Taking Lehigh to the World and Bringing the World to LehighInternational Internship for
Global Leadership Program
Student Report

Summer 2014

OFFICE OF
INTERNATIONALAFFAIRSDear Lehigh Friends and Colleagues:

Mohamed S. El-Aasser
Vice President & Associate Provost
for International Affairs
Professor of Chemical Engineering
Office Of International Affairs
Coxe Hall
32 Sayre Drive
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015-3123(610) 758-2981 Fax (610) 758-2982
e-mail: mse0@lehigh.edu
http://www.lehigh.edu/international/

According to the Institute of International Education (IIE), “international experience is one of the most importantcomponents of the 21st-century education”. At Lehigh, we subscribe to this notion and have been proactively
involved for many years in developing a suite of opportunities abroad to meet the varied needs of ourundergraduate students.
The International Internship for Global Leadership Program, inaugurated in the summer 2012, was designed toprovide our students with creative summer international internships and work and learn experience, and making
them financially affordable. The interns are selected through a highly competitive campus-wide process, andpreference is given to students who demonstrate financial need or who never have been abroad.
One of the outcomes is to prepare Lehigh graduates as future professionals for global careers, increasing theirmarketability in the workplace with practical experience and an enlarged cultural context. As a result of
globalization, employers are increasingly looking for graduates who have international skill and experience inorder to lead and succeed in the ever changing way the world works.
This booklet features the international experiences as documented by the 68 students (in their own words) who
participated in the third cycle of the program during the summer 2014. The students’ accounts reflect the wide
range of projects they worked on at a variety of companies, corporations, research universities, governmentorganizations and NGOs. The projects include risk management analysis in the reinsurance market in Singapore,
analyzing healthcare services across Asia, participating in a community development project with significant
women’s empowerment components in Indonesia, rebuilding educational infrastructure and historical archives in
the lingering aftermath of the genocide in Cambodia, and applied research in the field of energy in Malaysia. Theinternships were held in 23 different countries in Europe, Asia, Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and the
Middle East.
The students’ demand and interest are demonstrated by the fact that 212 students from all Lehigh’s four colleges
competed for the 68 internship positions in this cycle. Forty percent of the interns participated in 29 individual
placements in corporations and government agencies, and 60 percent participated in group programs in eight
countries. Eight faculty members from all four colleges directed these group programs, compared to four in theprevious cycle. The added benefits include: (i) for the Lehigh faculty to interact with their counterparts abroad
regarding research collaboration, and (ii) for Lehigh to enhance institutional partnerships with universities andNGOs in key regions around the world.
Looking ahead to the 2015 summer program, up to 96 student interns are estimated to participate in the
program with a 50/50 split between individual placements and faculty-directed group programs. It is anticipatedthat 12 group programs will be available in 2015, including five new sites in different countries directed by five
new faculty members.
We are grateful to the financial support through the incentive endowment funds initiated by Mr. Lee Iacocca ’45,
the matching funds from Lehigh alumni and friends, and the Freeman Foundation.
Sincerely,

Mohamed S. El-Aasser

2

2014 International Internships
Table of Contents:
Individual Internships
Barker, Cassandra…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………13-14
Berndt, Jocelyn……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……….….………….17-18
Collymore, Kali………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……………..………27-28
Gurule, Maggie………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………..…………..45-46
Hanes, Danielle…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………....49-50
Heintzelman, Lisa…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..53-54
Hooda, Kawsar……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……….……………..55-56
Ivy, Elaine……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………….….………..57-58
Kok, Royce………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..….…………67-68
Kopperman, John……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…….69-70
Llibre, Catheryn………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………….…….71-72
Lucci, Gabriel …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..….…75-76
Lum, Jonathan………………………………………………………………………………………………………………....…………..…………..……77-78
Martel, Rachel………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………..…………81-82
McComb, Audra……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……………….………83-84
Nguyen, Phuong………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………93-94
Quinn, Lacey……………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………………………….…….………105-106
Raber, Dana…………………………………….…………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………107-108
Ruiz-Carillo, Angee…………………………………….…………………………………………………………………………….……….………………113-114
Sleator, Lauren ………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………….….………………119-120
Smiechowski, Adam…………………………………….…..…………………………………………………………………………..…………..………123-124
Stephanou, Alexandra.………………………….…..………………………………………………………………………………………..……………125-126
Sternberg, Anna ……………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………………..…………………127-128
Wilkinson, Emily…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…..137-138

Group Internships
Cambodia ……………………………..………………..Ard (9-10), Granot (43-44), Moyer (91-92), Pritt (103-104), Zhang (143-144)
China ……………………………………………………………………...………………………Hass (51-52), Polite (101-102), Rochelle (109-110)
Costa Rica ……………….……….………… Barclay (11-12), Byrne (23-24), Kimball (61-62), Kleman (63-64), Sechrist (117-118),
Smalley (121-122)
Malaysia………………………......................................Callahan (25-26), Culkin (29-30), D’Onofrio (31-32), Macmillan (79-80),
Rodriques Aguiar (111-112), Villafane Sanz (133-134)
Italy………………… East (33-34), Gaddy (39-40), Gallina (41-42), McMaster (85-86), Peterson (99-100), Venosa (131-132)
Czech Republic…………………………………..… Basek (15-16), Bradshaw (19-20), Perdomo-Calero (97-98), Wedge (135-136)
Indonesia………………..….…………..…Fowler-Puja (37-38), Guzman (47-48), Knisley (65-66), Yu (139-140), Zhao (143-144)
Ghana………………………………………………..….…………Farrell (35-36), Jean-Noel (59-60), Sawin (115-116), Sullivan (129-130)

Corporate Sponsored Internships
Becton Dickinson ……………………………………………………….…………………….…………………Molgora (89-90), Oyefesobi (95-96)
3M ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………… Brown (21-22), Michaels (87-88)

3

Internship Placements
68 Students
United Arab Emirates
Singapore
Portugal
Moldova
Malaysia
Macedonia
Luxembourg
Kyrgyzstan
KosovoKazakhstan
Italy
Indonesia
India
Hong Kong
Ghana
Germany
Georgia
Czech Republic
Croatia
Costa Rica
China
Cambodia
Armenia
0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

4

Geographic Representation
68 Students, 23 countries
Asia
13%
9 students

Southeast Asia
32%
22 students

Africa6%
4 students

Europe19%
13 students

Eastern Europe
19%
13 students

Latin America
8%
5 students

Middle East
3%
2 students5Intern Demographics
68 Students
Prior International Experience

Student Year30

Yes (25%) 25
No (75%)20
Sophomore
Junior15

College

Senior

AE
1%

IC
2%

Graduate

10

EN
35%

5

AS
47%

0
ED
6%

BU
9%

Student Financial Status
No NeedLow Need
Medium Need
High Need

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

6

2014 International Internship Program
College Representation
Applicant Pool
212 studentsAE
1%
1 studentEN
31%
65 studentsED4%
8 studentsIC2%
5 students

AS45%
96 students

BU
17%
37 students

Selected Students
68 students
IBE
9%5 students(4 EN, 1 BU)AE
2%
1 studentEN
29%
20 studentsED
6%
4 students

AS46%
32 students

BU
7%
5 studentsIC
1%
1 student9Helen Ard
Cambodia
Global Studies

Cambodian Development
Mission for Disability:
Student InternCompany and Position Description:
While I was working in Cambodia at Cambodian Development Mission for Disability(CDMD), I was put to work on fundraising efforts for their daycare program in the Takeo
Province. I worked to get more youth involvement through local university students inthe city. The students at Zaman University were very interested and went with me andother coordinators on a site visit to one of the two daycares where they are currently
working on a future fundraising effort. I also worked on another future fundraisingproject for Lehigh Students to come back to Cambodia next summer to volunteer andsupply computers to the centers. Also, the small fundraiser I ran online through aprofessional website for students while I was interning was able to raise a little over$200. I also looked up research articles on childcare in Southeast Asia and possible
changes to their website design.

One of the two daycare centers CDMD
runs in the Takeo Province

Angkor Wat Temple

10Helen Ard
Cambodia

Myself and one of the children from theTakeo Daycares

Twins! Whose family I interviewed
for the future Lehigh student
project.

Value Derived from the Experience:
Before this international internship in Cambodia I had never traveled farther thanVirginia (having lived in PA for most of my life) and now I have traveled more thanhalfway around the world. I traveled to a country with a totally different environmentand culture than what I’m used to, which is exactly what I wanted to experience for myfirst time abroad. I learned a lot about the Khmer (Cambodian) language, culture, andhistory which was both beautiful and tragic. Tragic because of the genocide that
occurred in Cambodia during the 1970s under the communist regime. I visited a country
repairing itself with scars still clearly visible. Now because of my experience in Cambodia,
I have a deeper interest in sustainable development and poverty eradication. My love for
language has also deepened because, having no previous Khmer language experience, I
felt the gulf that occurs when you do not know the language. However, the NGO I
interned for was exactly an organization I could picture myself working for in the future,
an NGO working with the community to create positive and sustainable change. I would
not change this experience for anything.

11Erin Barclay
Costa Rica
IDEAS: Environmental
Engineering

Los Cusingos
Water Analysis InternCompany and Position Description:
Los Cusingos is a biological reserve located in Quizarrá, Pérez Zeledón. It wasestablished by the late Dr. Alexander Skutch who bought the property in 1941 andstarted protecting the land as well as studying the animals and plants living there. The
property is now owned by the CCT (Centro Científico Tropical), a world-famousorganization for the study and preservation of tropical forests. Dr. Alexander Skutch
also initiated the Biological Corridor that now ranges from Los Cusingos to Chirripó
National Park and was named in his honor.
During our six week internship at Los Cusingos, my fellow intern and I worked on
several projects, some of which built upon previous interns’ work. However, the main
project of this internship was conducting water quality testing, with the primary focus
on the Peñas Blancas River that runs through Los Cusingos. We also tested several
other streams on the property and a few rivers and streams in the surrounding area.
Another primary project was measuring trees on local farms that are contributing toreforestation efforts in order to strengthen the biological corridor. We also worked on
creating an inventory of the items in the House of Alexander Skutch, which is now a
museum. Additional projects included supporting environmental education by creating
a diorama of Los Cusingos, which includes the trails, streams, rivers, and models of thebuildings, and taking coordinates around the area with a GPS in order to make a land
use map of the corridor.

Sunrise from my house
Me with my host mom and sister12

Erin Barclay
Costa Rica

Susan and I at a coworkers
house for his birthday dinner

Me on a weekend trip to Volcano Irazu

Value Derived from the Experience:
This internship was an amazing opportunity for me academically, professionally andpersonally. At Los Cusingos our work was interesting and engaging and I learned a lot.
During my time I got valuable hands on experience with environmental testing andlearned more about how to work in group environments. Outside of work I stayed with
an amazingly welcoming homestay family and got to learn about their daily lives andCosta Rican culture. In addition I was able to travel every weekend to visit different
places around the beautiful country. I also learned a lot about communication. At firstthe language barrier was daunting, I studied Spanish in high school but I had not used
my spanish in several years. However it was a great opportunity to learn, I remembered
and learned a lot of spanish during my time there but I also learned to communicate inother ways such as with hand gestures and simplified phrases. By the time I left I wasvery comfortable with the language and my ability to communicate. Even after returning
to the US I sometimes find myself thinking in Spanish! Overall this experience wasfantastic for me! I got to learn more about environmental field work, meet someamazing people and learn about an entirely new culture!

13

Cassie Barker
Croatia
Biochemistry

Rijeka Sports Association
Program Development
Specialist

Company and Position Description:
The internship took place in Rijeka, Croatia at the business school PAR. PAR is a private
business school that offers a Bachelor of Arts degree in business management. We
designed two programs for the school throughout our internship. The first was aprogram for student athletes. PAR has enrolled various professional athletes, and it
was our job to design a program to aid them in their studies. Since these students areprofessional athletes, they often have time constraints and are absent from classes. The
student athlete program that was developed allows these students to learn in an
adapted curriculum that can work around their busy schedules. This program will help
them to successfully complete their degree and prepare them for life after their athletic
career. The second program that was developed was an international exchange andinternship program. Our job was to develop a program and connect with colleges in the
United States to seek out schools who were interested in participating in this kind ofpartnership. The international exchange program offers a Dual Diploma and allows
students who participate in it to graduate with a degree from both institutions. Theinternational internship program takes place during the summer and allows students togain real work experience at PAR. The business school PAR has sought out interested
schools and are continuing to develop and finalize agreements with universities in the
United States.

At the business school PAR
before Dario heads off to Lehigh

Korzo, the beautiful city center of Rijeka!
14Cassie Barker
Croatia

Hanging out with students from PAR on
the island of Krk!

Wandering around the Old City in Dubrovnik
located in the Dalmatia region of Croatia

Value Derived from the Experience:
My time in Croatia has been one that I will never forget. The experiences I havegained through work and the traveling I was able to do are ones that I don’t think I could
have gotten anywhere else. Before participating in this internship, I had never traveled
outside of the United States. After this experience, I have a new love for traveling andhave many other places I would like to visit. Being exposed to different cultures and new
ideas is so exciting and requires you to come out of your comfort zone and be open to
new things. I had the opportunity to travel to many places in and around Croatia andthese are experiences I wouldn’t change for anything. Through this internship at thebusiness school PAR, I have gained a great international work experience. The work
experience I’ve had has taught me a lot of things that has played a significant role in mypersonal and professional development. I have learned a lot about business, which I had
no prior knowledge of going into the internship. Developing and implementing
programs, making presentations, presenting my ideas to the faculty, and corresponding
with representatives from other schools have provided me with skills that I will be able
to use in any field that I decide to go into. I was given great freedom to propose newideas and give my own suggestions on existing ones. I have also been able to improveupon many skills through my assignments, such as creativity, teamwork, communication,
problem solving, and professionalism. With the increase in international career
opportunities today, I am sure that participation in this internship will prove to be evenmore beneficial in the future.
Living in Croatia for two months has really allowed me to immerse myself in theculture. The people I have met through work, the students at PAR, and other people I
have met along the way have made this an incredible experience. It has been one thebest experiences during my time at Lehigh and I am so thankful to have been given thisopportunity through the Iacocca International Internship Program.

15

Kevin Basek
Czech Republic
Mathematics

Inclusio
Social Inclusion InternCompany and Position Description:
The Iacocca International Internship in the Czech Republic was organized primarily through the
NGO Inclusio which was founded in 2013. Inclusio is one of a few NGOs in Prague, Czech
Republic that focus on the unfair treatment of minorities with particular interest on the Romani
people. Inclusio's founder, Petra Zahradnikova, has developed a significant professional
network within Prague which created internship placements at two similar organizations to
Inclusio named Romea and Slovo21. I personally was afforded the opportunity to intern at
Romea where I focused on organizational sustainability since Romea is a non-profit, mediabased NGO in need of funding and international partners. As a fluent speaker and writer ofEnglish, I reached out to organizations and searched for funding opportunities outside of the
Czech Republic with which the staff of Romea could not formally communicate with –in Englishon its own. By addressing these issues, I allowed the small group of people at Romea tomaintain its focus on humanitarian work while simultaneously preparing for the future.

A weekend trip to a Roma children’ssummer camp in the country

My photo was taken for
an article published on
www.romea.cz/en
16

Kevin Basek
Czech Republic

Located in the heart of Prague, theWallenstein Gardens are a must see.

A day trip to a World War II work campprovided a chilling reminder of the Czech
Republic’s past

Value Derived from the Experience:
My six weeks in the Czech Republic were certainly unforgettable as I distinctly remembera few situations that left me thinking, "I could have never expected to do that today."Being abroad opens the door to many situations that simply are not possible in the
United States due to differing cultures and resources. By getting exposed to these newexperiences, which for locals seemed so ordain, I got to build a broader perspective andlearn to enter new situations with a more open-minded approach. In terms of personal
growth, I had the chance to work in a field I had interest in but struggled to enter due tologistical reasons. As a math major with aspirations to go into banking, I had focused on
résumé building experiences which I often felt left me at a disadvantage in terms of
personal growth. The Iacocca Internships are unique in the way that they mix personal
and professional growth by introducing an international aspect to work experience.
Simultaneously entering a new culture, locale and job can be overwhelming but it
certainly instigates growth and learning in a way that a classroom can not.

17

Jocelyn Berndt
Kyrgyzstan
Finance

American Councils
Marketing &Fundraising InternCompany and Position Description:
Kelechek Healthprom is a local Kyrgyz non-government organization (NGO) that works
to empower the vulnerable by supporting activities and rights for disabled children andtheir families. Established only recently, within the past few years Kelechek HP has
succeeded in funding the establishment of day centers for disabled children, organizing
an international conference on disabled rights in Bishkek, providing services andsupport for local parent groups and much more. The marketing and fundraising intern
can help the company research possible grant donors along with provide insight intoways to successfully meet fundraising goals. The intern collaborates with othercolleagues and volunteers to create project ideas and learn how to promote thecompany using various social media outlets.

Our main office in Bishkek

Working on a project withvolunteers from the US, the UK
and Bulgaria

18

Jocelyn Berndt
Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyz nature is a must see!

