Immersive study abroad opens academic and personal worlds

By Peter Murphy

“I just think that study abroad is a good way to visit a country,” says Zedechiah Tingiecieh, a UB student in the Engineering Science (Sustainability) MS program. “When you’re studying abroad, you’re not alone. When you go there, you meet people. In this case, we met people from all over Europe.”

Tingiecieh and other UB students studied for nearly two weeks at the Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iași (TUIASI). BEST is a nonprofit organization that facilitates student exchanges across European universities, with several student chapters in universities across Europe. Members organize BEST courses at their home universities, hosting fellow BEST members from across the EU.

Including the UB cohort, students hailed form Belgium, Estonia, Indonesia, Italy, Moldova, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Turkey and the United States. Students explored the Internet of Things (IOT) to collaborate and work toward designing sustainable campus-of-the-future infrastructure. However, the real learning, according to John D. Atkinson, Scott and Coleen Stevens Chair in Engineering Sustainability at UB, took place during the more informal interactions among students.

“Twelve countries were represented, across about 20 students. I’m listening to them at lunch, and it’s questions like, ‘Where do you live?’ ‘How often do you go home?’ and ‘How much does college cost?’ that catalyze learning—different experiences; different perspectives,” says Atkinson, who initiated the pilot study abroad program. “Learning about different people in different areas with different experiences must be a priority for engineering education.”

This opportunity is unique among UB programs because it brought students together from many different countries. Auburn Schwartzmeyer, who received her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in May, says the experience of working and living with people from so many different countries had a significant impact on her both personally and professionally.

“I learned a lot about other technological processes in Europe and the explanation behind those decisions. It also taught me that a lot of the difficulties I’ve faced here are being faced around the world as well,” Schwartzmeyer says. “But it made the world seem a lot smaller and more connected. It was amazing to connect with several different students from different countries.”

Tingiecieh noticed similarities between the experiences he and his European classmates had as well, but he also acknowledges some of the challenges associated with studying in a different country and getting used to a different culture. Getting to know people away from your home country is something Tingiecieh has done several times, dating back to elementary school. Tingiecieh is from Indonesia and has studied in six countries: the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Costa Rica and Romania—the last two as a UB student.

Despite participating in a study abroad on nearly every continent, Tingiecieh has found a universal—albeit unusual— way to connect with people: ask them what’s bad about their background.

“I can’t speak for everybody, but for me it’s always interesting and fun,” Tingiecieh says. “When I go to a new country, I don’t know what people here are like and they don’t know what my background is like. So, it’s always fun to ask, ‘What’s bad about your background?’ And they talk about that, and we just laugh together. It’s fun to see.”

Tingiecieh also likes to exchange tidbits and cultural fads with other students when he studies abroad. This latest course in Romania was no exception.

“It’s always fun to see other people’s culture and to introduce yours,” Tingiecieh says. “At one point, a Turkish guy was teaching us his dances, and I asked him if he knew the Whip/Nae Nae dance. Then, I’m teaching the dance to Turkish and Romanian students,” Tingiecieh laughs.

This is Atkinson’s second study abroad course, adding to his popular sustainability-themed winter program in Costa Rica. In both, Atkinson says there is more for students to take away besides the academic experience.

“The real learning comes from the shared experience and the discomfort,” Atkinson says. “The topic brings us together, but it is the breadth of the experience that seeds creativity and thoughtfulness.”

Atkinson says the conversations and friendships that students in the program form facilitate opportunities for deeper learning in, sometimes difficult, environments. In addition to teaching each other dance moves, the students discussed politics and current events in their home countries, and they had the chance to sample snacks from each other’s homes. It was completely immersive, living, working, eating and hanging out as a cohort.

Brindușa-Mihaela Slușer, associate professor and director of the Department of Environmental Engineering and Management at TUIASI, first worked with UB in the late 2000s, when she studied with UB provost and professor in environmental and water resources engineering A. Scott Weber. Slușer continued to stay in touch with faculty members at UB and eventually met Atkinson. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Slușer gave a Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering seminar, and Atkinson returned the favor by giving a talk in Romania in 2023. He and Sluser began a discussion with faculty and university administrators to enhance student involvement in collaboration between the two universities.

"We have a Memorandum of Understanding, but there was no student involvement. Given my experience with study abroad and traveling with students, we decided this summer program would be the right approach,” Atkinson says.

The Iasi BEST course focused on smart campus landscapes and the role that AI, machine learning and IOT play in the development of a smart campus. “Whatever the theme of the course is, I told them I could teach a session on sustainability,” Atkinson says. “We thought we would try it, and we got a great group of UB students to join.”

Although there are many variables in organizing a study abroad program, Atkinson says he would like to run the program again. He believes that study abroad is a unique, once in a lifetime opportunity, and the UB student participants echo that sentiment.

“I wanted to get more exposure to sustainable engineering practices across different countries,” Schwartzmeyer says. “I learned a lot from this experience, and it was outside of my comfort zone, but it was great. I learned a lot about myself and others and how to manage learning outside of my typical comfort zone.”