Traveling Abroad + Research = Unique Experience
Imagine combining the educational experiences of traveling abroad and becoming immersed in intense scientific research.
This past summer, three students—Will Towler '11 (King George, Va.), Annelise Gorensek '12 (Aiken, S.C.), and Nadia Shamsedin '13 (Columbia, S.C.)—didn’t have to imagine. They lived it.
The trio traveled to France to take part in a unique program that brings together 11 students from five universities to conduct biomedical research at the Pasteur Institute in Lille, France.
Other participating schools were Louisiana State, Florida, Morehouse, and Wilkes. The first-year project was funded through a $1.2 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The French Ministry of Higher Education and two major French research universities also took part.
As a prelude to the trip, Gorensek, a chemistry major, Towler and Shamsedin, both biology majors, completed a year of research on campus.
“You gain all the same benefits as a study away program. You become immersed in another culture,” said John Wheeler, Director of Integrative Research in the Sciences for Furman. “And our students are able to work with international leaders in their fields of study.”
The chemistry professor said the Pasteur Institute is a hub for scientific research that attracts top faculty throughout Europe. Wheeler visited the institute to manage a conference that included presentations by Towler, Gorensek, and Shamsedin.
U.S. faculty, including Wheeler, French graduate research students, Chateaubriand Fellows (U.S. graduate students completing research in France), and representatives of the French Ministry of Higher Education and French Fulbright Commission also made presentations. Plenary addresses by internationally recognized scientists Isiah Warner (LSU) and Camille Locht (Pasteur de Lille) were also a featured part of the conference.