The inside of a Kyrgyz yurt

Value Derived from the Experience:
Working in Kyrgyzstan has provided me with a better global perspective. I was able tocommunicate and discuss current events with my colleagues and fellow interns from allaround the world. By observing the internal workings of Kelechek, I gained a better
understanding of how NGOs in developing countries function (and in what ways theyneed to improve their operations). This opportunity also provided me with a greater
cultural understanding; Kyrgyz culture is extremely different from American culture and I
am grateful to have been given the chance to experience it first hand via the host family
experience. I believe that I grew both professionally and personally with the assistance of
the Iacocca International Internship.

19

Claire Bradshaw
Czech Republic
IDEAS: Integrated Degree inEngineering, Arts
& Sciences

Inclusio
Social Inclusion InternCompany and Position Description:
Inclusio is a small NGO that was established in 2013 that works for equal education for
all children and empowerment of women. At this NGO, I worked on balancing a budget
to enable us to apply for a grant opportunity. Additionally, I helped proofread and apply
for the grant, search for other grant opportunities and create social media outlets for
the NGO. I also went to a camp for Roma children and planned a “field day” for themfilled with many different activities. I created an infographic and video with myinternship group to raise awareness about the inequality of educational opportunities
in the Czech Republic for the Roma. We then made a presentation at the American
Center about our internship and the work that we did while we were there, during
which we unveiled the infographic and video.

Camp with Roma children

At the John Lennon Wall

20

Claire Bradshaw
Czech Republic

Making our presentation at
the American Center

Beautiful view of Prague

Value Derived from the Experience:
My experience in Prague helped me learn more about other cultures and develop moreas a person. Before coming to Prague I have had the opportunity to spend time withmany international students to the point where I was thinking I might want to explore
working and living in Europe. This internship gave me the ability to see if this was reallysomething I want. After spending six weeks in Europe and being able to travel on theweekends I have come to the realization that living in Europe is something I really want.
Now I know what options I want to explore in the future. Additionally, this internshiphas helped me practice working in a group setting and communicating with manydifferent types of people. Since my group was rather large (6 people), it wasn’t always
easy, but by the end of the trip I was able to work well with all of them. Talking withmany of the Czech people taught me that many of the problems they face, especially theRoma, are similar to the issues some people in the US fit. Even though we went to adifferent country, many issues were the same, and we were able to think of ways tocombat them in both countries which was exciting.

21

Jennie Brown
Singapore
ChemicalEngineering

3M Singapore
R&D InternCompany and Position Description:
3M, or Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, as it was originally called, is a manyfaceted company dedicated to innovation. Their products range from Post-it Notes toabrasives to electronic materials, and as a company, creating new solutions using triedand-true technologies is held in great esteem. I was positioned as a R&D intern in theElectronic Materials and Solutions Division (EMSD) under the Microinterconnect
Development Laboratory. During my attachment, I learned about the development offlexible circuit LEDs, which are becoming more and more popular due to their low costand small size. Once familiar with the process, I was tasked with developing standardsof testing for new polymer films used in the flexible LEDs. My methods would be usedinternally to compare polymer films in the future.
A picture of the 3M
Woodlands Plant

Insert photo here(with small caption
below)

22

Jennie Brown
Singapore
Left: My supervisor and me getting
ready for work.
Below: Saying goodbye to my fellow
interns after two months

Insert photo here(with small
caption below)
Value Derived from the Experience:
My experience at 3M was tremendously valuable in helping me gain a better
understanding of the inner workings of the company and in developing soft skills I will beable to use in the future. During my internship, I took tours of all the laboratories under
the EMSD, and these allowed me not only to get an inside look at the many products 3M
has to offer, but also to appreciate how each department functions and interacts withother laboratories. My work with flexible LED circuits taught me several otherconstructive lessons. 3M places heavy emphasis on independence, and its interns are no
exception. During my assignments I was working to create my own solutions with only
occasional guidance from my supervisor. Because of this, I was able to gain experience
designing my own experiments, conduct independent research, and even offer my own
input on the future of the project. My favorite part of the attachment, however, was alittle different from most other interns’ experiences. During our work on flex circuits, theneed arose to find a new material to use in our product. It fell to me to not only siftthrough the dozens of vendors online, but to then contact each possible supplier andestablish connections with them. I even scheduled and attended an in-person meetingwith one of the suppliers. This project helped me improve my interpersonal skills, as well
as gave me some insight into vendor-buyer relations.

23Sean Byrne
China
Industrial Engineering& MathUniversity of Science andTechnology of China
Research InternCompany and Position Description:
Each of the Lehigh students who went to USTC were paired with a different professor
for a research project that catered to their interests. I worked with a professor in the
School of Management on a research project involving simulation within heath care.
We wanted to discover the situations in which an emergency department would benefit
from using a Fast-Track system of assigning doctors to patients. Most of my time wasspent developing and testing code written in Matlab for a computer simulation of an
emergency department. A large portion of time was also spent mathematicallyconfirming the results of the simulation and improving the speed at which thesimulation ran. I was able to work within a lab where several other graduate students
were performing similar research. On the weekends, there were trips to various places
around China, including Shanghai, Nanjing, and Yellow Mountain.

In a village outside the city of Wuhu

The view from an ancient tower in Hefei

24

Sean Byrne
China

At our hotel with friends

At Yellow Mountain

Value Derived from the Experience:
This experience has helped me to realize where I might want to take my future career.
The work I was doing was rewarding and challenging in all the right ways, and theworking environment was laid-back and friendly. Getting to know the other students in
my lab and the projects they were working on was also helpful, as I was able to see what
research within graduate school is like. The friends we made here were incredibly helpful
and we made countless wonderful memories with them. In general, the people aroundus were always willing to take time out of their day to make our experience even better.
Prior to this experience, I had never traveled to another country. Removing myself frommy comfort zone by participating in this experience allowed me to reflect on myself as aperson and on the world around me. I feel that I have learned so much about Hefei,
about China, and about the ways in which people live their lives and look at the world
around them. Since returning, I’ve been able to step back and see the people and places
around me in an entirely new light. This new perspective will be invaluable to my future
personal and professional development.

25

Kelly Callahan
Malaysia
Bioengineering

Iacocca InternshipResearch InternCompany and Position Description:
I worked as a research intern in the Center for Biofuels and Biochemical Research at
Universite Teknologi Pertronas. I worked in a lab with two other students from Lehighand a graduate student who directly oversaw my individual research project. My
individual project centered around the study of bio oil from grinded up palm leaves. I
had to characterize the palm leaf, which was the biomass to be used to create oil. Next,
I obtained oil from the biomass by carrying out a process called pyrolysis with a droptype pyrolyzer. Finally, I was able to characterize the bio-oil obtained from theexperiment, using several different criteria, to make conclusions about the quality ofthe oil obtained from palm leafs. The hours worked were flexible and allowed time fortravel when not in the lab.

Working with the drying oven to
prepare the palm leaf sample

Characterizing palm leaf sample in the furnace

26

Kelly Callahan
Malaysia

A view of Universite Teknologi
Petronas

A group picture from our travels to
Pulau Langkawi

Value Derived from the Experience:
This experience allowed me to branch out and network in ways that I never thought
would be possible. This allowed me to seize the moment and create some of my best
memories with people from all over the world, each giving me a new perspective andsomething to learn from. I was able to work in a professional research lab, working on
relevant research in bio-fuels. I created professional relationships with my colleagues
and research advisors that I feel will stay with me throughout my future. I was also able
to connect with my colleagues personally and got the chance to learn a lot about
Malaysia this way. Besides developing professionally and learning about the dynamic ofworking in a research laboratory, I also got the chance to travel all over Malaysia. I took
every sort of transportation there ever was including, cars, trains, buses, taxis, metros,
ferries, skiffs, gondolas, kayaks, ATVs, motor-bikes, and skybridges to discover all that I
could of Malaysia. This left me with the memories of the most beautiful sights I haveever seen. It also helped instill in me a new-found, savvy fervor for getting around,travelling, experiencing other cultures, reaching out to new people, and learning how tomake any experience possible. Overall, I can say that I left Malaysia with a new
confidence in the ways that I can connect and relate to people. I was able to makememories with wonderful people, and I look forward to meeting and making more!

27

Kali Collymore
Kyrgyzstan
Political Science

Kyrgyz Concept
Marketing &Fundraising InternCompany and Position Description:
While living in Kyrgyzstan, I interned for Kyrgyz Concept, which is the most prominent
travel agency in the country. Kyrgyz Concept primarily organizes and books tours of local
attractions and exhibitions throughout Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia. My work consistedof editing and proofreading travel brochures, drafting emails and newsletters, scouting
potential tours, and making phone calls to clients.

Scouting a potential tour of the SaryChelek Nature Reserv.

Kyrgyz Concept Offices

28

Kali Collymore
Kyrgyzstan

Insert photo here(with small
caption below)
Yurts on a company tour of the Shamsi Gorge.

Kyrgyz Concept Offices

Value Derived from the Experience:
During my time in Kyrgyzstan I learned a lot about myself as well as the world. The
experience has helped me to see my potential by allowing me to travel to the other sideof the world on my own to live and work submerged in a culture and way of life that is
entirely foreign to my own. It has taught me patience and understanding, and has
provided me with an opportunity to expand my comfort zone and my level of openmindedness, all while getting real world work experience. I was able to catch a glimpseof my future in a professional setting as well as some clarity in the quest to figure out
once and for all what exactly I would like to do for the rest of my life.

29

Andrew Culkin
Malaysia
Mechanical Engineering

Universiti Teknologi Petronas
Research AssistantCompany and Position Description:
During my time in Malaysia, I stayed at the Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP). While I
was there, I worked at the Center for Automotive Research and Electronic Mobility(CAREM). I was assigned to assist graduate students with performing tests on two
different kinds of internal combustion engines. I worked with the CNG-DI engine todetermine the effects of injection timing and engine speed on the resultant torque ofthe engine. I also worked with the Diesel engine to determine the effects of the throttle
percentage and engine speed on the resultant torque. In addition to testing engines I
taught myself to use the industry standard CAD software for automotive engineering,
CATIA. This experience was incredibly valuable because I got to work with automotiveengineers, learn about the details of internal combustion engines and perform tests
that were integral to bettering the performance of engines for the future.

Visiting an indigenous Malaysian village

Diesel test engine setup at the CAREM

30

Andrew Culkin
Malaysia

Standing atop Gunung Mat Chinchang
mountain near the Langkawi Sky-Bridge

Competing in a blow-dart competition
during our trek through the jungle

Value Derived from the Experience:
The research I performed at UTP was an incredible experience not only academically, but
professionally as well. I was able to work with people with very diverse backgrounds andlearn about their cultures and traditions. However, the best part of my experience was
the traveling I did while away from the university. Traveling allowed me to see how theculture in a predominantly Islamic country was different than, but also very similar to,
our culture here in America. A lot of cultural differences were visible at UTP, from a callfor prayer over the loudspeaker 5 times each day, to the extremely spicy and inexpensive
food served in the dining halls. However, when I traveled to places besides UTP, I saw
things that were both different and similar to our own culture. I was able to visit many
places both in and out of Malaysia including an indigenous village in the northern part of
Malaysia, and Singapore, one of the most robust cities in southeast Asia. When I visitedthe indigenous people I was able to talk to them and see how different their life is fromour own, the struggles they faced on a daily basis and how the Malaysian government is
helping to preserve their culture. When I went to Singapore, I saw how similar toAmerican culture parts of Asia can be. Many aspects of the city reminded me of homelike all the incredible buildings, its advanced public transportation systems, and thebeautiful Botanical Gardens that showcased different plants from around the world. This
internship was an amazing experience, and I will remember the things I learned in
Malaysia for the rest of my life. I am extremely lucky that I was able to travel half way
around the world to do research related to my field of study, experience the diverse
culture and explore all the beautiful places that Malaysia has to offer.

31

Andrew D’Onofrio
Malaysia
Mechanical Engineering

Universiti Teknologi Petronas
Research AssistantCompany and Position Description:
My internship took place at Unviersiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP), a university sponsoredby Petronas, a leader in the oil and gas industry. Petronas is an internationallyrenowned company whose headquarters is located in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur
at the world famous Petronas Twin Towers. The university is located in the state ofPerak, and my internship consisted of researching the flow over a loaded and unloaded
airfoil at different angles of attack. My research aimed to determine at what point
boundary layer separation occurs and at what point stalling of the aircraft might occur. I
worked in one of the computer labs on campus alongside a Malaysian student who
attends UTP as well as with a doctorate student who guided us along the way. I learned
how to use a Computational Dynamics Fluid tool called ANSYS Fluent which allowed me
to simulate the flow over the airfoil.

The gang walking around the streets of thecapital city: Kuala Lumpur.

Shooting blow darts at a target in thejungles of Kuala Lupis.

32

Andrew D’Onofrio
Malaysia

Relaxing for the weekend on theisland of Pangkor.

Visiting the sky bridge of Langkawi.

Value Derived from the Experience:
My trip to Malaysia was an absolutely fantastic experience and I am very happy that I
had the opportunity to be a part of this Iacocca International Internship. Interacting withthe people of Malaysia taught me a lot of different things that enhanced myunderstanding of the world and taught me effective ways to communicate with people
who speak a different language. One of the biggest differences between the cultures of
the United States and Malaysia was the heavy influence of Islam in Malaysia. The vast
majority of Malaysians are Muslim and they generally live a very different life than we doin the United States. Living with others of this religion and learning about their customs
and beliefs helped me to develop a greater respect for them and their way of life.

33

Erin East
Milan, Italy
Journalism

Asian Studies Group
Communications Manager

Company and Position Description:
Asian Studies Group helps to bring awareness and a certain level of education about
Japanese, Chinese and Korean cultures. There are teachers that work in theorganization that teach language classes and classes on their culture. While I wasworking with this organization, I assisted with their social media platforms. I helped
translate the Italian social media pages and pages on their website into English so that
Anglophone companies they wish to associate with can read and understand thewebsites. I also got to travel to Lodi to teach a class on communication from an
American stand point.

The center of Lodi where I taught my class.
The street where theLodi office is located.
34

Erin East
Milan, Italy

Me, Mia and Raven

Ali, Raven, me, Jackie and Daphnee
at the Last Supper painting

Value Derived from the Experience:
This internship definitely allowed me to step outside my comfort zone and learn how tomanage my expectations. I never taught a class before and didn’t really know how to go
about doing it. I wasn’t used to preparing lessons and talking to a small group of people
about communication. It was difficult because the Italians had a different idea of what
communication was and how I should be teaching it. So I had to manage my expectations
a little and adapt to their way of learning.
I also had some really great non work related experiences that I will never forget. Mia,
the Italian student that we lived with was amazing. She definitely made the trip
memorable as well. Being in Italy allowed me to meet new people and make some newfriends all while experiencing the beauty and culture that Italy has to offer. The trip waswell worth it!

35

Abigail Farrell
Ghana
IDEAS: Environmental
Engineering &Sociology

Proslin Limited
Sustainable Development
InternCompany and Position Description:
Proslin (GH) Limited is a full service construction and development solutions firm basedout of Accra, Ghana. Their key services include supplying services, civil engineering &construction, and development solutions to problems faced by many low income
Ghanaians. According to their company profile, Proslin takes pride in “investing in thecommon person, ‘the bottom of the pyramid’ people”. Many of the issues that haveplagued poor Ghanaian and African people for decades have very simple solutions andProslin has an extensive worldwide network to invest heavily to help provide thesesolutions. The company recognizes that the economy of Ghana has been on a path ofgrowth for the past few years, and they also recognize the Ghanaian government’s
determination to make Ghana the economic hub of West Africa. This determination has
led to various development projects being commissioned in various sectors of theeconomy. The Proslin team is comprised of dedicated professionals from a variety ofexperienced disciplines, including Accounting, Finance, Engineering, Insurance, Real
Estate, and various consulting practices making them a unique company and putting
them above the competition due to their ability to provide the highest quality ofservice/products reliably. These professionals have experience working for leading
institutions in Africa and the United States, which gives Proslin as a whole a great
advantage and opportunity to support and service Ghana’s growing economy.

Interviewing farmers about fertilizing methods
William Sullivan presenting his research

36Abigail Farrell
Ghana

The group after our final presentation

Visiting independence arch in Accra

Value Derived from the Experience:
The Lee Iacocca International Internship in Ghana was one of the best experiences of mylife. Throughout the 6 weeks I learned so much about the Ghanaian culture, theengineering process, and myself. It was my first experience working for an engineering
company but proved to be a great experience. I learned so much from the other interns
too. We all had diverse academic backgrounds, which complimented each other very
well. Outside the office it learned so much for all of them too. It seemed that our diverse
academic backgrounds flooded to make us a diverse group intellectually too. Theinternship also provided us with a great opportunity to understand how businesses anddaily life functions in another country. Working closely with Ghanaians who do manythings differently than Americas forced you to evaluate the credibility of typical American
methods. It was invaluable to see life through a context outside of Lehigh and the UnitedStates. The experience we interns had while not working was also incredible. As
Ghanaians are incredibly friendly people, we met many people who taught us a lot about
their culture too. We had a blast doing so and will definitely keep in touch with those we
met to further expand our networks. Sight seeing was an added bonus, especiallyhighlighting our trip to Cape Coast were we visited the slave castles. All us interns took
away an enormous amount of lessons, which can only be truly valued as we move
forward in our careers outside of Lehigh University.

