尿病.
“I could not believe that this was their reality,汉森说. “I told him more about my personal research, 这与他侄女患糖尿病的差异是一致的吗, 他感到一种希望，因为他知道有人意识到了这个问题，并正在研究解决方案.”
Ujah connected with Karin Wolff, 他是开普敦斯泰伦博斯大学工程教学顾问, 他们讨论了他今年夏天回南非实习的可能性.
拉沙德遇到了一名UMBC学生，“他正在进行与我类似的微生物研究。.”
And 荷兰 met Stephanie Adams, 他是德克萨斯大学达拉斯分校Erik Jonsson工程与计算机科学学院院长，也是ODU Batten工程与技术学院前院长.
他参加了她关于战略规划的演讲，这主要是为院长们准备的.
“I was very participatory in her session; she even started to call on me by name because of my feedback,他说. “在某个时刻，她说了一句话，大意是‘我们中间坐着一位未来的院长.’ Her comment hit me in a direct way; I was not expecting it. 但我离开时知道，我想在我的职业生涯中像院长一样做高水平的学术管理工作.”
他补充说，UMBC的教职员工建议他考虑在12月毕业后在那里找一份工作.
Along with the conference, 学生们对体验南非的文化和风景赞不绝口.
They described 南非 as culturally diverse. Residents speak 11 languages, but many people spoke English. 他们尝试了来自欧洲大陆各地的各种食物，包括鸵鸟.
“我从这次会议中获得了很多知识，并享受了开普敦各种娱乐景点, food and shopping,拉沙德说.
And the landscape was spectacular.
“我一边吃着当地餐馆的食物，一边欣赏着高耸的山脉和美丽的海滩和海洋, 我觉得我拥有了我所能想象的一个环境所能提供的最好的一切,汉森说.
霍兰德描述说，他去了好望角，看到了大西洋和印度洋洋流交汇的地方, ,看到 非洲企鹅, an endangered species, along the coast. Ujah回忆起他和加州大学戴维斯分校的学生徒步旅行了3563英尺 桌山.
乌贾说:“当我们接近山顶时，一片寂静。. “It’s incomparable to anything I’ve ever felt before. I felt so at peace.”
Still, it didn’t feel completely foreign.
“这很有趣，因为即使那里有所有的景观和历史, it had a Westernized feeling to it as well,霍兰德说。. “所以，这可能会让你想起美国，但他们仍然有自己独特的文化.”
Perhaps Easterling summed up the trip best.
“我们这次旅行的每一个方面都是一次千载难逢的旅行，我将永远难忘,他说. “我永远感激能有这样一个绝佳的机会去拓展人脉，发展自己的职业, 去看看美丽的南非.”
So, will there be another trip?
“Well, we have to,” Slaughter said. “I think we’re doing it every year. We started a tradition.”