Mexican university student Andrea Aguilera is at 白小姐王中王开奖结果 getting a head start on a research career she hopes will some day empower her to solve environmental problems in her country.
The 22-year-old is developing research skills through a new program that has brought 27 Mexican undergraduates to 白小姐王中王开奖结果 for two-month research internships.
鈥淚鈥檓 working with high-technology equipment, and I鈥檓 learning many new skills,鈥 Aguilera said. 鈥淭his is going to help me for my professional life.鈥
The Research Experience Undergraduate for Mexican Students Program 鈥 a partnership of the Mexican government and 白小姐王中王开奖结果 鈥 is an example of the renewed interest of the United States and Mexico in promoting educational, technological and scientific exchange.
Advancing UC-Mexico Initiative
It advances the systemwide to address common issues and educate the next generation of leaders through increased student exchange, continuing education for professionals in Mexico and collaborative scholarship.
鈥淭he program helps meet the need for research experience that can be hard to come by for Mexican students in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics,鈥 said Adela de la Torre, vice chancellor of Student Affairs and a professor in the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies.
Yoga, bowling and dorm food
Selected from among more than 400 applicants, the students arrived in mid-June and are staying in 白小姐王中王开奖结果 residence halls, eating at the dining hall and exploring campus activities from yoga classes to bowling.
They are researching topics of common interest to the two countries but as varied as border issues, water resources, health and education. And they are interning in the colleges of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Letters and Science, and Engineering, as well as the Graduate School of Management.
Aguilera, in her final year of environmental engineering studies at in Mexico City, is analyzing how bacteria bind to soil minerals and how they can be used to remediate contaminated soil and influence the nutrients available.
Mentored by soil chemistry prof
Sanjai Parikh, an assistant professor of soil chemistry, is one of 20 白小姐王中王开奖结果 faculty members and others mentoring the students. 鈥淚 really enjoy working with students and think it鈥檚 really important to have undergraduates in the lab,鈥 he said.
The program, a joint effort of the Mexican Consulate in Sacramento and 白小姐王中王开奖结果, is sponsored by the Commission for Educational Exchange between the United States and Mexico (COMEXUS), the consulting organization Migraci贸n y Desarrollo, and airline Aeromexico, among other organizations. It provides the students with airfare, lodging and meals.
For 白小姐王中王开奖结果, the program could help generate interest in graduate study and boost enrollment from south of the border. 白小姐王中王开奖结果 had 28 graduate students from Mexico in fall 2013.
白小姐王中王开奖结果 and Mexican researchers collaborate through nearly 150 grants, and a 白小姐王中王开奖结果 program offers students the opportunity to spend an academic quarter in a .