Aurenice Oliveira |
| New Exchange Program Spans Cultural Divide |
by John Gagnon, Tech Today, January 7, 2008
Michigan Tech has begun a collaboration with another US college and two universities in Brazil to exchange students, enhance engineering education, bridge cultures and highlight global sustainable energy.
The goal, says Aurenice Oliveira, principal investigator and project director at Michigan Tech, is to give students from the US and Brazil “a global perspective—exposure to a different country, a different culture, a different university and a different language”—all within the same context: engineering.
“One important aspect of the project is to give students a more-broad view of the world and help them deal with diversity,” she says.
In today’s global society, she notes, communication is fast, travel is easy, and the world is small.
“So, as a professional, you will have to deal with people from all over the world. Higher education should start that cultural exchange among students.”
Michigan Tech and North Dakota State University (NDSU) have each received $100,000 from the US Department of Education for this national program in international relations.
They will partner with the Universidade Federal do Pará, the largest and most influential institution in Brazil’s Amazon region, and the Universidade Estadual de Campinas, a leading research university. The two schools have received the same amount of funding from Brazil’s Ministry of Education.
The first year of the four-year program, just begun, will be devoted to planning. In fall 2008, student exchanges will commence, first with four Brazilian students coming to Tech and four others to NDSU.
Eventually, each of the four institutions will send at least nine students abroad for a semester of study. They will receive language training, travel expenses and a stipend. The total cost of the exchange will not exceed what students pay for study at their home college. The language component will be intensive. No classes in Brazil will be in English; no classes at Tech will be in Portuguese.
As the program grows, students will earn a double diploma and a certificate in international engineering
“The idea,” Oliveira, says, “is to give students the opportunity to see how things are done in other places”—to impart “a broad view of engineering education and work toward sustainable sources of energy.” She says Brazil has strong engineering programs and is a global leader in biodiesel initiatives.
Oliveira says that there is a quite practical aspect to this program: A lot of American companies have operations in Brazil, with engineers constantly traveling back and forth. The exchange program will ideally prepare these professionals, she says.
An assistant professor of electrical engineering technology in the School of Technology, Oliveira is enthused about the possibilities. “This is a small program, but it has high potential for leading to a sustainable exchange between the two countries that can involve a significantly larger number of students,” she says.
A native of Brazil, Oliveira has been in the US for nine years: five at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she earned her PhD, two at NDSU and Minnesota State University, and one at Tech.
Her bicultural perspective will contribute to this program. “Americans,” she says, “are well-organized, far-sighted, serious and respect others. Brazilians have an incredible capability for creativity, embrace all cultures and are open-minded.”
In establishing the program, she works with two co-principal investigators: Nasser Alaraje, assistant professor in electrical engineering technology, and Piyush Misha, assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering,.
Stateside, the program is called “the US-Brazil Engineering Education Consortium on Renewable Energy” and is under the auspices of the US Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education. |
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