UNL Engineering Student Selected to Participate in Congressional Exchange Program

2011 UNL Biological Systems Engineering graduate, Ian Bargar, has been selected to participate in the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals program (CBYX), a year-long, federally funded fellowship for study and work in Germany. While abroad, Ian will attend a two-month intensive German language course in Radolfzell, Germany and then move to the state of Hessen to study for four months at a German University, later completing the program with a five-month internship at a German company in his career field. He will also have the opportunity to take part in seminars in Washington D.C., Berlin, and New York City. Organized by the United States Congress and the German Bundestag, the CBYX program is financially supported by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State under the authority of the Fulbright-Hays Act.

Ian is no stranger to learning, traveling, and living abroad. Ian has traveled to Germany twice before: first on a semester-long trip to Berlin where he studied at the Deutsch in Deutschland Institute and also secured an internship at Bruker, an analytical scientific instrument company in Berlin. Later, Ian went on a UNL faculty-led trip to Germany that focused on energy and sustainability in Europe. He credits studying and interning abroad, along with the education he received through the College of Engineering and the Biological Systems Engineering department with teaching him the importance of problem solving, and the value of team work—skills he plans to build upon during his upcoming year studying and working in Germany.

When Ian returned to UNL after his semester abroad, he began doing undergraduate research in Professor Shadi Othman’s lab, working on ways to improve image quality and subject safety during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for mice studies. He is currently helping to develop an image compatible bioreactor for tissue engineering as well as serving as the Lab Manager. This August, Ian will leave the lab to take part in the CBYX program, and take the skills he learned at UNL back to Germany to succeed in his work and study there. He hopes to continue research in preparation for graduate studies with the goal of ultimately starting an international career in biomedical engineering.

The CBYX program is designed primarily for young adults in business, STEM (scientific, technical, engineering, and mathematical), agricultural, and vocational fields, though candidates in all fields are encouraged to apply. Participants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents between the ages of 18-24 and have clear career goals and experience in their professional fields. German language ability is not required, but is strongly recommended. Interested applicants can visit http://www.cbyx.info or the Education Abroad Office for more information.

More details at: http://go.unl.edu/hhy