37Wayan Briana Fowler-PujaIndonesia
Math & Asian Studies

Universitas Gadjah Mada
Community Development InternCompany and Position Description:
Gadjah Mada University is one of the most prestigious universities in Indonesia. It is
located in Yogyakarta, Indonesia a city regarded as a cultural and educational center inIndonesia. UGM has around 55,000 student, including both graduate andundergraduate. Every year it sends about 6,000 of it’s undergraduates to various placesin Indonesia to work on community service projects. Every undergraduate is required tocomplete a term of community service before graduation. We participated in thecommunity service trip to a village called Gulurejo. Our job was to find out from thevillagers and our own observations, issues that needed to be worked on. We thendeveloped programs to help resolve these issues. The main program I worked on dealt
with trash management. Most of the trash is either littered or burned which is harmful
for the people and the environment, so we looked into other options to deal with thetrash and then gave a presentation and distributed informational brochures. We werealso tasked with developing a positive and lasting relationship between the university
and the village. This involved a lot of socializing and attending events. To this end, I also
went with one of the UGM students to a local school to teach math.

Photo with UGM students and village youth
after a meeting.

Receiving a plaque after giving a talkwith Leidy Guzman on methods oftrash management.
38

Wayan Briana Fowler-PujaIndonesia

Prambanan temple.

Learning how to makebatik with the UGM
students.

Value Derived from the Experience:
On a personal level, this internship expanded my world view by exposing me to adifferent culture and way of life. Instead of just reading and hearing stories about village
life in Indonesia, I lived it for five weeks. We had no running water, no gas stove, andpoor lighting. While spending five weeks there is not the same as living there full time, it
did give me a taste of how a majority of Indonesia’s population lives. This gave me arenewed appreciation for the conveniences we have. Also, after spending so much timewith the UGM students, I learned a lot about the culture there and their world views
which in turn made think more about my own. We had the chance to not only visit
cultural sites like anyone visiting Indonesia could, but also to delve more deeply into theculture and what it means to the people there. In terms of professional skills, thisinternship taught me a lot about starting and running projects. We didn’t have projects
designed and handed to us to complete. We had to make our projects from beginning toend; from coming up with the general idea to working out the last detail. We also had tolearn to cope with language and culture barriers. Because we were conducting our
projects in a non-English speaking country, we could not get or transmit information
without the translation help of the UGM students. This could be frustrating because theprocess of translating is messy and there were often miscommunications. We also had tolearn to work with societal conventions while running our programs to make sure we had
the villager’s support and did not offend anyone. I feel that all these things have mademe a more sensitive, independent, and worldly person.

39

Raven M. Gaddy
Milan, Italy
Global & Africana Studies

GariwoEnglish Web InternCompany and Position Description:
The Committee for the Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide first started in Milan in1999 and was officially formed in 2001. This organization is responsible for planting
commemorative gardens to individuals considered "Righteous", as well as receiving
permission from European Parliament to establish the annual "European Day of theRighteous" on March 6. The Gariwo website is the Committee's main instrument for
publicizing the subject of the Righteous and the exemplary figures whose names haveoften remained unknown. The website takes the acronym of the English version of theCommittee (Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide) and includes an Italian version and ashorter English version, to reach international readers.
My duties included Preparation for and assistance with English lesson for employees - Overall maintenanceof English website - Authorship of articles and "flash" news pieces - Preparation andparticipation in daily Press Reviews for website content - Translation of articles from
Italian to English - Editing of English news pieces and articles.

Tree of the Righteous40

Raven M. Gaddy
Milan, Italy

Tree of the Righteous

Biographies of Righteous figures

Value Derived from the Experience:
This experience was one that was quite unforgettable. Having been my third time in Italy,
I did not have very high expectations. Once on the ground, I was responsible for my own
living, meals, and navigating to work on my own. I loved the opportunity of finding myown way to work, especially in a new city. It gave me vital problem-solving skills andconfidence that I can live almost anywhere.
Working at Gariwo was even more amazing. I was responsible for helping decide content
for the English website, as well as editing, writing articles and compiling photo galleries.
This experience was far from the usual internship, which would only include tangential
work for the company. I can proudly say that I was an active part of an international
NGO. I gained so much knowledge and insight, while still being able to provide my own
personal academic background. I was challenged every day and enjoyed the newexperience.

41

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43

Dean Granot
Cambodia
Behavioral Neuroscience &Psychology

Royal University of Phnom Pehn
InternCompany and Position Description:
I spent my summer interning at the Psychology Department of the Royal University ofPhnom Pehn in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia. While there I assisted in a variety of projects,
however the majority of my efforts focused on two. The first half of my internship was
spent helping to coordinate a national health conference dressing Mental Illness on anational level. My work included organizing and controlling powerpoint presentations
on the various topics as well as creating the overarching poster presentation for the
conference. The second half of my time was spent putting together a curriculum for a
new course on the history of psychology which was implemented in September 2014. I
spent two months with the Psychology Department.

Working at my desk at RUPP
Presenting my work at a Cambodian
mental health conference
44Dean Granot
Cambodia

Monsoon during monsoon season

Angkor Wat at sunrise

Value Derived from the Experience:
The time I spent working with the Psychology department at the Royal University ofPhnom Pehn had affected me more than I ever imagined it would have. I grew attachedto the people that I was working with and the work that i was studying. In terms of thework, I was exposed to hands on research and field work which gave me a very uniqueand real understanding of the field that I will one day enter. However I could get thatexperience anywhere, the real vale of my work abroad was the way I felt seamlessly
immersed and a part of local khmer (cambodian) culture. A part of me will always thrive
to return. The food, culture, and people were unique and genuine. The poverty of thecountry was impossible to overlook, but what was harder was ignoring the genuine
happiness of the local people. through my work at RUPP I was able to interact withthose locals in a setting privy to very few.

45

Maggie Gurule
KosovoPolitical Science

American Councils
Marketing & Research InternCompany and Position Description:
The American Councils office in Prishtina, Kosovo runs two programs: the Kosovo
American Education Fund (KAEF), and the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study(YES). These programs both send Kosovars to America for education purposes. The YES
program sends Kosovar high schoolers to America for an exchange year, and KAEF sends
Kosovar graduate students to an American university for a master’s program. Primarily,
my work with American Councils was assisting with office tasks: updating databases andscanning papers. Additionally, I helped welcome recently returned YES alumni homethrough various programs, as well as facilitate and prepare for various Pre-Departure
Orientations for both programs.

Mother Teresa Cathedral BellTower, above Prishtina, Kosovo

Farm house visit outside of Prishtina, Kosovo
46

Maggie Gurule
KosovoThe 40 Bunar Fest in Prizren,
KosovoLake Ohrid, Macedonia

Value Derived from the Experience:
My summer in Kosovo couldn’t have been more transformative; I learned so much, notonly about myself but also about what it means to be a professional abroad. For myself, I
spent a lot of time traveling around the Balkans alone, which was intimidating at times
but really did well to highlight how well I can adapt and manage without assistance.
Despite this, I would say I learned the most about being a professional in Kosovo. I
hadn’t had much office experience before this summer, and working in an office that was
so closely tied to the US Embassy really showed me how much variation there is theprofessional realm. Because “Market and Research Intern” doesn’t directly apply to my
degree, nor my professional interests, I was a bit apprehensive and didn’t think I would
get a lot applicable or guiding experience out of being in Kosovo. However, I’m really,
really pleased that this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Being in Kosovo reaffirmed
how much I truly want to find a career that offers me the opportunity to travel or live
abroad as much as possible. It also taught me how important it is to be cognizant ofdiffering culture norms in a professional settings and how to interact professionally withpeople from other cultures. Overall, my experience in Kosovo far exceeded any
expectations I had and I would encourage anyone to seek out similar opportunities.

47

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49

Danielle Hanes
Armenia
Global Studies

Eurasia Partnership Foundation
Program InternCompany and Position Description:
The Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF) is a civil society organization whose mission is“To empower people to effect change for social justice and economic prosperity
through hands-on programs, helping them to improve their communities and their own
lives.” Although Armenia has been engaged in ethnic and border conflict for most of its
existence, EPF believes that the best predictor for future stability is the present, andworks constantly to secure outside funding for innovative programs that take placethroughout the year. As a Program Intern, I mainly reviewed and edited program
reports and grant proposals bound to donor organizations such as USAID and theEuropean Commission, but I was also given the opportunity to represent the Eurasia
Partnership Foundation at both a civil society workshop and conference.

Representing EPF at a United Nations
Development Programme-NESTA civil society
workshop

Republic Square, the hub of Yerevancity life50Danielle Hanes
Armenia

The view from Tatev Monastery, a historic
landmark

A typical evening at the Yerevan Opera
House

Value Derived from the Experience:
As a Global Studies major, subjecting myself to unpredictable experiences in faraway
places is not simply a graduation requirement‒ it is my passion and how I want to spend
the rest of my life. Interning at the Eurasia Partnership Foundation in Yerevan, Armenia
challenged me in a variety of ways; while learning how to adapt to a society vastlydifferent from that of the United States, I became fully integrated into the realm of civilsociety organizations (CSOs).
At the Eurasia Partnership Foundation, I gained valuable insight into the daily operationsof a civil society organization from drafting grant proposals to hosting meetings withfellow CSO partners to implementing the programs themselves and much more. Until mytime in Armenia, I had never realized exactly how much effort goes into executing
development initiatives; after countless hours of planning, negotiating, andimplementation, there is no guarantee that there will be results. Through thisexperience, my appreciation for those organizations that devote themselves todevelopment in all sectors has increased dramatically, and I am confident that I will findmyself in their position in the future.

51

Tamara Hass
China
Computer Science

USTC
Robotics Research InternCompany and Position Description:
I worked in the Multi-Agent Robotics lab at the University of Science and Technology ofChina. I worked directly under a postdoctoral scholar, who gave me a project to work on
during my 6-week stay that is usually offered as an 8-week summer course at USTC. The
project had two parts. The first part was to create a 3D map of the lab area using therobot known as the Turtlebot 2. The second part was to send the map file from one
robot to another through a WiFi router, and save the file on the second robot’s
computer. The resources I were given were tremendous, as I had a desk, a desktop, two
laptops, and a Turtlebot2 robot to complete my work! I worked Monday – Friday,
averaging about 40 hours a week. Each Monday, I participated in weekly lab meetings
with other members of the lab, in which we discussed what we had worked on theprevious week, what we plan to work on the upcoming week, and any significant
problems or issues that need to be addressed. Beyond being able to learn more about
robotics, this experience gave me the opportunity to learn more about working in apost graduate environment.

Controlling Turtlebot 2

Visiting shops in Shanghai
52

Tamara Hass
China

My desk at USTC

700+ year old tree atthe Yellow Mountain

Value Derived from the Experience:
Working in the Multi-Agent Robotics lab was different from working in any other courseor team setting that I had previously encountered. Instead of working together on thesame project, each person in the lab was working on their own research project—working as a Master’s, PhD, or postdoctoral student. Thus on a day-to-day basis,
everyone had their own research problems to focus on instead of focusing on any
struggles that I had. For this reason, it was imperative that I be able to work productively
on my own. Every problem specific to my code that I encountered was my responsibility
to figure out. When something did not work for a prolonged period of time, I had todecide the most time efficient way of handling it. By working in this type of environment,
I gained a strong ability of self-learning and problem solving that I will be able to apply to
all future projects and jobs.
Since English was not the first language of any of my lab mates, it was often
difficult to discuss various technical concepts with them. I gained the ability to explain
concepts in different ways by rephrasing the conversation or bringing in familiar
examples that they would be able to relate to. I believe that having the ability to convey
my thoughts to my lab mates was an important quality for me to practice because often
times, even amongst native English speakers, people misunderstand each other when
hearing new ideas for the first time. Thus, it was beneficial for me to practice bothnoticing and getting around that confusion. Overall, this internship was a phenomenal
peak into the world of robotics and postgraduate research that gave me the opportunity
to implement and learn various problem solving techniques. I hope to carry thesecharacteristics with me for many years to come!

53

Lisa Heintzelman
Singapore
IBE/Chemical Engineer

Aon Benfield
Data and Analytics InternCompany and Position Description:
During my time at AON Benfield, I worked as a Data and Analytics Intern. Alongside theother Singaporean interns, I received extensive training regarding the reinsurance
market and Aon’s role, specifically in treaty reinsurance. I had no prior work experiencein the insurance or reinsurance markets so the training was very valuable to my overall
understanding of the organization and provided a solid background for the projects I
was assigned. The Data and Analytics team works to analyze data provided by insurancecompanies in order to help these clients determine the best type of reinsurance
coverage. I worked both independently and in groups with the interns to complete avariety of projects for various employees of the Data and Analytics Team. This included
projects such as benchmarking, research to help develop a flood model, and analysis
when provided large amounts of raw data from clients. Through my time at Aon
Benfield, I gained a deep understanding of how the organization operates, was involvedin networking events and conferences, and formed strong relationships with the all of
wonderful coworkers I was surrounded by. I learned the value of asking for help,
managing my time, and taking initiative to learn from my colleagues whenever possible.
Working at Aon Benfield this summer was such a valuable experience, especially for myfirst internship. All of the people I worked with helped to shape my time in Singapore
and my internship was a positive and rewarding part of my international experience!

Gardens by the Bay
Hot-Pot dinner with theinterns!

Last day of work at the office54

Lisa Heintzelman
Singapore

Visiting Hoan Kiem in Vietnam

Exploring Marina Bay

Value Derived from the Experience:
I had no idea that two months working abroad in Singapore could change my worldviews,
make me more self-aware and push me outside of my comfort zone. I interned with native
Singaporeans, got the opportunity to work in an amazing organization and immersed myself
in the culture. As we went to lunch everyday, the interns encouraged me to try new foodsand experiences I might have been shy to indulge in otherwise. I ate foods I never imagined
like black fungus and pork kidney, traveled around the country sight seeing and challenged
myself to learn as much as I could about Singapore's history, traditions and people. Thiscountry draws residents from all over the Asia Pacific, so I was exposed to many cultures in
Singapore during my visits to Little India, Arab Street and Chinatown. My experience wasunique because I lived like a native during the week, adjusting to the customs of Singapore
society. But on the weekends, I became a tourist, traveling to other countries in the Asia
Pacific seeing famous sites, in places like Vietnam and Malaysia. I made sure I wascompletely open to every opportunities offered to me, both at work and while exploring
Singapore.
I worked with people from all over the world. The Data and Analytics Team alone included
coworkers from 13 different countries spanning the globe. On a daily basis, I learned about
their cultures, upbringings, traditions and what brought them to Singapore. I also enjoyedhearing about life in Singapore from the native interns because they could give me afirsthand account of what its like to be a 20 year old growing up there, in contrast to my own
life at Lehigh. Meeting and forming relationships with such a diverse group has made me
more culturally aware.
I feel as though I’ve grown as an individual and learned about myself through this incredible
opportunity. I reaffirmed my true values, discovered new interests, and learned how I handledifficult situations when put to the test in a new environment. As a result, I’ve become more
independent and more confident in my abilities. My future endeavors will be influenced andcolored by my time in Singapore and my ability to experience this multitude of cultures all in
one place. I already see my trip impacting me in positive ways, as I appreciate the everyday
differences between my life in the U.S. and my home away from home in Singapore. Comingback to Lehigh, I feel like my summer experience changed me for the better and I encourage
anyone who has the chance to seize this opportunity.
55

Kawsar Hooda
India
Civil Engineering

VIVA Group

Company and Position Description:
The company I interned at this summer, the VIVA group, is a giant conglomerate whichis involved in multiple industries. Its involvement ranges from land aggregation anddevelopment, to running colleges, hospitals, restaurants, retail supermarkets and more
recently travel agencies. For decades, however, their main business has been to
aggregate and develop land.
Since VIVA has continued to master and polish its developing techniques, it was very
valuable for me to intern with them over the summer, especially since I am a civilengineering major. I had the opportunity to work closely with professional, licensed civilengineers, referred to as RCC Consultants, in India. I was shown construction plans forfoundations and individual floors and explained the details behind them. Together withsite inspectors, we monitored the progress of different construction sites to ensure
metal rods (for piles, pile caps, columns and beams) were joined correctly before
concrete could be poured over it. I also had the opportunity to spend some of my timewith an architect, during which I could put a little bit of my CAD skills in to practice. And
finally, but most importantly, I had the opportunity to witness high-level negations inbusiness meetings during my stay in India, through which I was able to expand myprofessional network.

