Congratulations to UWM undergraduate and global sustainability major Lauren Sroka who recently received a Boren Scholarship!

The Boren Awards (Scholarship and Fellowship) are extremely competitive national scholarships funded by the U.S. Government through the National Security Education Program (NSEP) with the aim of advancing U.S. national security goals. The programs fund study abroad programs focused on intensive language study, cultural immersion, and long-term study abroad. Recipients receive up to $25,000 in funding for their experience abroad and have a mandatory service requirement to work for the U.S. government after graduation. 

Lauren is the first UWM recipient since 2015. She will be studying in Tokyo, Japan in fall 2024, and after graduation she intends to apply to the U.S. Department of Energy to work on climate change policies and reducing fossil fuel use.

Enjoy our interview with Lauren below!

---

What are you studying and where are you planning to study abroad? What are your academic and professional goals?

I am majoring in global sustainability with a focus on reducing fossil fuel use around the world. Come September I will be heading to Tokyo, Japan to study abroad at Hosei University through UWM’s exchange program. While abroad I will be taking economics classes to learn more about Japan’s recourses. I will also continue my Japanese language studies, as I have taken two years of Japanese here at UWM. After graduation, I plan on applying to the U.S. Department of Energy to work on climate change policies and reducing fossil fuel use.

Can you tell us a bit about the Boren Award?

The Boren Award is a U.S. Federal Government funded scholarship for students learning rare languages. Since Japanese is considered a rare language, I qualified for the award. Awardees not only win a generous financial award, but also have an opportunity to work for the U.S. Federal Government post-graduation. Since I plan to work for the U.S. Department of Energy, this scholarship will be a great opportunity to start my federal career! 

What do you most look forward to about your study abroad experience?

I am most looking forward to the food in Japan! I love local Japanese food here in Milwaukee and I am very excited to try authentic Japanese food. One of my hobbies is also riding roller coasters, I plan to visit Tokyo Disney and Univeral theme parks to ride Japanese roller coasters! 

What advice do you have for other UWM students who are considering studying abroad?

My advice is to not let the program cost stop you! There are so many scholarships and grants available for students studying abroad; many organizations are eager to help you achieve your dream of studying abroad. 

Justus Liebig University Giessen scores again in the EU programme Erasmus+ and raises a record sum of around 1.84 million euros in funding

In 2023, 36 years after the Erasmus+ programme was founded, JLU was able to raise the highest funding amount in its Erasmus history: with around 1.84 million euros, JLU students, lecturers and university staff can be funded within the Erasmus+ programme for a stay abroad at an Erasmus partner university or European institution. With the opening of the Erasmus+ programme across Europe’s borders, the Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility offers scholarships for stays at strategic partner universities of JLU worldwide.

Around 1.25 million euros are available for exchanges with partners in the 33 Erasmus+ programme countries in and around Europe in the academic year 2023/24. In addition, JLU was again successful in Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility with scholarship funds of around 600.000 euros: among the already existing partner universities in (South) Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, the successfully acquired funding for exchanges with partners in Australia and Colombia is of particularly great importance. Scholarship funds are now also available for exchanges with the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and the University of Wisconsin – Madison in the USA.

The First Vice President of JLU, Prof. Dr. Katharina Lorenz, warmly congratulates all those who have contributed to the successful applications in the Erasmus+ programme: “Intensive exchange with international partners at all levels is more important than ever in these uncertain times. These scholarships are available to all members of JLU and thus create a broadly effective offer for financing stays abroad. This is internationalization in action at all levels.”

Students and doctoral candidates can spend two to twelve months abroad or at JLU with Erasmus+. So-called blended mobilities are also possible. These are short stays of between five and 30 days combined with a virtual experience abroad. In addition, lecturers can be funded for a teaching stay and university staff for a training period abroad. Partial scholarships or travel and subsistence allowances are available for all exchanges. 

In order to strengthen inclusion in the Erasmus+ programme, additional financial support is available for disadvantaged students. They can apply for a top-up of their Erasmus grant of 250 euros per month. For sustainable travel, there is also the possibility to receive a one-time top-up of 50 euros.

