Opportunities for Undergrads

Student and Post-Doc Opportunities
Undergraduate Opportunities

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ENGINEERING ABROAD:

Study Abroad for a Quarter!

Engineering students have study abroad opportunities that meet their programs’ credit requirements.  McCormick Global Initiatives is dedicated to sharing and facilitating opportunities for McC students to spend extended time studying internationally while still enrolled at NU. 

See the links below to explore existing programs at international institutions, a historical list of approved international courses for McC credits, and fellowships available for application.

Engineering Abroad Documents

  • Have an international program already in mind?  Browse historical list of McC courses previously approved for credit.  Department and school approval are still required for every course credit request and each department reserves the right to not continue granting credit equivalence in the future:
  • McC Global Initiatives with the Global Learning Office (GLO) compiled the following table of existing international engineering study abroad programs by country:
  • The Office of Fellowships, the Global Learning Office, and Global Health Studies maintain the following list of available fellowships:
  • Interested in study abroad but not sure where to start?  The planner below provides guidance and direction based on your answers to a questionnaire:

GLOBAL ENGINEERING TREKS (GET)

Germany 2022In the fields of sustainability and energy, engineers turn abstract ideas into innovative solutions. Wi this in mind, McCormick Global Initiatives offers weeklong Trek programs in Germany, Israel, Taiwan, and Chile that expose students to real-world advances in water management, hi-tech innovation, and sustainability in energy and the environment.

Applications are now open for summer 2024 Treks in the following 3 countries:

Israel- Global Engineering Trek: Water

Taiwan- Global Engineering Trek: Innovation and High-Tech

Chile- Global Engineering Trek: Energy Storage and Critical Materials

Costs for all treks are highly subsidized. Please note that completion of each trek does not convey course credit, and is intended as a supplemental learning and enrichment experience.

LEARN ABOUT GLOBAL ENGINEERING TREKS

STUDENT AMBASSADOR AWARDS

 The Global Initiatives office offers BS and MS students additional funding to offset their planned academic pursuits abroad via an application process.  Accepted students serve as Global Initiatives Student Ambassadors to inform their community abroad about NU and about their international experience within NU's community.

Learn more about previous Student Ambassador experiences, and APPLY

Student Ambassador Awards


McC GLOBAL INITIATIVE EVENTS AT NU

 

Global Initiatives Fair

Global Fair 2022

Each fall, McCormick Global Initiatives convenes relevant units across the university for an event in Tech Lobby that showcases student opportunities abroad such as study abroad, co-ops, internships, global research projects, and NU academic programs abroad.

Learn more about this year's Fair, see participating units, relevant documents, and about some of Northwestern's global science, language learning, and engineering opportunities on the Fair page below.

McC Global Initiatives Fair

Global Exchange Welcome

Global Initiatives hosted its third annual “Global Exchange Welcome” on October 4th. This was a social event for all incoming engineering foreign exchange students to connect with McCormick students who returned from abroad exchanges. Faculty and staff members who assisted with these exchange programs were also present. McCormick partnering institutions represented at this year's event were Tel Aviv University, ETH Zürich, and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The event connected those with special interests in research and study abroad.

Undergrad-Abroad Mixer & Spring Send-Off

Our 5th Annual Undergrad-Abroad Mixer & Spring Send-Off took place on May 8th in Cohen Commons. This was a social event for all McCormick students considering, about to embark on, or returning from an abroad experience. Global Initiatives' mission is to inform our engineering students about the multiple international opportunities available abroad and how to pursue them. This event intends to connect these students who either performed or are interested in performing international research, internship, study and projects abroad.


INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIPS, COMPETITIONS, INTERNSHIPS

Internships

Interdisciplinary Research in Korea on Applied smart systems (IRiKA)

The goal of the National Science Foundation’s International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) program is to provide high-quality educational experiences for small groups of U.S. students through active research participation in collaboration with foreign researchers at an international site and provide students with international collaborative research training and a personal network on which to build future collaborations.
IRiKA is a competitive program. The five (5) students selected for the Summer 2021 cohort  each received:


• US-Korea Roundtrip plane fare and transportation in Korea (~$2000)
• 8-week paid research internship in Korea ($4000)
• Accommodation in Korea (~$2000)
• Optional Research materials supplement
• Support to publish work at a local/regional/national/international conference

Applications for Summer 2023 have now closed. 

Northwestern - National Taiwan University Virtual Research Poster Workshops

On March 1st through March 3rd, 2022, Northwestern University and National Taiwan University co-hosted a virtual research poster exchange, offering graduate students, post-docs, and undergraduate researchers a forum for sharing information about their research interests and networking with their international colleagues. With nights for Energy & Sustainability, Biomedical Engineering, and Electronic Devices and Systems, the event saw an excellent turnout.  More information on the sessions can be found in this article.

Fellowships

DAAD RISE

The DAAD Research Internship in Science and Engineering offers funded summer research internships at top German universities and research institutions! Open to students in STEM and Engineering fields. Current Sophomores and Juniors are eligible. Students apply to 3 opportunities that best match their area of interest. German language ability desirable, but not required. 


Boren Awards

The Boren Scholarship funds undergraduate students who pursue language-intensive study abroad in countries out of the mainstream. At its core, Boren is a language program, thus competitive applicants will be serious students of a language not commonly taught in the United States. In addition, Boren funding comes from the US Government, thus they prize government service. All applicants must be thoughtful about how their career contributes to national security. Finally, Boren rewards long-duration study abroad. Most recipients will stay abroad for six months or more.

Truman Scholars

The Truman Scholarship is meant to celebrate and prepare the nation's next generation of public service leaders. Scholars receive up to $30,000 for graduate school as well as access to extensive Scholar programming, priority admission and financial support from public service graduate programs, advising and mentoring from other public service leaders, and preferred hiring with the federal government.

 


GLOBAL ENGINEERING PROGRAM

It is increasingly important for our undergraduates to engage in the global technological community, which includes professional and academic institutions outside of the United States.  Preparation to enter such a global technological landscape transcends mere classroom preparation and requires service learning, studying, researching, living, and/or working abroad. 

This program is designed to structure a path whereby students can successfully incorporate significant international experience into their already rigorous engineering curriculum.  This program will encourage the development of formal ties between Northwestern Engineering and educational, research, and engineering organizations around the world, by engaging the Engineering School’s most valuable asset – its students.

Successful completion of this program will be include in your undergraduate transcript.