A visit to The Golden Temple in Amritsar
Inspecting steel connections
before pouring concrete canbe approved56Kawsar Hooda
India

Adam and me, enjoying the breeze
on Mumbai’s Shores

Adam (left) Monty (center) and Me (right)

Value Derived from the Experience:
My experience in India has truly been valuable ever since the day we arrived. Never have
I met such a warm and hospitable group of people, who are willing to help you selflessly.
We were welcomed with royalty and treated cordially. In fact, according to ancient Hindu
scriptures, a verse says: Atithi Devo Bhavah, which is the Sanskrit for the guest is God.
During my stay in India I was fortunate enough to build strong connections with the local
people, so much so that by the end of my stay I had made an entirely new family there!
The people there were absolutely great! I am very grateful for being able to have thisopportunity as not only did I make a new family in another the country, but also had theopportunity to witness very high-end business negotiations. And through these businessmeetings I have also had the opportunity to connect and network with some exceptional
individuals and companies. One skill that definitely played in my favor was that I could
easily communicate with locals and other staff in Hindi and Gujarati, which helped me
make even stronger links with them. I do not think the experience I had this summer inIndia could have been paralleled elsewhere. I was truly amazed by this once in a lifetime
experience and am incredibly grateful for everyone that made this trip possible.

57

Elaine Ivy
United Arab Emirates
Civil Engineering &Architecture

DeSimone Consulting Engineers
Structural Engineering InternCompany and Position Description:
DeSimone Consulting Engineers provides high-quality structural engineering services toarchitects, investors, developers, owners, and contractors. DeSimone’s projects include
structural analysis on all types of buildings from all project phases. DeSimone is aninternational company with its headquarters in New York. The Abu Dhabi office openedin 2008. The company’s portfolio includes many cool and exciting buildings such as the
HL 23 next to the High Line in New York City and the twisting Emirates Pearl Hotel in
Abu Dhabi.
During my time as an intern, I assisted Senior Design engineers with basic analysis,
became more familiar with the operations of a design office and the challenges of being
an international firm. I performed a variety of work on several different projects. I
created an ETABS model of a small (4 story) medical clinic for use in lateral analysis,
helped with the column study for the Saadiyat Resort, compiled specifications related
to the foundation construction for an ADNOC project. I also spent some time
researching the construction industry in the Middle East and compiling company
contacts. I did not end up doing any field supervision work this summer.

My desk at DeSimone in Abu
Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

This is the Abu Dhabi skyline taken from the Emirates Palace.
58

Elaine Ivy
United Arab Emirates

DeSimone Abu Dhabi office celebrating
design awards over lunch.

Marina Mall taxi standValue Derived from the Experience:
I was really excited by how well the internship built upon things that I had been studying
at Lehigh. I was able to continue to grow professionally by learning how to use new civilengineering specific software, namely SAFE and ETABS, as well as by becoming morefamiliar with how dimensions are called out on plans in metric units. I also learned a lot
about the challenges companies have when they expand internationally. Shortly before
my internship started, DeSimone had relocated one of its structural engineers from theUnited States to Abu Dhabi. While I was there I had the opportunity to observe theexcitement and headaches that come with the process of obtaining legal residency in aforeign country.
This summer was hands down the hottest summer of my life. I had never visited adesert that gets as humid as Abu Dhabi. Despite the heat, I really enjoyed theexperience of living and working in a multicultural environment. Although the hostculture is Islamic, Abu Dhabi has become an international city with a large number of
expats, or legal residence from all over the world. I was fortunate enough to meet up
with a group of young expats and become good friends with many of them before I left.
I will always treasure the fun times we had hanging out in the malls or other places
around the city. The two most challenging parts of the experience for me were planningmy own trips in a different country and then changing up my schedule for Ramadan.
There are a lot of wonderful architectural buildings and tourist sites to see in the United
Arab Emirates. Figuring out what I what I wanted to see, how to get to different places,
and how much time to spend where took a bit of independent effort. Then as Ramadan
started the scheduled hours for almost everything changed, so planning required morecreativity. Overall, my experience really broadened my global perspective on life.
59

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61

Katie Kimball
Costa Rica
Earth & Environmental Science

University of Georgia & Piro
Biological Station InternCompany and Position Description:
I was fortunate to be able to work at two separate locations in Costa Rica, working on
different projects at each site. My first two weeks were spent working with the
University of Georgia at their satellite campus in San Luis in the Monte Verde region.
There I assisted with a reforestation project by measuring the growth of tree saplings
that farmers had planted in the last few years. The trees were provided by UGA as aneffort to restore biodiversity that has been lost due to agriculture. I spent theremainder of my internship at Piro Biological station on the Osa Peninsula where I
assisted with several projects including reforestation tree plot monitoring and mapping,sea turtle protection, and farming. Much of my work was hard labor that required
hiking off-trail through the rain in order to identify, tag, and measure tree seedlings that
had been planted in reforestation plots during the previous spring.

Planting a tree sapling with the help ofAugustine as part of the reforestation
project on the Osa Peninsula

A view of the Pacific Ocean from the
Osa Peninsula

62

Katie Kimball
Costa Rica

A fer-de-lance viper (terciopelo in Spanish),the most venomous snake in Costa Rica.

One of the many waterfalls on the
Osa Peninsula

Value Derived from the Experience:
My internship may have been more hard labor and volunteer work rather than research,
but I still learned many valuable lessons from the people I worked with as well as myliving environment. Much of my work was led by people who have lived in Costa Rica
their entire lives and have not had much formal education. However, their knowledge ofthe environment is profound and I learned skills from them I could not learn in aclassroom. I very much enjoyed talking with them, improving my Spanish, and learningfrom them. Communication was poor between the different levels in the organization I
worked with on the Osa Peninsula, and as such I was not always made aware of myresponsibilities for the day until the last minute, or already-made plans would suddenly
change. I learned how to adapt to these changing situations by preparing myself
mentally and physically for several different possible tasks. I realize this is an importantskill because “real life”, as college students like to call life after graduation, is not always
orderly and there will be many times I must adapt to situations in order to be successful.
Another part of my experience in Costa Rica that shaped me was my living conditions.
For several weeks I lived in the hot, humid rain forest surrounded by thousands of insects
ranging from tiny pesky mosquitos to 6 inch long grasshoppers. Every night I slept with abug net around my bed and hoped no scorpions or venomous snakes would find theirway in to my bed. I woke up every morning and put on smelly, moldy clothes (the lack ofwashing/drying machines and the constant humidity made it very difficult to maintainclean clothes) to go out into the jungle and work hard hours in the heat. I’ll admit it wasvery difficult to go on sometimes, but looking back, I would not change anything about
my experience. I became stronger and more confident and gained a more worldly
perspective on the truly important things in life.

63

Susan Kleman
Costa Rica
Chemical Engineering

Los Cusingos Refugio de Aves
Water Analysis InternCompany and Position Description:
Los Cusingos is a bird sanctuary where visitors can enjoy petro-glyphs, nature trails,
visits to the House of Dr. Skutch (a naturalist), and bird watching tours (a popular
activity among visitors). Los Cusingos is home to many flora and fauna such as whitefaced capuchin monkeys, agoutis, and birds like cusingos, tanagers, hummingbirds, andhoneycreepers.
The Peñas Blancas River and four other streams run through the property. Our job was
to sample the water quality with a water probe, called a Manta, which provided
information about the turbidity, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, and temperature of
the water source. Although continuous testing could not be performed, the river wastested 3 days/week, 2x/day over the span of six weeks. Obtaining data about how
water quality variables fluctuate, even within the span of only six weeks, is valuable.
The results can provide a baseline of data against which the impact of development or
reforestation can be assessed with respect to water quality.

Sampling water quality with the Manta
White-faced capuchin monkeys at Los Cusingos

64

Susan Kleman
Costa Rica

Other interns and me climbing a palm tree at Osa

Me with my host family

Value Derived from the Experience:
Costa Rica helped me gain independence. Now I know that I can go anywhere I want to(even if I have never been there before) and do just fine. My confidence has increased.
Arriving at the airport, I experienced language shock. Leaving Costa Rica, I feel much
more capable of handling different situations and different cultures. While hailing a cab
may have seemed a little daunting at first, I now know that I can communicate mydesires effectively. I was also able to experience adversity and practice flexibility with the
Manta. The Manta’s portable battery pack failed the first day, so we had to change ourmethod for testing. Another day, we forgot to turn on logging on the Manta, so any time
we tested that day, data was not collected. It was frustrating, but we figured out how torectify any situations that arose.
My sustainability internship reaffirmed that I want to work with theenvironment and get my masters in environmental engineering. Despite some of themore monotonous parts of the job like testing the river every other day, I still enjoy thework and like working with nature. My Spanish also greatly improved. I learned a lot of
new vocabulary, and I was able to put my four years of Spanish from high school into
practice. I was able to achieve proficiency through my interaction with my coworkers
and with my host family (a lot different from when I went in not recalling any Spanish). I
also benefited from the cultural immersion. By the end of the first week, I was calling myhost mom “Mami” (Mom in Spanish), and she was calling me “mi hija” (my daughter). I
ate the typical Costa Rican foods, and I even attended a quinceañera (girl’s coming-ofage ceremony in Latin-American communities) with my host family. If I did not have ahost family, I would not have experienced the culture so richly.
I had three co-workers, so I was able to really get to know them. Throughmy experience at this small organization, I found that I really liked the down-to-earth
nature of the Costa Rican way of life and the individual interactions within members.This
internship re-established my desire to work in Spanish-speaking countries, both topractice my Spanish and to interact with the culture. I would like to return to Costa Rica.
Seven weeks was not enough!

65Cole KnisleyIndonesia
B.I.S.

University Gadja Mada
Community Development
InternVillage of Gulurejo, Community Development Intern :The responsibilities of the internship varied and allowed me to participate in many
ways. Without much restriction, the ways in which I was involved varied. Morecommonly I taught English, and on my free time I made smoking awareness posters forthe schools. I felt this was very important considering the high rates of smoking among
all of Indonesia which starts primarily during the younger teen years. Furthermore, I
created a plan to create an internet station in the common grounds of all the subvillages. This plan was not carried out however due to a lack of funding on theexperience provider’s end. Additionally, I offered to do business analysis of different
group’s data to benefit their projects.

This is the Borobudur temple, aBudhist temple dating backhundreds of years.

Pictured here is the Black sand beachof Trisik. The sand is black, extremely
fine and shines silver.

66

Cole KnisleyIndonesia

These are the students that I
taught English (Grades 3-5).

One UGM student, twovillagers and myself on an
excursion.

Value Derived from the Experience:
More than anything, this experience helped to open my eyes. For two months, I lived in adifferent world, a world devoid of what most Americans consider common amenities.
Tap water was undrinkable, there was no hot water, nor were there showers (we usedbuckets), power outages were daily, insects were everywhere, including the cotton padson the floor that were our beds, barely anyone spoke fluent English, the internet
connections were unreliable and the food was anything but desirable or evenrecognizable at first. In the beginning, I felt alone and lost in the program. I thought tomyself, how could this get any worse? This was not what I expected when I applied forthe “community development intern” position! Fortunately, I was able to adapt to thesecircumstances, learning to live with the current accommodations. I realized that eventhough most people couldn’t talk to me, they tried to communicate in other ways
because they wanted to share my friendship. Luxuries I once took for granted, I began toforget about. Without all the distractions and comforts of modern life, I had more freetime and the ability to focus on the important ideas grew. This helped to drive myprojects forward. On another note, I was surrounded by a majority Muslim community,
something most Americans do not experience. For many uneducated Americans, theyenvision Muslims as angry, bearded gun-toting terrorists. In the village, there were noguns, beards were rare and the Muslim people were some of the friendliest people I
have ever met. I can not count even one time a Muslim member of the village had been
anything but friendly, which is quite incredible anywhere in the world. They put you
before themselves and are diligent when it comes to their practicing their religion, while
also fully accepting the Christians and Catholics on the trip. I was lost in this different
world. But something I discovered while here is that when you are truly lost, you are able
to find yourself.
67

Royce KokHong Kong
IBE: Industrial Engineering and
Finance

Hutchinson Port Holdings
Operations Development& Technology InternCompany and Position Description:
Hutchison Port Holding (HPH) is the largest container port company in Kwai Chung
Terminal, Hong Kong. The company business is focused on providing loading andunloading services of containers for shipping lines. In addition, HPH provides acomprehensive range of logistics solution to its client at it’s on-site logistics center.
Hutchinson Port Holding also has an extensive collection of equipment and cranes tohandle large capacity of containers with an average turnover time of eight hours foreach ship.
During my internship, I work in the Operations Development and Technology
Department (ODT). In ODT, our team works in projects revolving around Terminal
Design & Capacity Planning, Equipment Automation & Technology Research, andProcess Improvement & Optimization. I was assigned to a project that improve theequipment automation process. RFID tags were recently installed on all internal trucks
to monitor the real-time position of the crane handling equipment. As a result, there isan enormous amount of data generated by the RFID tags. My job was to analyze andautomate the data analysis process in Excel to calculate the daily and monthly successrate of the RFID reads.

Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes at the Temporary Container Storage Lot
Quay Cranes along the Berth68

Royce KokHong Kong

Annual Interns Pizza
Eating ChallengeNight View of Hong Kong

Site visit to thePeak of a Quay Crane

Value Derived from the Experience:
At the first day of my internship, my supervisor had explained to me that he wanted me
to design an automated data analysis system. At first, I was overwhelmed because I am
not familiar with any of the industry’s specified terminology and I had no coding
experience. But thanks to constant communication and support from my colleague, I
successfully completed the project seven weeks later. I also experienced what it is like towork in a large company. I am constantly amazed by how effective the company is andhow smoothly every single operations runs. This Internship has distinguished itself fromany travel or study abroad experience because I was able to catch a glimpse of what it islike to work in a world class city, to live in apartment by myself, to interact with locals,
and to make this foreign city my home for eight weeks. I learned to be independent andbrave in situations where feeling vulnerable came naturally. I learned to take anappropriate amount of risk and say “Yes!” to different opportunities presented. I learned
to create a support system for myself abroad by reaching out to alumni, students fromdifferent universities, and my fellow interns. Besides having learned the technical skills
for my work, I also learned about Hong Kong’s culture. By the end of the internship, I
loved everything about Hong Kong: from its food to its culture, from its public
transportation to the beautiful view of the city from Victoria Peak. This internships has
opened a door for me and I now feel equipped to work in Asia Pacific in the near future.

69

John Kopperman
Germany
Supply Chain Mgt.

Dolezych GmbHOperational Business
Development InternCompany and Position Description:
Dolezych GmbH is an 80 year old family run company that specializes in manufacturingof goods for the load carrying and load securing industries. They have expanded into
several different countries including the US and have over 600 employees worldwide.
During the past two months, I performed a variety of tasks for the company. The bulk of
my work concerned the preparation of the catalogue for the new US market. In thisregard, I cooperated with our advertising agency Seichter and Steffens in order to makeupdates to the catalogue. I would forward photos, product information tables, andgeneral format corrections to them, and they would forward an updated version of thecatalogue to me. I also wrote product descriptions, created bar codes, updated databases with product numbers and information, and cooperated with other employees tocreate content for this catalogue. The other large project I undertook was in thewarehouse. I went through each parts bin, finding the weight of the article inside, andestimating how many articles could fit in the parts bin. This information will be used tocreate a real time warehouse inventory system in order to reduce production downtime. I inventoried just around 2000 different articles during my work there.

Paris Trip – The Eiffel Tower
Normandy Trip – Omaha Beach
70

John Kopperman
Germany

Berlin Trip – The Reichstag

Working on the catalogue

Value Derived from the Experience:
The experience I gained from this internship is invaluable. Never having had aninternship before, I was unsure what to expect. Everyday I was learning something
different, whether it was a technical skill, a professional skill, or a language skill. In
business, as with all areas of life, clear communication is vital. Copying the right people
on emails and being copied on emails makes completing a task much easier as everyone
knows what progress has been made and what still needs to be done. Another valuable
thing I took away was working with different employees in the company. I worked witheveryone from the owner’s son to the chain assembly workers. It was interesting to me
to see how the company works from each of these unique perspectives, and learning
how to work and interact with each of them. As far as technical skills go, I beefed up myfamiliarity with Microsoft Excel, and learned WinDol, which is a program Dolezych uses
to keep track of sales and customers. I learned that programs such a these are vital tomodern companies, and that in the future I should really pay more attention in classes
that use Excel. I still have a lot to learn. And finally, even if at the end of the day I felt likeit was a slow day, or I was doing something I already knew how to do, I always learned
something new in the German language. My vocabulary increased tremendously and I
have become much more comfortable with the language. Overall I learned a lot of thingsfrom this internship, and feel much more professionally mature and experienced as aresult.

71

Catheryn Llibre
Portugal
Psychology, Marketing

Ativar Tavira
Marketing InternCompany and Position Description:
I was a Marketing Intern for Ativar Tavira. This company has 3 main purposes. The first,
to bring in investors to create a local business park. The second, to bring in variousorganizations to host events in a recently built facility. The third is to help local
entrepreneurs through training workshops through their Level Up offices. My job was toresearch the Mediterranean Diet, local tourism and business parks in other cities tohelp create a marketing plan for the investors and organizations who would make useof the facility and business park. I met with local business to learn more about local
customs, tourism and the Mediterranean Diet. I conducted surveys, analyzed the dataand presented to the company president my recommendations at the end of theinternship.

Insert photo here(with small caption
below)

Ativar Tavira Offices

The hunting and game expo at the fairs
and festivals facility.

