Collaboration Creates a Summer Undergraduate Research Exchange Program
It used to be that students from Taiwan flocked to the United States for advanced studies in biomedical science and research. Now, not so much. Robert Wang, associate professor in the Department of Gung University, Taiwan, has been trying to encourage his undergraduate students to leave the country to explore science in the United States. In order to facilitate research experiences for his students, he went in search of partners. He found one in Jamie Arnold at Penn State’s Eberly College of Science.
As a senior research associate in the Cameron laboratory, Arnold has trained numerous undergraduate students in the lab. Many of these students are now leaders in their chosen professions. Arnold provided leadership and assumed major responsibility for development of the research exchange program. In collaboration with Krista Miller, global experiences coordinator in the Office of Science Engagement, and Masume Assaf, director of international student and scholar advising in Penn State Global Programs, Arnold established the process by which students applied, interviewed, and were admitted.
The inaugural class of three—Bowen Xu, Yen-Yu Chen, and Irene Peng—along with Wang arrived at the Penn State campus on Friday, July 8, 2016. The students worked in the Cameron, Girirajan and Holland laboratories and presented their research at a poster session on August 11.
It is expected that each year the program will grow and will soon include Penn State students doing research in Taiwan.
