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Institute of
International Education
809 United Nations Plaza
7th Floor
New York, NY 10017
USA
Tel: +1 (212) 984 5367
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RISE: Opening the world to undergraduate scientists and engineers |
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There is a clear upward trend in the numbers of students from North America studying abroad, and experiencing another culture while continuing to make academic progress in their respective field of study seems to be an increasingly attractive choice.
The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has responded to this demand by launching RISE – Research Internships in Science and Engineering. In this program, US & Canadian undergraduates join research projects by working with German PhD candidates in their ongoing experiments. These students make real contributions to their research field while experiencing full immersion into a foreign culture, something very few undergraduates in any field have the opportunity to achieve. This happens even though they might lack advanced experimentation skills or proficiency in German (the working language of the program is English).
This year, the number of applications for the RISE program increased by nearly 57% to over 600 and 211 students will head to Germany in 2006 as RISE interns. And these are no ordinary students – the grade point cutoff was a near-perfect 3.8, no small feat for any students but particularly rare for scientists and engineers. Each of these interns will receive a cost-of-living scholarship and placement at one of the nearly 400 different projects on offer from universities and research institutes (Max-Planck, Fraunhofer, Helmholz, etc.)
We also have the first indications that the goals of the program to introduce top young scientists and engineers to research in Germany while building the multicultural management skills of German doctoral students are being met. In a soon-to-be-published independent survey of RISE alumni, applicants, and mentors by the Institute of International Education (IIE), 92% of alumni said that they hoped to return to Germany for work or study. 79% of the responding students agreed or strongly agreed that RISE reinforced their commitment to pursue an education focused on science and/or engineering or a science/engineering related career. The benefits went in both directions with between 70% and 80% of mentors indicating that they improved their technical and conversational English language skills, enhanced their ability to function in or manage a multi-cultural team, and improved their cross-cultural understanding of North American culture and lifestyle.
The program began with 20 students in 2004 as RiCH – Research Internships in Chemistry. Thanks to funding from the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor and support from universities, research institutions, private industry and professional associations, RISE was launched in 2005 with 99 interns from biology, chemistry, earth sciences, engineering, and physics. The program had clearly struck the right cord and in 2005 over 2,000 students registered to look at the placement opportunities and just under 400 eventually applied – and this was with marketing that relied almost entirely upon word of mouth.
The RISE research projects are not trivial and the interns are generally involved with serious research, focusing on highly-specialized research topics and state-of the art scientific methods. This makes the program most attractive for those students who are really interested in research and eager to get hands-on experience. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that many applicants are first-rate students, often from excellent universities. These students will also profit most from the other opportunity provided by RISE, an insight into research and work life in German industry. The well-known firms which sponsor scholars usually also offer to invite them and their supervisors to visit the company, and all scholars get the opportunity to visit one major German company during the national scholarship meeting. This helps give the RISE interns an appreciation for Germany not only as a possible destination for doing research in an institute or university, but also as a country which offers many interesting job opportunities for highly-qualified young scientists and engineers.
RISE not only addresses the undergraduate’s interest in gaining practical experience, it also helps the German doctoral student develop “soft” skills which are increasingly demanded both within and without academia such as managing people, working with international colleagues, mastering technical English, etc. Beyond the professional mentoring, the PhD students accept responsibility for the interns and are expected to help them with finding housing and getting integrated into the lab community. Doing practical work together turned out to be an extremely efficient means of forging personal and professional ties and indeed, in many cases, real friendships have developed during the RISE internship. This is a win-win situation as both partners profit from the successful cooperation, as scientists and as individuals.
While the RISE scholars spend most of their time with their German colleagues and friends, the national meeting provides an excellent opportunity for networking within this group of up-and-coming North American scientists. All scholars are invited to this two- to three-day long meeting which is a critical part of the program and provides excellent opportunities to exchange experiences, learn about a broad spectrum of research fields, and to plan mutual visits and joint travel adventures. Indeed, the fact that RISE scholars are spread all over Germany and that the other European countries are so close invites extensive weekend travel, yielding unforgettable experiences of the culture and landscapes in Germany and Europe.
RISE has proven so far to be an excellent tool to provide top students from the US & Canada in the fields of science and engineering with real insight into research opportunities in Germany and what it’s like to work in an international team. This program lays the foundation for the development of a tight transatlantic network of future scientists and engineers.
For more information about RISE, including reports from past participants, please visit: http://www.daad.de/rise or contact Megan Brenn-White at brennwhite@daad.org or (212) 758-3223 ext. 208.
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