72

Catheryn Llibre
Portugal

Insert photo here(with small
caption below)

Me on the street I lived on

The view on my walk home from work

Value Derived from the Experience:
During this experience I learned how to be more independent and self motivated. Unlike
a lot of the work I had done in the past, everything I did was on my own. I had very little
feedback on my work and that allowed me to be more confident in what I thought would
be the best thing to do to reach the end goal of creating an effective marketing plan. I
was able to conduct research with a survey I created and see the results be used by thecompany president. I learned to communicate differently with business owners,
investors, and customers. I think the most important thing I gained was personal growth.
Being alone was hard but because of that I learned how to be more outgoing. There
were not many people my age in town and none in the office. I did not speak any
Portuguese so I had to pick up some words and talk to anyone I met. I ended up
befriending local business owners, waitresses and even tourists from around Europe. It
was great to hear their stories and share my own. Being around so many starkdifferences between what I was used to and what was customary there helped mesolidify my own identity and see what my values truly were. However, I also noted many
similarities which helped me appreciate even more so the importance of acceptance anddiversity.

73Hana Longenecker
Czech Republic
Psychology

Inclusio, Slovo 21
InternCompany and Position Description:
I interned with Slovo 21, a Czech NGO who focused on social inclusion of the Romapeople and other minority groups in the Czech Republic. My work during my time withSlovo 21 focused on educational discrimination of Roma children and possible ways tocombat this. The major project I worked on while I was there was researching grant
opportunities in the Czech Republic and then coming up with a program and writing a
grant proposal to submit for possible funding. Specifically, my program focused on theissue of literacy and engaging Roma parents in their children’s education. I also worked
with Inclusio, another Czech NGO and our host organization, on a creative project withthe other interns the final 2 weeks of our internship.

Face painting at a summer
camp for Roma children

Visit to Vysherad on ourlast day as interns.

74

Hana Longenecker
Czech Republic

Interns at the John Lennon WallGroup presentation at theAmerican Center in Prague

Value Derived from the Experience:
I came to the Czech Republic not knowing what to expect, but what I left
with six weeks later was far greater than anything for which I could have hoped. Working
with Slovo 21 was a highlight of my experiences abroad. Having never worked for an
NGO before I was concerned at the beginning of not being able to do enough on my own
to be helpful. However, I discovered very quickly that the most important thing in thisenvironment, and really any working environment, is taking the position of an active
learner. By the end of my time with Slovo I had written an entire proposal for a program
by myself, and when employees read over my ideas they were excited about possibly
implementing them in the future. NGO work is hard, but incredibly rewarding. As an
individual who plans on pursuing a graduate degree in clinical psychology, I believe
knowing the work that goes into NGOs and having experience in this will help my ability
to work with different mental health organizations and NGOs in the future.
On the more personal side of things, having the opportunity to spend an
extended period of time in a different culture was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me
and one I will not soon forget. Though many people in the Czech Republic spoke English
to at least a small degree, dealing with language barriers, making Czech friends, andlearning what everyday life is like in a country a literal ocean away from home was
exhilarating. There is a history and old world charm that emanates from Prague, and I
would never have had the ability to experience this if it were not for the Iacocca
Internships.
Spending 6 weeks working towards social inclusion in the Czech Republic
truly was an unique event in my life, and allowed me to have a summer I am proud todiscuss on my upcoming graduate school applications.

75Gabriel Lucci
Hong Kong
Computer Science& Business

Hutchinson Port Holdings
Commercial Development InternCompany and Position Description:
Hutchison Port Holdings Limited (HPH), a subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate
Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL), is the world’s leading port investor, developer andoperator with 52 ports across 26 countries A port holding’s function is to load, unload,and store shipping containers brought by freight ships. I worked with HPH’s commercial
development team. There, I was assigned to research Global Customer RelationshipManagement systems. A CRM system is software that allows the sales department toorganize their clients and communicate with their team members more efficiently. I was
also my responsibility to read the latest maritime industry news and send a newslettercontaining summaries of the most relevant articles.

Insert photo here(with small caption
below)

One of Hong Kong’s many
beautiful street signs

The view of HPH’s container terminal fromthe top of a loading crane76Gabriel Lucci
Hong Kong

A man protesting the Chinese
Government

A street corner in Macau

Value Derived from the Experience:
This experience truly made me grow as a person. It was my first time living on my own,
and not being able to communicate in the local language created many obstacles that I
was forced to overcome. Luckily, I became good friends with locals at my work whoshowed me the ropes and taught me Hong Kong’s social climate. I really enjoyed Hong
Kong as a city; it was very respectful, modern, and above all, efficient. Working in Hong
Kong made me a more independent person.
Working at an international company allowed me to learn about cultures from all overthe globe through my fellow coworkers. My bosses would frequently invite me to go on
lunches with clients. In these meetings, I would study the way professional businesspeople interact with each other. It was through these communications that I learned themost about business etiquette. The soft skills I have during this experience will aid me
any future endeavor that requires professionalism.

77

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79

Emily Macmillan
Malaysia
Bioengineering

University Technology
PETRONAS
Research InternCompany and Position Description:
University Technology PETRONAS is a private university located in Seri Iskandar, Perak,
Malaysia. There I was attached with the Center for Biochemical and Biofuel Research asa research intern within their labs. I worked closely with the graduate students in thedepartment to study biochar produced from the pyrolysis of palm oil fronds. Pyrolysis is
a process where a sample of biomass is heated at very high temperatures in an inert
environment and produces products which can be used for a variety of renewableenergy applications. My experiment studied at which heating temperature produced
the highest yield of biochar. Further research in this field will hopefully lead toalternative fuel and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Participating in a blow
dart competition withindigenous people inKulala Lipis villiage

Working in the Center for
Biochemical and Biofuel
Research
80

Emily Macmillan
Malaysia

Group photo of Princeton and LehighResearch Interns at Langkawi BeachStanding on the 1000 steps
to the Batu Caves in Kuala
LumpurValue Derived from the Experience:
I wanted to participate in a study abroad program where I not only could develop
professional skills and knowledge, but also learn from and live in a culture that was
extremely different from the one I knew in the United States. By receiving theopportunity to participate in this Iacocca International Internship in Malaysia, I can safely
say that I accomplished both of my goals. I gained valuable skills that I will be able to use
in future jobs while traveling to some of the most remote and exotic locations in theworld. Along my travels, I met a variety of people who were all incredibly hospitable andtaught me how to enjoy the small things in life, live in the moment, and to go with theflow. In the end, I acquired a larger perspective of the world and how to discover myplace in it.

81Rachael Martel
GeorgiaInternational Relations
Business Information Systems
Economics

State Ministry for European
and Euro-Atlantic Integration
InternCompany and Position Description:
The State Ministry for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration focuses on working tointegrate Georgia with Europe through working with the EU, NATO and Eastern
Partnership. Recently, Georgia signed an Association Agreement with the EU, which
created most of the work I completed this summer. My day to day tasks included
editing (or writing) press releases, documents, articles, speeches, and the Action Plan. I
also was able to participate in the coordination and running of the annual conference“Georgia’s European Way” in Batumi, becoming the second intern to attend theconference. I also completed research on various applicable subjects, writing
informative summaries for the use of coworkers.

Standing in front of the official seal of the office
View of Tbilisi from my host family’sbalcony82

Rachael Martel
Georgia

Me and many of my coworkers at theconference galaConference preparations

Value Derived from the Experience:
Throughout my time in Georgia I have grown as a person not only from the work I
completed, but from the entire experience. I had the phenomenal opportunity to havehands-on learning in International Relations, seeing policy shaped and participating in
the integration process, as well as learn about the culture and history of a completely
foreign country. Living in Tbilisi allowed me the unique experience to fully understandthe culture of the country while having practical work experience. I grew as a person
through my work experiences, improving my professional skills, teaching ability andresearch, but I also grew as a person from living in the city. In my day to day life, I
improved in my communication abilities and patience due to the language barrier andbecame more independent through learning to navigate a foreign country. I have gained
incomparable experiences that I will be able to take with me throughout the rest of mylife and have also grow as a person through the challenging work assignments.

83

Audra McComb
Kazakhstan
Art History

Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia
Civil Society InternCompany and Position Description:
The Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia is an NGO which works on projects throughout
Kazakhstan from their Almaty office. They design and manage projects aimed atstrengthening the civil society engagement in the country, working with other NGOs,
government agencies, and corporate donors, in addition to their beneficiaries. They
focus on coordinating public-private partnerships and adapting international bestpractices to the region. Their projects are often based on building entrepreneurshipand small business capacity, children and youth services, NGO productivity andaccountability, corporate social responsibility, and more. At EFCA, I worked with the
Research and Development Department, and sometimes with the Program
Department. I researched best practices, edited and translated reports, helped
coordinate trainings, and attended conferences. I also worked on graphic design,
creating info-graphics, roll-up banners, badges, and certificates.

The city of Almaty is at the baseof the northern ridge of the Tian
Shan mountains, very close to
PR China and the Kyrgyz
Republic.

The Kazakh aesthetic
style is occasionally seenin addition to Soviet andTurkish Architecture.

Kazakh cuisine is dominated bygrain and meat, including horse,
in addition to tea and sweet
snacks made from preserved
milk.
84

Audra McComb
Kazakhstan

There are numerous large parks in
Almaty. This one is dedicated to the'28 Panfilov Heroes' in WWII.

The lush foothills are used as pasturefor horses, which are traditionallyused as both transport and livestock.

Value Derived from the Experience:
Interning abroad was a good way for me to practice adaptive working skills. There I
increased my rapid comprehension and technical vocabulary in Russian. I also built
familiarity with different software standards and typing on a Russian/Kazakh keyboard,
and was exposed to organizational/corporate as opposed to academic forms of research.
Living among a Russian speaking population gave me a chance to apply my knowledge ofthe language and absorb a greater functional and colloquial vocabulary. In addition, I
learned a little about Kazakh and Kyrgyz language. I also interacted with many people
who were learning English, which forced me to think more carefully about my own
understanding of the language. Spending time in a post-Soviet republic revealed someinteresting political and social nuances. Also, while the country of Kazakhstan itself wasimpressively stable, it was interesting to see the unfolding political issues in neighboringstates and consider them from a more insider perspective. Finally, as a student of Art
History as well as a practicing artist and musician, the most rewarding part of theexperience was exploring the local artistic culture. Central Asian art has a uniquetraditional aesthetic and a complex historical context, though it is often overlooked by
the Western dominated discipline. During my stay, I was able to visit a variety ofsignificant museums, take in the diverse architectural styles, try traditional instruments,and see contemporary works including everything from crafts, to sculpture, to street art.
Overall, going abroad for the summer put me in a stimulating and reflective environmentthat has provided me with insight and inspiration for many of my ongoing pursuits.
85

Daphnee McMaster
Milan, Italy
Global Studies & English

IES/Cattolica Uni/Ufuud.com
Marketing Intern

Value Derived from the Experience:
Throughout my time at Ufuud.com , I worked as the Social Media and Marketing
Intern. My job required that I work with the food company to help them moveinto Germany and the United Kingdom. My company was just getting off theground a week prior to my arrival, so much of my internship was geared towards
preparing and comparing our company to competitors in Germany and theUnited Kingdom. I was asked to give feedback on company improvements inmarketing, for better ways to connect to customers, and translate Italian toEnglish for a more user friendly dialogue. I learned to package and ship
products, the ways in which e-commerce and website building works, and how tohost a company meeting that is geared towards company improvement.

Duomo of Florence, Italy

Lehigh University Students at
Lago Maggiore with IES host.
86Daphnee McMaster
Milan, Italy

My final day at Ufuud.com

At the Boglioli opening for
one of my coworkers for
Men’s Fashion Week.

Value Derived from the Experience:
Working in Milan was an experience I never thought imaginable. When I arrived in
Italy I was well informed about the city I would be living in, how to get to work, andwhat options were available for me in the country. I enjoyed meeting the IES staff,
having an Italian language coach, and tasting new and foreign foods. I was able totravel throughout the country and city with the help of my coworkers. Making life
long friends in Italy was truly the most impressionable part of my experience.
Thanks to my internship I was able to attend Men’s Fashion Week, learn Italian, andlearn about business and industry. Being an English and Global Studies major, I
never imagined I would learn so much about business and enjoy it.

87

Wesley Michaels
Singapore
Chemical Engineering

3M
Research InternCompany and Position Description:
3M, or Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, is a Fortune 500 company whichdevelops both intermediates and final products for a wide range of applications withinengineering. 3M Woodlands, the lab I worked at in Singapore, focuses on materials
development for the growing electronics markets in southeast Asia. My research
focused on the development of an adhesive for electronics applications. Through this, I
learned a range of analytical techniques in the laboratory setting in addition to theimportance of creativity and collaboration in product development.

Outside view of the 3M
Woodlands plant

Me and two interns on mylast day at work88Wesley Michaels
Singapore

Lehigh Iacocca interns
in downtown Singapore

Me at an exhibit in the
Singapore Botanic Gardens

Value Derived from the Experience:
Interning at 3M and living in Singapore for 8 weeks was an incredibly rich cultural andpersonal adventure. The level of independence I had helped me grow on a personallevel, as I was able to direct my time to experiences I found engaging, both in and out of
the lab. In my time abroad I discovered that the process of learning and adapting is aninvaluable life skill. Whether I had to apply course curriculum to a laboratory process orlearn to eat with chopsticks, I was consistently challenged to try new things and as such,
I came home with a wealth of knowledge I did not have when I left. The other Iacoccainterns and I were constantly exploring the country during our stay; we were eager to try
as many new things as possible and met incredible people along the way. I believe that is
the most valuable part of the Iacocca experience: jumping into an unfamiliar,
intimidating experience feet first and emerging a more global person with a keener senseof self. In my mind, I’d be hard-pressed to find another opportunity that offers so muchto a college student; the memories I made in Singapore on personal and professional
levels will undoubtedly make this summer stand out as one of the most exciting andinfluential in my life.

89

Aliza Molgora
Shanghai, China
Economics/ International
RelationsBecton, Dickinson
Healthcare Analyst

Company and Position Description:
Becton Dickinson is a leading global healthcare company with high-level products indiagnostics and medical devices. As an intern, my task was to research and analyze
170+ emerging markets and narrow down the developing countries to three per region
around the world (APAC, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America) which I
believed BD could profit from. After selecting these countries, I had to create different
strategies which I believed BD could effectively implement in order to penetrate thesemarket and become a leading force in medical supplies in the emerging world.

Paul Oyefesobi and my first day on the job

Shanghai, China

90

Aliza Molgora
Shanghai, China

Value Derived from the Experience:
Prior to my internship with BD this summer, while a dream of mine, the possibility ofliving and working abroad seemed very unlikely at my age. As both my parents
immigrated to the United States, I have always had a curiosity for the international
world, particularly having a passion for meeting people from all different backgrounds
and experiences. Not only that, but as someone who has been drawn to a variety ofdifferent industries and yet hadn’t found the one that stuck, I was looking for that lightbulb which would go off when something clicked. With these hopes of mine in mind, mytime with BD went above and beyond all possible expectations.
My experience this summer in Shanghai with Becton Dickinson has been life changing.
Beforehand, while I was halfway done with my college experience, I still had no direction
or idea about what I wanted to do with my life post graduate. Now, I am certain that thefield I want to devote myself to must have social value and be directly related to helping
people worldwide. The healthcare industry was one which I had never had exposure to,particularly because I did not have a background directly related to health, and I am
forever grateful to have had it because I feel very connected and passionate to it. Not
only that, but I am also positive that I would love to work abroad – perhaps even heading
back to APAC – in the future. In addition to my love of the industry I was working in, I
also discovered my passion for language and am currently continuing what I picked up
with Mandarin while there, here at Lehigh. These realizations of mine could not havecome at a better time and I feel much more secure about the direction I am heading in
thanks to this experience, and could not thank BD and the Iacocca program enough.

91

Amy L. Moyer
Cambodia
Educational Leadership

Caring for Cambodia
English Trainer

Company and Position Description:
Caring for Cambodia (CFC) began in 2003 with the aim of improving basic education in Cambodia in aneffort to support the continued development of the country. CFC works in partnership with the Ministryof Education, Youth, and Sport (MOEYS) to improve struggling government schools in the Siem Reap
metro-area, in Siem Reap Province. Specifically, CFC efforts include infrastructure improvements,
technology upgrades, teacher training and support, and developing teaching and learning resources.
When it comes to teacher support, CFC is committed to “shaping empowered, devoted teachers
through mentoring and intensive training”, as well as, “positioning teachers as agents of change in
Cambodian education” through their continuous teacher training, mentorship, and resource
development projects (Caring for Cambodia, 2011).
CFC is currently focused on improving the English language program for grades 7-12 by strengthening
the ESL curriculum (specifically lesson plan development), providing regular training sessions forteachers, and encouraging more innovative language teaching strategies. CFC supported schools begin
English language instruction in grade 4, whereas other MOEYS schools do not start until grade 7. It is thiscommitment to providing students with opportunities for success sets CFC schools apart.
Over an eight week period, I worked with the secondary English teachers at four Caring for Cambodia
partner schools in Siem Reap. During the internship I observed all of the English teachers, created anddelivered four training sessions, co-taught with several teachers, and created supporting resources forthe secondary English program.

