Wayne State College of Engineering names Global Experience Scholarship Program recipients

DETROIT (April 1, 2013) - Wayne State University's College of Engineering is pleased to announce this year's Global Experience Scholarship Program recipients. Alba Asllanaj, Jian Deng, Dominique Foh, Michael Lerner, Michael Marku, Theodore Pavlosky, Amita Rathi, Ken Thomas, Alycen Wiacek and Christina Wong will spend six to eight weeks at the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology. Maha Fakherddine, Alex Gagliardi, Jaspar Marek, Ao Yang Yu and Amelia Zelenak will gain a global perspective at Zhejiang University.

The college, in collaboration with Wayne State's Office for International Programs, announced in February the creation of the scholarship program that would provide engineering and computer science undergraduates an opportunity to gain research and industry experience abroad. The program is just one way the college is providing students with a global perspective, one of the five established pillars to a Wayne State engineering and computer science education.

"On behalf of Wayne State University, I would like to congratulate these students on being named Global Experience Scholarship Program recipients," said Wayne State College of Engineering Dean Farshad Fotouhi. "These students will learn about different cultures, conduct research with international scholars, gain industry experience abroad and be better prepared for the workforce. We look forward to hearing about their experiences and thank our many friends and partners around the world for affording our students this opportunity."

Strong connections in China, according to Fotouhi, made it the ideal place to launch the program.

The college has partnered with a number of other Chinese universities including Hubei University of Automotive Technology, Soochow University and South China University of Technology. According to Fotouhi, future cohorts of recipients may travel to these and other institutions. In fact, Fotouhi sees this as just the beginning of a much larger initiative.

"We already have had discussions with institutions in Europe, South America and the Middle East about creating similar types of opportunities for our students," he said. "With a diverse faculty and alumni in 48 countries, there's really an enormous opportunity to further expand our efforts. We have remarkable students here at Wayne State, and we want to provide them with the necessary tools to be successful and inventive global-minded citizens."

# # #

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 29,000 students. For more information about engineering at Wayne State University, visit engineering.wayne.edu.