UTEP Student Participates in Study Abroad Program
February 09, 2009
Asha Garcia, a Mechanical Engineering student from The University of Texas at El Paso, recently returned from the University of Manitoba, where she was an exchange student during the Fall 2008 semester.
Asha was able to attend the Canada university through the North American Engineering Innovation and Training Program, which also provides scholarships. She was able to take a variety of courses including thermodynamics, economics and management.
“It was a great experience,” says Asha. “ You grow a lot as a person and you learn about diversity, how to be independent, how to work in teams, how to communicate and you meet people from all over the world. “
The program also brings exchange students to UTEP. Samm Leung, a biosystems engineering student from the University of Manitoba, is currently studying mechanical engineering at UTEP.
“Some of the research that is being done at UTEP is pretty interesting,” said Samm. “The research project I’m doing right now is on cell printing – using ink jet printers to print cell tissue. There’s no way that I would have been able to do that back at home.”
The North American Engineering Innovation and Training Program offers graduate students a once-in-a-lifetime experience to study abroad. Graduate exchange students can choose from four universities: The University of Manitoba in Canada, The University of Saskatchewan in Canada, Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas in Mexico and Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosi in Mexico.
“It’s an experience you’ll never forget,” said Asha. “There are a lot of different things to do, like going skiing and traveling across Canada.”
Participating in the program also helped Asha better appreciate El Paso and UTEP. “People here are always waiting for the chance to get out of El Paso, but when you finally go, you realize all the good things you have here.”
For more information about the North American Engineering Innovation and Training Program contact Sandra Aguirre-Covarrubias at sandraac@utep.edu or (915) 747-6909.