School girls at Aranh Sakor CFC School
Teacher training workshop
92

Amy L. Moyer
Cambodia

Angkor Wat, Siem Reap
Making traditional Khmer
pottery

Value Derived from the Experience:
This international internship experience has provided valuable experience in my field of study
and for my future career aspirations. For example, I was able to create and deliver teacher
training workshops which required an informal needs assessment based teacher observations
and interviews, which directly drew on my expertise gained from my dissertation research. I was
also able to contribute toward the development of a much needed audio resource for thesecondary English teachers.
Without a doubt, this internship together with the last seven years of study, has profoundly
shaped my understanding and knowledge of the world of international education. On my initial
visit to the international education program at the College of Education in 2007, I was hesitant
about undertaking advanced degree studies; however, it was on that visit that I was told that
pursuing and obtaining a doctorate in international education would present a literal world ofopportunity. The internship with Caring for Cambodia this summer is just one of many suchopportunities, and for it I am grateful.

93Phuong Nguyen
Republic of Georgia
Accounting & BusinessInformation Systems

Geo-Wel Goal Oriented Research
Outreach & Development InternCompany and Position Description:
I spent seven weeks interning at the Geo-Wel Oriented Research(http://www.geowel.org/) in Tbilisi, Georgia. GeoWel Research undertakes
research, training, monitoring and evaluation as well as business planning andprogram and project design for think-tanks, NGOs and companies. They cover awide range of research subjects but focus on economic development, businessand governance. The NGO is based in Georgia but has conducted research in
12 countries.
During my time in the office, my main duty was working as a research assistantfor a project with World Vision called “Caucasus Sub-Regional Social Inclusionof Children with Disabilities”. I also performed other office duties and participatedin meetings, conference calls with potential and current clients of the NGO.

On top of Tbilisi, the capital city

Visiting the children of Tsilkani village

94

Phuong Nguyen
Republic of Georgia

Khinkali, a traditional Georgian dishTbilisi Botanical Garden with
Peace Corps Volunteers

Value Derived from the Experience:
This trip was so far one of the best decisions I have made at Lehigh. Everything was so
different in this part of the world and every experience is eye-opening. I'm pretty surethat many Georgians have never seen an Asian before in their lives. For the first couplesof days, I was extremely nervous everywhere I went. But later on I got used to it andindeed embraced the fact that I am different.
I was extremely lucky to have a host family who treated me like their own family
member. My host grandmother doesn’t speak English and my host mom speaks very
little English so whenever my two host brothers were home, they were the translators.
Most of the time, we used body language. I really treasure all the countlessly helplessmoments when we couldn’t understand each other, but somehow we always found a
way to work things out.
One of my primary goals was to befriend the locals. I was very lucky to have a co-worker
who is my age and from there I got to know so many young Georgians. A lot are westerneducated and speak awesome English. My Georgian friends have helped to overcome alot of cultural barriers and my experience would not be the same without them! Before I
came to Georgia, I was both nervous and excited because I didn't know what to expect.
Seven weeks later, I left with a heavy heart because this country and this city will foreverhold a special place in mine. But one thing for sure, I know I will come back.
95

Paul Oyefesobi
Shanghai, China
Engineering & Applied Sciences

Becton Dickinson
Healthcare Strategic
Planning Analyst

Company and Position Description:
Becton Dickinson is a medical device company that manufactures hospital supplies
including syringes, bioassays, cataracts, and specializes in diagnostic treatments ofinfectious and non-communicable diseases for healthcare organizations. During theinternship, I researched the healthcare economics of developing countries across the
emerging market, creating a detailed and analytical spreadsheet of healthcare andeconomic parameters (GDP/healthcare expenditures/prevalent diseases/corruption
index etc.). In the second step of the project, the other intern and I qualitatively
interpreted the quantitative data to exploit key business opportunities in which Becton
Dickinson can penetrate and provide healthcare solutions across the emerging market.

Interns on the way to Beijing for the weekend!

96Paul Oyefesobi
Shanghai, China

Site seeing at Tiananmen Square

Value Derived from the Experience:
I gained an invaluable experience from this internship on both a personal andprofessional level. From a personal standpoint, I learned to expand outside my comfort
zone and try new things. To fully immerse myself on the trip, I took up activities that
included learning Mandarin, eating duck, tourist site-seeing at Tiananmen
Square/Forbidden City, and going to the Shanghai Science and Technology museum. I
also learned to be humble and satisfied with less, because some people on the otherside of the world live off of a dollar a day. It’s really eye opening to compare the standardof living of the US and a 3rd world country (excluding its major cities). On a professionalnote, I learned that a unique balance of networking and efficiency of work productivity
can go a long way in corporate healthcare. Talking to the right people, doing the rightthings can also have rewarding opportunities that are good to carry through to theworkforce. Also, I have learned to work smarter not harder. In closing, I would like to addthat it is imperative that one puts 100% into any project, presentation, or work that they
do because you never know if your CEO or boss is watching.

97Estefania Perdomo
Czech Republic
Global Studies

Slovo 21
Research AssistantCompany and Position Description:
Slovo 21 is a non-governmental organization founded in 1999 with the purpose of
integrating people of Roma heritage who have been excluded by their society in the
Czech Republic. Slovo 21 created a women leaders group, Manushe, to train womenleaders in their perspective localities to encourage other women to become leaders andemphasize women empowerment. I was fortunate enough to interact with and teachEnglish grammar to a young Roma high school student, Renata, who told me about thedifficulties of being a Roma in her high school because of the discrimination she faced.
In addition to working with Roma women, Slovo 21 also puts together the
Khamoro festival that celebrates the Romani culture and showcases the various talentsof the Roma people of the Czech Republic. I was responsible for researching different
funding opportunities for events such as these that raise Roma awareness as well as for
women empowerment and youth empowerment programs. I concentrated on forging
connections with other NGOs in the United States in order to create these funding
opportunities. Most of my duties included doing research on grant opportunities,
designing a program layout for a youth summer camp, and proposing various programs
that would highlight the importance of being proud to be a Roma and bounding
activities between Roma and non-Roma.

Reviewing project proposals for Roma women and youth

Exploring and learning about thehistory of Prague98

Estefania Perdomo
Czech Republic

Teaching English grammar to Renata, aRoma high school student

Spending time with Romayouth at a summer camp

Value Derived from the Experience:
Working with the staff at Slovo 21 challenged me to think outside the box when it cameto raising awareness. I was inspired by the previous programs they came up with such acamp for the youth that concentrated on celebrating the Roma culture to increase pridein their culture and self-worth in themselves. From their idea of this camp, I came up
with the idea of a cooking competition for the Manushe women at the localities toencourage the continuation of typical Roma food.
I was also able to increase my network of important people who were informed of issues
concerning the Roma as well as learn basic phrases and greetings in the Roma language. I
became fascinated by the strength of Martina and the staff of Slovo 21 for overcoming
the mental discouragement they faced as a Roma in a society where discrimination andracism is rampant and regardless, continued to work hard to change the secular
perception about the Roma. Their hard work encouraged me to work harder to findfunding opportunities and to do what I could to make their work load lighter. I expanded
my professional network, but what I really gained, are friends that I can return to andsimply share a smile with. Not only did I became stronger in my faith from the hard work
I observed, but I was happy that I was able to make them smile and enjoy time together
as I struggled to learn the Czech and Roma language.

99

Jackie Peterson
Italy
Journalism

Luxos Magazine
Web InternCompany and Position Description:
Luxos is a luxury magazine distributed across Europe, the UAE, China and SouthAmerica. The magazine has a wide focus, reporting on all things luxury—from clothing
and watches to technology or hotels. As the web intern, I wrote a large amount ofshorter articles for web and a couple of longer ones for both print and web. I also
helped organize the site using their CMS (Content Management System). When I wasn’t
working on articles, I was helping to write travel guides for their website. Luxos was awonderful, gracious host and even sent the print intern and I to Venice for a day toreport on a luxury Murano glass company called La Murrina.

Venice, eating lunch ona terrace along with
Journalists from aroundthe world.

Milan’s famous Duomo,
which was always only
a metro ride away.

100Jackie Peterson
Italy

My official press
pass from the trip
to Venice.

The view from an
old castle in thesmall town of
Brescia.

Value Derived from the Experience:
My experience in Italy allowed me to gain invaluable professional experience. I wasworking full-time every weekday in the Journalism industry, writing and editing at aninternational magazine with long-time Journalists. This experience, coupled with the factthat all of us were put into a strange culture and had to figure it out as we went along,helped me develop a huge amount professionally.
However, I didn’t only grow professionally. As someone with medical issues that could
have prevented me from enjoying myself, I was scared that this trip would turn out
horribly. Even so, after a few weeks the trip was amazing. IES Abroad and Professor Lule
gave me all the support I could have wanted, and my job was beyond amazing. Not tomention, I got to explore the beautiful country of Italy!

101

Serenah Polite
China
Lehigh University
Civil Engineering

University of Science andTechnology of China(USTC)
Research InternCompany and Position Description:
USTC, established in 1958, is a top University located in Hefei, China in Anhui province.
USTC’s academic emphasis falls on science and technology as the institution thrives on
upholding their pursuit for advocating the connection between theory and practice.
This summer, four positions were offered to Lehigh students, giving them a chance toobtain a project and use their creativity and USTC’s resources to create a hypothesis
and draw a conclusion in a hands-on manner. They had a chance to build their problemsolving, communication and critical thinking skills throughout their six weeks interning
for this incredible institution. At the same time, they were given the opportunity to
explore the foreign land and get a good taste of the life, culture and language of China.

Students used their own creativity tosolve problems in the lab!

Students got to travel to various
different cultural settings!

102

Serenah Polite
China

Different food!

Everlasting Friendships

Value Derived from the Experience:
I came into this experience with no idea as to what I should expect. I, personally, had ahuge passion and desire to study the language more and learn more about the culture,
but what I ended up taking from the trip proved to be more beneficial than I could everimagine. Never did I ever think that I would wake up, actually excited to go to work andsee all my lab-mates. I didn’t expect to meet so many friendly and welcoming people. I
didn’t expect to freely be able to join yoga classes, karate classes and even their
Dragonboat team! I didn’t expect their to be so many wholesome activities to do withmy lab-mates after work. Going into this country, I was in for the greatest culture shockof my life and I loved every minute of it. Most of the cities we visited appeared mostunderdeveloped than many of the underdeveloped cities in America, and yet everyone
was able to put a smile on their face. The camaraderie was uncanny as everyone had noissue speaking to anyone. The amount of cabs we went to where our host would justsimply sit in the front seat and strike up conversation with the cabdriver about various
subjects was refreshing. It was very nice to be in such an open and friendly country. It
was also very different to be in a country with virtually no diversity. Their interest inother ethnicities was a huge relief and I am so thankful for their acceptance. In the end,
this was a very enriching, eye-opening and incredible program that I would do all overagain in a heartbeat.

103

Amanda Blain Pritt
Siem Reap, Cambodia
M.Ed. Globalization &Educational Change

Caring for Cambodia
Curriculum Developer

Company and Position Description:
Caring for Cambodia (CFC) is a non-profit organization functioning in the Siem Reap
Province of Cambodia. Founded in 2003, CFC has become a model organization in
Cambodia that supplements Ministry of Education schools to provide a healthier andeducated youth for the growth of Cambodia. Throughout the years, CFC has gone fromprimarily educational work to also incorporate health and dental aspects as well as
extra curricular activities. During my time in Cambodia I was responsible for curriculum
design for their fourth and fifth grade Wheel Program. The Wheel Program is a ten
week extracurricular program that focuses on STEM, Health, Art/Music, Physical
Education, and Service. Each unit provides students the opportunity to learn throughexploration and fun activities.

Insert photo here(with small caption
below)

Students experiment on theirown how to make a bridge.

Students at the end of the first STEM week.
These future engineers built bridges!
104

Amanda Blain Pritt
Siem Reap, Cambodia

Khmer Cooking Class: Fish Amok

Learning how to make
Khmer pottery.

Value Derived from the Experience:
During my time in Cambodia I was able to not only learn about curriculum writing but I
also gained a deeper understanding of CFC’s mission as well as the Cambodian culture.
While working with the CFC staff as well as other people in the community I learned tobetter appreciate the beauty of what Cambodia and her people have to offer. The
students were always so full of life and laughter and the CFC teachers and workers werealways so open and welcoming. While working with the CFC staff I was able toparticipate in team work, group meetings and collaboration. It was truly an invaluable
experience.
Traveling out into the community and trying to take advantage of all Cambodia has tooffer was also very rewarding. It is nice to learn about a culture outside of your own andthis internship experience helped me to do just that. Just the simple act of talking topeople allowed an insight into what Cambodia is all about. From the cooking class, tomaking pottery, to visiting the temples, the culture of Cambodia is rich and vibrant. Being
able to be a part of this culture has enriched my life greatly and allowed me to step outof my “comfort zone” and into a life changing experience.

105Lacey Quinn
SingaporeMarketing

Aon Risk Solutions
Market Plan InternCompany and Position Description:
While interning with Aon, I worked with an internal project team to develop a Local
Market Plan and Aon Value Proposition for the Real Estate market in the Asia region.
The objective of this project was to set the foundation for the firm to generate clients in
Asia in new industry of focus. In order to accomplish this, I analyzed key prospect data,
researched industry trends and risks faced by that industry, assessed Aon’s current
market share and articulation of relevant products for the industry sector. After
finalizing this strategy, collateral and deliverables were presented to businessstakeholders for review and approval. The Local Market Plan and all deliverables will
ultimately be released to sales colleagues across Asia to grow Aon’s market share anddeliver revenue.
Aon plc serves as the world’s leading provider of insurance and reinsurance brokerage,risk management, human resources, and outsourcing solutions. This multinational
service provider strives to offer innovative solutions in order to empower results
through its industry expertise and technological resources. Aon strives to promote thesuccess of its clients through strategic initiatives that expose risks and uncoveropportunities.

The ArtScience Museum

Marina Bay after work

106

Lacey Quinn
Singapore

Insert photo here(with small
caption below)

Walking on Arab Street

Insert photo here(with small
caption below)
The helix bridge andMarina Bay Sands

Value Derived from the Experience:
From the 8 weeks I completed of my internship in Singapore, I am fortunate enough tobe able to say that I interned at a company genuinely interested in challenging my
abilities, sampled delicious foods I never knew existed, experienced a vibrant blend of
coexisting cultures, felt truly at home in a city across the world, and most importantly
befriended some of the most genuine people I have met to date. My coworkers werealways encouraging my development, both inside the office and through cultural
integration. I was given fantastic networking opportunities, invited to meetings withsenior leaders, and had a mentor who strived to expose me to as much of the corporate
world as possible. The local team was thrilled with my openness to diverse foods- I
would often find unique fruits on my desk or have coworkers invite me to share meals
and experience traditional dishes of the area. Many times during this experience, I foundmyself stumbling upon facets of the Singaporean melting pot just by walking down thestreet from my apartment. Within Singapore, you could easily find yourself in an area
heavily influenced Indian or Arabic in the morning smelling the vast array of spice on thestreet sides and happen to be in China town surveying Taoist temples in the evening. I
seized every opportunity I had to interact with the local population, despite how
daunting the “Singlish” vocabulary from multiple languages may be! Diving straight into
the Singaporean culture has instilled a sense of confidence and a desire for adventurethat will push me to develop my strengths for years to come.

107

Dana Raber
Armenia
Environmental Studies

American Councils
InternCompany and Position Description:
Lover’s Park has been managed and improved with the help of the Boghossian Garden
Foundation since 2005. As an intern for Boghossian Gardens Foundation, I helped intheir managing and improvement of Lover’s Park Yerevan. After identifying andclassifying the trees in the park, I was able to create a comprehensive database withpictures of all of the trees in that can be found in the park. This will serve to help thegarden staff track the health of the trees over the years to identify which need to be
removed and help with decisions regarding future additions. In addition to the
database, I helped update the map of the park with the trees and their respective
locations which will serve as an environmental education aspect of the park in the
future.

Volunteering at camp helping to improveyoung students English
108

Dana Raber
Armenia

Hike to Lastivar waterfall with
START NGO, an organization set
out to help the youth of Armenia
see their country

My host family sister and I at Lake
Sevan.

Value Derived from the Experience:
The internship with Boghossian Gardens provided a unique opportunity to live and workin a foreign country and be an active community member instead of just a tourist.
Having an international intern like myself gave the organization the opportunity to workon projects that they have always wanted to accomplish, but did have time or people to
do so. I was given the freedom to make decisions about how I was going to carry out the
project which really tested my ability to think outside the box to figure out how to use
my time efficiently and leave the organization with valuable information. The interaction
between employees, my host family and the people I met volunteering was the mostvaluable from the whole experience. I was able to volunteer at a the library as a
discussion leader where Armenians attended to practice their English skills with a native
speaker and discuss with people from various backgrounds with different perspectives
on important issues such as democracy, women in society and education. This allowed
me to gain a greater understanding of Armenian culture and values while also giving me
valuable insight about my own country.