• Further Information
  https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/
  https://www.uni-giessen.de/en/international-pages/erasmus 
  
• Contact
  Sigrid Jost
  Coordinator for Erasmus+ and Mobility worldwide
  Justus Liebig University Giessen
  International Office
  Goethestraße 58, 35390 Giessen, Germany
  Tel: +49 (0) 641 / 99 12131
  E-Mail: sigrid.jost

International student Pranay Mandadapu proves that hard work pays off. As the lead of UWM’s new Google Developer Student Club (GDSC), Pranay was invited by Google to attend its North America Connect event from November 4-5 at Google headquarters. We sat down with him recently to learn about UWM’s chapter of GDSC and his exciting trip to Google.

Congratulations to Pranay for participating in such an incredible opportunity, and thank you for representing UWM so positively!

Q: What prompted you to start the GDSC on campus, and how does the club function?

A: I found that it was difficult to study alone when I first started at UWM. Since I learn best by going to others, I wanted to create a standard platform where students could ask questions and exchange information. This led me to create the UWM Google Developer Student Club (GDSC).

As our GDSC club webpage states, we are a “group powered by Google Developers for Students interested in technologies like Web, Software, Data Science, Cloud, and so on. Our goal is to bridge the gap between theory and practice, bring together students from various backgrounds who love learning and applying their skills to solve real-world problems, impact students in a technical aspect and empower them to enhance the technological world ahead of us.”

I started UWM’s chapter in September 2022 and we already have more than 100 members. This semester we’ve held several virtual events with speakers from Google and Dell, as well as a recent UWM alum who’s a software engineer at Astronautics Corporation of America. It’s great to hear from people who directly make decisions in the industry.

Q: How did you score an invitation to Google’s North America Connect event?

A: Since I’m the lead of UWM’s GDSC and our club is very active, Google invited me to attend the North America Connect event. They paid for my hotel and flew me out to Google headquarters in Mountain View, California. 200 students across the U.S. and Canada attended the event, and I was the only student representing Wisconsin.

Q: What was the event like?

A: The 3-day event took place at the center of Google. The first night we had a welcome dinner, and the next two days were the actual conference where we attended a variety of sessions. Googlers, students, and industry experts attended, and it was fun to see the Googlers in their natural environment. I met so many people at Google who are the main point of contact – like Wesley Chun, the main Google developer advocate for Cloud solutions, and even the developers who are responsible for creating Google Maps.

Q: What professional connections did you make?

A: I had the chance to talk to Wesley Chun about how Google Cloud lacks support for student communities compared to its competitors. Chun was very understanding and wants to work toward a solution. He and other Googlers now want to meet with UWM professors in my department to share what Google Cloud can offer colleges. I’m glad I was able to help build this partnership.

I also talked to another Google Developer Advocate, Martin Omander, at a social mixer. With so many layoffs happening right now in Silicon Valley, I asked him how students can brace themselves for this situation. Omander reminded me that the infrastructure at these companies must be supported by people and that the companies who are currently experiencing significant layoffs will eventually start hiring again. He shared that a period of recession is a good time for students to focus on building their portfolios, putting their projects on Opensource, and properly documenting their work. This way, when companies do start hiring again, these students will be fully ready to apply. My exchanges with Omander were very inspiring.

Q: How did the Google event impact you, and what’s next for you?

A: I was able to share my own experiences with many Googlers, and they told me that I’m in the right spot, which was very validating. It was very different than just hearing from these people in virtual lectures – I was starstruck to meet them in person.

Since attending the conference I’ve started taking myself out of my comfort zone and have started working on app development, whereas before this I was most comfortable with website and Cloud hosting. The conversations at the conference really inspired me to push my envelope and get to know more technologies. I recently landed a full-time internship next summer as a Data Engineer at Kohler, which is really a dream role for me!

UWM has welcomed its largest incoming group of international students in UWM history. As of September 6, 2022, 496 new international students were enrolled: 

• 30% of new graduate students are international 
• 28% of new master’s students are international 
• 50% of new doctoral students are international 
• 20% of total graduate student enrollment is international 
• For the first time since 2015 UWM has increased the number of new international undergrads enrolled.  
• India is currently the top sending country to UWM, but we have new students enrolled from 50+ countries  

Many factors have contributed to the increase of new international student enrollment, including:

• Comprehensive strategic enrollment management initiatives 
  • representation by UWM South Asia regional manager 
  • increased number of recruitment partners 
  • new undergraduate application portal  
  • marketing and outreach to applicants and admitted students  
• International travel restrictions relaxed 
• More welcoming atmosphere to international students in the U.S.

Thank you to CIE for all of the admissions and recruitment efforts, and to the faculty and staff members across campus who are helping these new students settle into the Panther family.

We are so glad you are here!