109Colton Rochelle
China
MechanicalEngineering

USTC
Research InternCompany and Position Description:
Working at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) was an amazing
experience. I worked in the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) lab with about 10
graduate students. My lab consisted of many high-powered computers to run the CFD
simulations, and then individual desks for each student to have his or her personal
space. At work I used a CFD program called ANSYS to model arteries, and then to study
the flow properties of blood through those arteries. I used ANSYS ICEM to create amesh, and then ANSYS Fluent to run the blood-flow simulation. My final project
presentation was titled “Hemodynamics of Common Atherosclerosis Treatments”, and I
talked about the different flow patterns of blood through stents and bypass grafts.

My coworkers after my final presentation

USTC campus library110Colton Rochelle
China

At a friend’s house in Wuhu

Huangshan (Yellow Mountain)

Value Derived from the Experience:
My personal experience from this trip has most certainly helped me develop both personally andprofessionally. From a professional viewpoint, it gave me the engineering experience found in a
graduate student lab. As a team, we had to overcome obstacles in the lab, work together, andreach our final goal. During the six weeks at USTC, I developed better critical thinking skills,
enhanced my computer programing knowledge, and got a taste of the engineering working
world. Also having had the opportunity to study at one of China’s top universities will be a hugeasset in my professional life. At a more personal level, this was the first time I had ever left theUnited States, and as my first abroad experience, it has helped me develop in ways I neverthought imaginable. I now have a better understanding of the culture and people of China, and I
am excited to share with my friends and family what I learned. This experience helped meunderstand the importance of making connections around the world. I now have friends andcolleagues halfway around the globe whom I can easily communicate with. This opportunity
opened my eyes to the world outside of the United States, and I encourage everyone to apply. I
would do this all over again in a heartbeat!

111

Vinicius Rodriques-Aguiar
Malaysia
IDEAS: Integrated Degree inEngineering, Arts
& Sciences

Universiti Teknologi
PETRONAS
Research InternCompany and Position Description:
The Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) is a private research institution location in thestate of Perak, Malaysia. At the invitation of the Government of Malaysia, UTP wasestablished in 1997 by PETRONAS, an oil and gas company that leads the Asian
economy in profitability. Within UTP, the Centre for Biofuel and Biochemical Research(CBBR) focuses on the utilization of biomass in efforts to produce a well-integrated
process of biomass utilization. As a research intern, I was assigned a sub-topic in thetorrefaction process of palm oil tree leaves. Torrefaction, a slow-pyrolysis process, is athermochemical decomposition process that pre-treats biomass for combustion andenergy production. During my research attachment, I was tasked with the collection,
preparation, reaction, and analysis of palm oil leaf samples from a nearby source. The
results from this inquiry led to important preliminary conclusions on the use of palm oilleaves that will be studied in greater depth by the Centre’s staff in the future.

Group of 6 Lehigh students and 2 Princeton
students visiting the PETRONAS Towers’ bridge

CBBR staff in front of the administrative
office at Block 5 of the Universiti
Teknologi PETRONAS campus
112Vinicius Rodriques-Aguiar
Malaysia

Value Derived from the Experience:
Beyond the remarkable research experience provided by the 7 weeks I spent in Malaysia,
experiencing Malaysian culture and traditions expended by global perspective andtaught valuable skills. Our group optimized our time in Malaysia by spending longer
hours during the weekdays in the lab in order to create some flexibility in our schedule toexplore Malaysia’s beautiful landscape and tropical island getaways. I had theopportunity to visit Langkawi, Pangkor, and the Pherentian Islands. In addition, we had
the chance to go on a Government of Malaysia program to a native Malaysia tribe, hiking
9 hours through the rain forest and camping with the tribe for the weekend. We also
spent time in Kuala Lumpur, the country’s capital, and we visited Singapore—a 9 hour
bus ride South.
Over all, I believe that embracing all the differences in cuisine, mannerisms,
interpersonal interactions served as a very important lesson to appreciate to nuances ofdiversity around me. While immersing myself in the culture, I felt a great connection to
the people I met because I chose to experience the kind of life they lived. It was great togain that great global perspective on how people in different countries go about trivial
things in a day that I would normally not think differently of. Furthermore, the trip taught
me how to navigate in big city, small city, islands or jungle without ever visiting there
before. I can’t say I am a seasoned international travel, but this experience empowered
me to visit exotic places that I would think to do otherwise.

113

Angee N Ruiz-Carrillo
Republic Of Moldova
International Relations

American Language Center
Marketing &Outreach InternCompany and Position Description:
Ad Astra Group LLC is a US-based organization that operates as Youth Employment andCareer Planning Center under the aegis of American Language Center / American Councils forInternational Education in Moldova. During my internship with Ad Astra, I took an active roleon its mission of curbing youth unemployment and labor migration in Moldova. I had a directcontact with over 100 youth, where I helped to develop strategic partnerships while
supporting day-to-day operations. I also had the opportunity to get involve in Volunteer.md,
another branch of American Language Center, a platform which purpose is to connect thedifferent NGOs present in Moldova with potential Moldavian volunteers. Based on the
missions of the NGO and the values, skills, schedule, experience, and location of theindividual, Volunteer.md matches a candidate to an NGO. Both parties can then contact eachother and begin a lasting relationship!
My accomplishments during the internship included but were not limited to:• Developing and executing a communication and collaboration strategy targeted towardNGOs, Businesses, Universities, students and volunteers.
• Organizing events to help youth plan their careers, find internships, become inspired about
the world of work, and generally become more aware about available resources.
• Assessing the user experience and interface (UX/UI) design of an online platform• Developing a UX/UI Survey for the website Career For Me“How to Manage Volunteers Effectively”“Explore With Ad Astra” Event

114

Angee N Ruiz-Carrillo
Republic Of Moldova

Stephan Cel Mare

Traditional Moldovan Lantern

Value Derived from the Experience:
I truly believe that this internship in American Language Center was the best experienceof my academic life. Being in Moldova has surpassed all my initial expectations. Not only
for the job I accomplished, but also for the interaction with its people, culture, andtradition, as well for the beautiful places I visited such as Soroca, Orhei, the Monasteries,
and how not to mention for the wonderful and exquisite flavor of the Moldavian cuisine.
I learned overcame challenges and adapted quickly to an unfamiliar environment. I also
navigated through cultural barriers in a diplomatic and professional way gaining and/or
improving on a solid set of transferrable skills such as communication skills , leadership,
event planning, budgeting, problem solving and IT skills. This experience allowed me toincrease my self confident when I had to step out of my comfort zone with different
situations I faced where I had be a leader, to improvise, and also tell my opinion. This
international internship and volunteering experiences, opened my eyes to a different
ways to perceive the world and enhanced my interests in other cultures and languages.
Absolutely this experience redirected my career path as well as my personal interests,
influencing not only my short term goals but my long term goals as well. In addition, thisexperience me think of ways of how I can contribute to build a better society and finddifferent ways to give back the opportunities that have been given to me. Once again
Thanks Lee Iacocca International Internship for the opportunity.

115

Stacy Sawin
Accra, Ghana
Chemical Engineering, IBE

Proslin (Gh) Limited

Company and Position Description:
Proslin Limited recognizes that the economy of Ghana has been on the ascendency thepast few years. The government’s determination to make Ghana the economic hub ofWest Africa has led to various development projects being commissioned in various
sectors of the economy. The Proslin team is taking on these projects, utilizing
professionals with extensive experiences in Accounting, Finance, Engineering,
Insurance, Real Estate and various consulting practices. Their professionals have several
years of training and work experiences from leading institutions in Africa and theUnited States and are well placed to service Ghana’s growing economy. Proslin’s
extensive, global, network gives the company a competitive advantage in terms of its
ability to consistently provide high quality services and products.

Discussing Research with a Professor at the
University of Ghana

Proslin Limited team after the final presentation
116

Stacy Sawin
Accra, Ghana

Presenting our product to the team
Exploring Kakum
National Park

Value Derived from the Experience:
Working with Proslin Limited as a Iacocca International intern was a very beneficial andrewarding experience both inside and outside the work place. Professionally, I expanded
my product development skills, while learning about global business practices. The
project with Proslin offered an ideal combination between practical engineeringexperience and marketing in the Ghanaian agricultural sector. The project also allowed
me to utilize my background in both business and chemical engineering. Likewise, mythree teammates introduced me to concepts in their diverse areas of study at Lehigh.
Our experiences outside the office were also very fulfilling. We experienced much of
Ghana’s culture firsthand, learning how it is both similar and different to the lifestyle weenjoy in the United States. This alone was extremely gratifying and enlightening. I also
had the opportunity to make meaningful connections with some of the Ghanaians wemet around Accra. I want to thank the Lee Iacocca foundation, as well as Professor
Kwame Essien and Professor Mark Orrs for the opportunity to work in Ghana.

117

Emily Sechrist
Costa Rica
IDEAS: MechanicalEngineeringand Sustainable
Development

University of Georgia, Costa
Rica Campus
Reforestation InternCompany and Position Description:
University of Georgia, Costa Rica Campus is a branch campus of UGA located in San Luis,
Costa Rica. UGACR is home to various study abroad classes, eco-tourism attractions, andresearch programs. During my 6 weeks at UGACR this summer, I worked on two different
research projects: the Carbon Offset Program and the Permanent Forest Plot. The
Carbon Offset Program gives students and other visitors to UGACR a chance to offset the
carbon they emitted while traveling to Costa Rica by planting trees in the San Luis area.
These trees offer shelter for wildlife and protection from the wind for crops on local
farms. Our job this summer was to re-locate all of the trees planted for the Carbon
Offset Program in 2014 and measure their diameter, height, health, and GPS position sothat their growth can be monitored in the future. We measured about 1,500 of thesetrees during our internship. Our other task took place in UGACR’s 1-hectare permanent
forest plot. We measured sapling growth according to diameter, height, and health ineach of the plot’s 25 - 20x20m subplots to assess natural growth and regeneration of
Costa Rica’s rainforests. We measured about 500 saplings in the permanent plot.

Recording measurements in our field notebook

A 9 ft snake we found at one of our sites
118

Emily Sechrist
Costa Rica

Me and my host family

Zip lining in the rainforest canopy

Value Derived from the Experience:
Before coming to Costa Rica this summer, I knew practically no Spanish. I stayed with ahomestay family for the majority of my time here and, aside from my 10-year old hostbrother who knew some English from school, the family knew no English. At first I was
nervous around them because communication was difficult but, after living with themfor 6 weeks, we became close despite the language barrier. We found ways tocommunicate with each other and even learned some of each others’ languages. I also
learned a lot about their lifestyle and culture by staying in their home for an extended
period of time. The town in which UGACR is located is much different from where I live at
home. It is extremely rural and has a very small population. Because of this, my fellow
interns and I had to be creative in finding ways to spend our free time while we were
here. We ended up doing a lot of interesting and unique things such as going on hikes,
zip lining in the rainforest canopy, taking weekend trips to the beach, learning how tomilk cows, and cooking with our host families. We learned to enjoy our free time andadopt the more laid-back lifestyle that is common here in Costa Rica. Our time working
in our internship was valuable as well. None of us had any experience with forestry work
before, so we acquired several new skills over the course of our research. We also
learned how to optimize our time during the workdays by dividing the work according to
who was most skilled at each task. Finally, we learned to communicate with the othermembers of our team and to be team players.

119Lauren Sleator
China
MechanicalEngineering

Bracalente Metal ProductsInternCompany and Position Description:
Bracalente Manufacturing Company is a family owned and operated manufacturing
company based in Trumbauersville, PA since 1950. They make high quality precision
metal parts for other companies. Bracalente Metal Products is their Chinese branch,about 1/3 the size of the Pennsylvania plant.
I worked at BMP as an engineering intern. I used Solidworks modeling software tocreate accurate 3D drawings of the parts to be made from the plans given to us by ourclients.

Bracelente Metal Products facility. This is
the manufacturing plant where I worked.

Inside BMP’s factory.

120

Lauren Sleator
China

One of the objects I drew .
This holds 4 parts while themilling machine cuts them .

A CNC milling machine at work.

Value Derived from the Experience:
During my time at Bracalente Metal Products, I gained a lot of experience time using
Solidworks, one of the most widely used 3D modeling software packages on the market
and a very important skill for Engineering. I improved greatly at drafting and had valuable
practice of spatial skills.
I got to see first-hand the manufacturing process for the parts I drew. It is no simple task
to determine, from start to finish, the best series of steps to turn a bar of steel into
countless precision machined parts. I found this decision process very interesting, andhope to learn more in the future.
Needless to say, spending two months in Fenhu economic zone also helped me practice
my Chinese. This is one of the few Iacocca internships to require a language, and during
my trip, I rarely spoke English to the people I met and worked with. It was truly a learning
experience for me.

121

Jenna Smalley
Costa Rica
Bioengineering

University of Georgia
Research InternCompany and Position Description:
The internship I completed took place in San Luis de Monteverde, Puntarenas, Costa
Rica. The internship was through the University of Georgia (UGA) in Costa Rica, andinvolved research work for two different projects. One project focused on the UGA
Costa Rica’s Carbon Offset Program, which aims to counterpoise the carbon emissionsof students, professors and others associated with traveling to Costa Rica. Many trees
have been planted as a result of this program, and as a 2014 intern, I went to about 22
different sites to monitor the reforestation efforts. These trees also serve as protection
for farms against strong winds. Research included measuring the height and DBH of alltrees, tagging trees, recording data, and plotting each individual tree as a point using
GPS technology. The total trees assessed in this project is roughly 1,500 trees. The
second project I worked on utilized the permanent plot within the forests of the UGA
campus. The permanent plot consists of 25 20 by 20 subplots, and data was collectedon already tagged trees, and new trees within a 6 meter radius of a subplot’s center
pole were tagged. Trees involved with this project amount to about 600.

Finding a snake in the San Luis Reserve

Ziplining through the forest

122

Jenna Smalley
Costa Rica

Sunset at my homestay house

Bridge at the Cloud Forest Reserve

Value Derived from the Experience:
This experience has helped me develop both personally and professionally. Born andraised in the United States, the Costa Rican culture that I have experienced is muchdifferent from the culture that I am used to living in. Because of the differences, I had to
adapt and adjust. For example, bugs and insects inside of the house is normal andaccepted, so I needed to get used to different bugs always crawling around my room.
When showering at my homestay house, there was never any hot water, so I adjusted toshorter shower times and dealing with cold water to wash myself. The main language in
Costa Rica is Spanish, so I was able to practice my Spanish skills very often. I have only
taken Spanish classes in high school, so it was tough to remember everything, but manythings came back to me throughout my time abroad. I was also able learn and expand
my Spanish skills, which helped me interact and hold many more in-depth conversations
with my homestay family. I believe knowledge of a second language, or of multiple
languages, is a great skill to have in general. Some of the people I worked with only
knew Spanish, so interacting with those people really helped my overall language
experience as well as professional development. Along with personal adjustments andexpanding my knowledge of Spanish, this internship offered development in
independence, as on days off I sometimes traveled into town, or to another city, andfigured out how to get around without much previous information. The internship was
also physically demanding, with weather conditions including strong winds and working
through torrential downpours. Working in the forest also required much physical effort,
as it was often very steep, and it was important to avoid vines with thorns or trees withspikes. I believe having a physical internship like this is very beneficial, and gives me themindset that I can complete any work or job that I am given.
123

Adam Śmiechowski
India
IBE, Computer Scienceand Engineering

Viva Group
Business InternCompany and Position Description:
VIVA Group is a family-owned business comprised of a number of companies. VIVA’s
core business is real estate. Specifically, the company has developed competitive
advantages in the process of land acquisition and development. This is where themajority of VIVA’s revenue is coming from. Moreover, VIVA owns wholly or partly
buisnesses in the following industries: logistics, retail, game development, tourism andrecreation, advertisement and several others.
My position as an Intern at VIVA Group was to accompany one of VIVA’s directors,
Mehul Thakur, as well as his associates to business meetings and on other occasions. I
was also able to witness many high level business negotiations and decision making
processes.

Deputy Mayor welcomes us at the Pune
Municipal Corporation

A farewell picture with
Mehul Monty Thakur

124

Adam Śmiechowski
India

At the Taj Mahal

Farewell Picture at the
OfficeValue Derived from the Experience:
During my time in India I had plenty of opportunities to grow bothprofessionally and personally. Firstly, I was able to interact with extraordinary people,
who were kind enough to spend some of their time with Kawsar and me to share theirstories, offer their perspective and advice. This allowed me to grow professionally, sincesome of these people were CEOs and other C-suite executives. By interacting with them I
learned how they managed their operations, what challenges they were facing, how theycame up with strategies and tactics and what they considered to be the most important
aspects of their companies’ activities. These were enormously helpful experiences since I
hope to be able to use this knowledge to better understand the decisions of my future
employers or start my own businesses.
Secondly, during this internship I met many people who started their own
businesses and even had a chance to visit some of them. This, combined with their
willingness to teach me and with Mehul’s mentoring allowed me to build a more
complete mental representation of a company. Consequently, I am now able to engineer
a better business. I decisively grew as a person. Visiting India for two months allowed me
to form new friendships and better understand the Indian culture, which is very different
than cultures in Poland and in the USA. It allowed me to slightly reevaluate my priorities
and hopefully arrive at a more stable value system.
Lastly, interaction with so many businessmen emboldened me to start myown business. Having them as role models and being able to ask their opinion and advice
is a huge confidence boost which I think might lead me to start my own company.

125

Alexandra Stephanou
Macedonia
International Relations andEconomics

American Councils
Youth Exchange &Study Program InternCompany and Position Description:
American Councils for International Education is an international not-for-profit
organization working to advance education, research, and mutual understanding acrossthe United States and the nations of Eastern Europe, Eurasia, and Southeast Europe. Its
mission is to foster democratic development and civil societies by advancing education
and research, cultivating leadership, and empowering individuals and institutions
through learning. The Macedonia branch opened in 2000. As an intern for the office, I
help with one of their main program, The Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study(YES). The program is funded by the U.S. Department of State, to provide scholarships
for high school students to study for one academic year in the U.S. YES students serve
as “youth ambassadors” of their home country, promoting mutual understanding byforming lasting relationships with their host families and communities. The program
officially launched in Macedonia in 2009, and since then, over 55 Macedonian students
have completed the YES program and now participate as alumni.My intern
responsiblieties included preparing for YES 2014-2015 student oridentation, compilinginformation about the host cities and schools for the YES 2014-2015 students, creating
new initiatives to keep YES Alumni involved, and expanding social media reach.

On the top on Vodno Mountain,
with a Macedonian flag painting!

My arrival in the Skopje, Macedonia airport,
being greeted by my supervisor and host-sister

126

Alexandra Stephanou
Macedonia

At Lake Ohrid

At Mavrovo National Park, withwild horses in the background

Value Derived from the Experience:
This experience was my first time traveling outside of the United States and the longest I
have ever been away from home at one time (aside from living at Lehigh). It was an
adjustment; learning to live with another family and emerge myself in a culture very
unfamiliar to my own was difficult at first. But as the days went on and I pushed myself
out of my comfort zone… I began to worry less and just enjoy the experience. Working at
the American Councils for International Education was incredible! The mission of theoffice and the determination of its employees taught me the importance of strong
international networks and the value that should be seen in youth education. Adjusting
to the work environment was also challenging. From learning how to take public
transportation alone across the city to get to work, to communicating with people who
do not speak English - I faced many challenges. But each challenge I faced was anopportunity for me to practice patience and understanding. I had to be resourceful,open-minded, and culturally sensitive. My time working in Macedonia has helped memature and develop skills that will be important to me throughout the rest of my career.

127

Anna Sternberg
Luxembourg
IDEAS: Integrated Degree inEngineering, Arts
& Sciences

CRP-Santé Institute of
Immunology
Research InternCompany and Position Description:
CRP-Santé is an institution dedicated to scientific research in healthcare, public health,and biotechnology. The Institute of Immunology is one department in this organizationand focuses on the relationships among stress, genetics, and the immune system.
During my internship, I joined the Psychoimmunology group, which studies how earlylife stressors can influence the development of the immune system and whether
genetics also affects how a person’s immune system reacts to stress. As a student
intern, I was given several small projects that I would work on for the summer. During
the 9 weeks of the internship, I learned what my work would accomplish and thetheory behind the experiments I was performing. In this time, I was exposed totechniques and equipment that I had never worked with before; such as PCR productpreparation and production, RNA and DNA extraction, and the use and handling ofblood samples.

The Psychoimmunology group I worked with.

Me, performing an experiment on the bench128

Anna Sternberg
Luxembourg

View of the aqueduct from Le Grund

Myself with re-enactors at
Château de Vianden

Value Derived from the Experience:
Usually, I’m not a particularly outgoing person and I’ve never traveled alone before. This
experience has pushed my boundaries and forced me to take a more active role when
meeting new people and developing social relationships. I’ve also become more
comfortable with doing things by myself if no one else is around. Since one of
Luxembourg’s official languages is French, I also learned how to adapt to a foreign
environment in which very few people speak English. This summer, I was able to practice
speaking French and my confidence in communicating with other people greatly
increased. When at home in the United States, I rarely take road trips to simply to see
what is around me. While in Luxembourg, I took advantage of the public transportation
system, which I never use when in the US, and traveled as much as possible. In terms of
the internship, I gained a lot of experience in the lab, as well as knowledge about topics
I’ve never studied before. During my time at CRP, I helped train other summer students
how to perform techniques I had learned and improved many interpersonal skills.
Overall, this was a great experience which enhanced my confidence, independence, andability to adapt to a new environment.

129

William Sullivan
Ghana
Biochemistry

ProslinR&D InternCompany and Position Description:
Proslin International is a small start up company located in the capital of Accra, Ghana.
It is a private with a purpose company that has already developed a few products forlower-income communities in Ghana. The project I worked on had tackled an issue thatmany poor farmers have in Ghana. Alongside my group we helped research anddevelop a mechanized fertilizing dispenser named the PROSPER. The process included
visiting some farms Ghana, finding out customer needs, doing research on products
available, coming up with a product, developing marketing strategies and culminatedwith a large presentation of our work.

Interviewing local farmers
about their fertilizer process

Implementing the water treatment
center with Kubra, Rechia and theCommunity Water Solutions team.

130

William Sullivan
Ghana

In front of the Institute ofAfrican Studies

Learning about irrigation
systems on government
service farms

Value Derived from the Experience:
Going into this internship I was told by a professor not to expect anything and instead
take in everything. The first night we arrived, I could not help comparing the roads
surrounded by cement buildings and thick dirt colored walls to the streets I had seen in
my mother’s native city Cali, Colombia. I think many minds try to connect things in frontof us to memories or experiences we’ve had in the past.
There are people who, like me before this experience, connect Ghana or even Africa as awhole as a miserably poor country. And though there are some people who cannot
afford the so called luxuries we have, I can’t help thinking that perhaps they are no more
happy or unhappy as we Americans are. My group was in fact a pleasure to work with.
With such a diverse group, the exchanging of ideas was rather extraordinary. I had manyideas, beliefs, and I guess one could call them biases on social groups and ideas going
into Ghana.
As I worked more and conversed more with these people I feel like I better understood
what the words feminism, gay rights, racism and equality mean. I also found that many
people want the world to be a better place according to their view. But how can one
person hold all the answers? I know I can’t. It was rather funny because when I told my
dad about our project, about making the a mechanized solid fertilizer applicator to makethe life of small or poor farmers less tedious, faster and easier, he chuckled. So you’regoing to put other poor farm workers out of work by giving there job to a machine. Thatstuck with me. True the idea would help some people, but would it not hurt others? I
want to help people not hurt them. I wanted to make the world a better place, but I
cannot control the world. I can only control myself.

131

Alexandra Venosa
Italy
Journalism/Scientific Writing

Luxos
Editorial AssistantCompany and Position Description:
As an assistant at Luxos magazine, I did research for other writers, attended press
events as a reporter , and created original news stories and editorial pieces. Luxos is aninternational brand based in Milan, with a focus on high net worth readers and theluxury lifestyle. It is partnered with various designer brands and hotels across the globe.

Jackie and I at the Luxos offices

On a day trip to Florence132Alexandra Venosa
Italy

After attending a boutique
opening in Milan

Me and Daphnee in Bologna

Value Derived from the Experience:
Working in the journalistic world of Milan opened my eyes to so many things. First andforemost, I got to experience what it would be like to write for a professional magazine:
the hours, the content and the process from idea to finish. Since I did this in Italy rather
than somewhere I was familiar with, the experience had an added dimension. Dealing
with language and cultural barriers provided a challenge and opportunity to learn about
the world beyond what I see every day.

133

Irene Villafañe Sanz
Malaysia
Civil Engineering

Iacocca International InternshipResearch InternCompany and Position Description:
During this internship I worked with a forth year civil engineering student in the designof a Ultra High Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete UHPFRC Mix for structural
application. There was a lot of hands on work as we did the concrete mixes ourselves.
After we casted them and tested them for compressive and tensile strength we would
record the data and analyze it. We worked on an extensive progress report and I did a
final presentation in front of the rest of the professors. Our mix will possibly end up
being patented. The University has research material and equipment that Lehighdoesn’t have, so it was a great opportunity to be able to work in one of their labs.

Some of our mixes in the curing tank134

Irene Villafañe Sanz
Malaysia

The Skybridge in Lankawi

Our trip to Kuala Lumpur

Value Derived from the Experience:
It is hard to know where to start describing this trip. One thing I remember telling myfriend at the airport after the seven weeks was “now I feel like I can die happily”. The
amount of adventures that happened during this trip are countless. We learned how totravel the world with a small budget and we made life lasting friendships. Some of thepeople on the trip know me better than my home friends, because we spend 24 hours aday, 7 days a week for 7 weeks together. I learned a lot in the lab, how science is not thatdifferent around the globe and made great connections that will help me in the future. I
learned how to write reports at a higher and more professional level, leading up to
published papers. Travelling on the weekends I assumed a lot of leadership positions byfinding affordable places to stay and making sure everyone had an enjoyable stay. We
sometimes got into arguments about the trip and being able to solve these situations
and help to come to an agreement made me grow a lot as a person.
I saw places and did things that I have always dreamed of. We went trekking through thejungle, saw white sand beaches with see-through water and swam with turtles and went
snorkeling. On these trips we met people from around the globe, made connections for
future travels and learned a lot about their culture too.
I got the Iacocca Internship because someone else dropped and I am so glad I went
because it was a life changing experience. The friends I made from Lehigh and Princeton
will always be there for me and the confidence I gained in being able to be abroad is
priceless.

135

Alyssa Wedge
Czech Republic
Industrial &Systems
Engineering

Romea
Campaign for Social
Inclusion InternCompany and Position Description:
I worked for a non-profit, non-governmental human rights organization called Romea.
They have been in operation since 2002 to promote social inclusion of the Roma people
living in the Czech Republic. Most of their work is done through the media via outlets
such as facebook, twitter, a published journal and their own website. One of the mainthings they focus on as an organization is the publication of positive journalism about
the Roma people. The Roma are almost always portrayed negatively in news stories so
Romea does a lot of fact checking as well as publishing articles about successful Romaand Roma cultural events.
One other student from Lehigh and I worked with Romea to contact otherorganizations in Europe and the United States to look for funding and grant
opportunities. The organization is not for profit so in order to be sustainable they mustfind grants that are specific to the human rights work they do. We also gave interviews
about our own personal views of racism in the Czech Republic and the United States.
These can be viewed on their website.

Insert photo here(with small caption
below)

On our way to visit a socially excluded
community in Nymburk.

Insert photo here(with small caption
below)

Spending time at a summer camp for Romachildren.
136

Alyssa Wedge
Czech Republic

Insert photo here(with small
caption below)

All of the interns.

Insert photo here(with small
caption below)

A picture of me at Romea.

Value Derived from the Experience:
This experience was truly amazing in that it not only allowed me to grow professionally
but also gave me a lot of insight as to what I want out of my career personally. Seeing thestruggles the Roma people face as outcasts of society opened my eyes to the significant
human rights issues of today’s world. One of the first days of the internship we took atour of Prague and were amazed by its beauty and history. One of the next days wevisited a socially excluded community just a little outside of the city and the difference
was drastic. The conditions of the “homes” were not livable and it was very difficult forthe children to go to school, especially during winter. This was definitely a turning point
for me when I realized why we were there and why the work the NGO’s do is so
important. No one should have to live that way no matter their ethnicity orsocioeconomic status. Racism is a global problem that won’t just go away on its own.
Organizations like Romea are very important because an inclusive society benefits
everyone and I was honored to be able to work with them towards their goals. I learned
a great deal about the housing and education systems concerning the socially excluded
communities and was able to draw a lot of parallels to the systems we have in the UnitedStates. I hope that in my career I am able to apply the experiences and knowledge I havegained abroad in my everyday life wherever I might be living or working.

137

Emily Wilkinson
Moldova
Biochemistry

Hospice Angelus
Marketing &Fundraising InternCompany and Position Description:
Hospice Angelus is a non-governmental organization that provides free home visits to
those in need of hospice care in Moldova. There are two departments within theorganization: the medical team and the fundraising department. I interned with thefundraising department. Some of the things I assisted with were fundraising events andcampaigns as well as planning for future events. I also researched and gathered
information about hospice care and new developments that benefit hospice care, thenpublicized the information on social networks (i.e. Facebook) to raise awareness aroundthe necessity of hospice care in Moldova. Lastly, I taught English lessons to members ofthe medical team, preparing lessons on verb tenses, prepositions, grammar, vocab, andspeaking/listening.
I also continued work on a project that last year’s intern worked on called volunteer.md.
Volunteer.md is a website platform that is connects NGO’s with potential volunteers,
creating a match with regard to values, personality, schedule, and skills. Our teamplanned and hosted an initial introductory event to the platform.

138

Emily Wilkinson
Moldova

Value Derived from the Experience:
Prior to living in Moldova, I would become self-conscious of feeling out of place in a newenvironment whenever traveling somewhere new. I have since realized that to live insuch a state of embarrassment and insecurity is useless, unproductive, and detrimental
to the enjoyment and acclimation of experiencing a new country’s culture. One needs toembrace the discomfort and accept it as an obstacle to overcome. Keeping an open mind
is also crucial to travel. I experienced situations and habits that were kept by Moldovans
that are simply accepted as the correct way to live, even though in the US they would beconsidered eccentric or even health hazards; for example, having no AC or windows in abus far over-capacity. Every quirky aspect of Moldova accumulates to become thedefinition of Moldova itself. I discovered this knowledge near the end of my stay there
and will carry it with me throughout my other travels and will attempt to embrace theculture that I am surrounded by.

139

Xiaoran Yu
Indonesia
College of Education
Comparative & International
Education

Universitas Gadjah Mada
Community Development
InternCompany and Position Description:
This community development internship was organized by the KKN department of the
University of Gadjah Mada. I worked with UGM students to enhance community
welfare in the district of Klipuh in the village of Gulurejo. During my 5-week stay, I was
involved in several projects. (1) Teaching English to a 6-grade class in the elementary
school. I taught expressions of occupations, feelings, actions etc. (2) Teaching English
and math in the mosque. The students in the elementary school were invited to cometo the mosque after school. I helped them review what they learnt in school. (3) Writinga year-long curriculum of Quran for the kids so that the teaching of Quran can be asustainable effort. My UGM partner and I collaborated in this project. We developed
systematic modules for the learning of Quran. (4) Interviewing school teacher andparents. I interviewed two household and one teacher in order to know how theteachers and parents are involved in the children’s education, and how the involvement
can be improved. Besides, I attended Batik workshops, participated in the interviews of
Batik makers, and gained understanding of green Batik.

Batik is a major industry in the village in Indonesia.
Batik-making involves many procedures and it isvery time-consuming.

My elementary students at a mosque.

140

Xiaoran Yu
Indonesia

My UGM partner and I teaching English
to a six-grade class

Soccer game between UGM students andlocal villagers. Everyone played bare foot.

Value Derived from the Experience:
This international experience helped me develop both personally and professionally.
Personally, this was the first time I went to a country where I don’t speak the language. It
was a great chance for me to gain international experience and learn how tocommunicate with people who don’t speak my language. I picked up some Bahasa
Indonesia while in the country. In addition, because most Gulurejo villagers are Muslim, I
was exposed to a culture which I never experienced before. By living with Muslims andtalking with them, I learnt many aspects of the religion. I believe my experience in thelanguage and culture will help me in the future when I communicate with someone of an
Islamic background. Professionally speaking, I gained hands-on experience in teaching
English and curriculum design. I applied the theories I learned while I taught in theelementary school and in the mosque. Currently I’m a student in comparative andinternational education. I’m interested in parental involvement, rural education, andwomen empowerment. In the past my focus is China. This internship gave me a chance
to examine how parental involvement looks like in another context. Based on myinterview with the parents and teachers, I found that in the village, usually the teacherparent communication is one-way: parents usually don’t initiate contact with teacherseither by calling or by visiting the teachers in school. The teachers give parents reportcards at the end of each semester, and that is usually the only time when the teachers
get to see the parents. I suggest the school take more initiatives communicating withparents, for example, PTA, home visit, and inviting parents to come to school to observe
classes. In the case of Gulurejo, I think parental involvement is also a good way to
improve teaching quality. Currently there is no teacher evaluation in the school, and I
think parents can play an important role in supervising the teachers. During my stay inthe village, I also attended a women’s empowerment meeting about packing-the women
were taught how to design the package of the products they want to sell, so that they
can sell the products at higher prices.
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Luke Zhang
Kingdom of Cambodia
Computer Science

Caring for Cambodia
IT Intern

Company and Position Description:
Caring for Cambodia, or CFC, was founded in 2003 to provide a sustainable, quality
education for students by providing safe, technologically equipped schools, mentoringteachers to improve education quality, and providing funds and supplies to make schoola more child-friendly environment. CFC operates in government schools and has
educated over 8,500 students. CFC currently supports and partners with five primaryschools, two lower secondary schools, and two upper secondary schools (high school),as well as numerous community preschools. There are eight computer labs. In primaryschools they are used for English studying. In secondary and high school the computerlabs are used to teach students essential skills like Microsoft Office or sending emails.
As the IT Intern, I helped upgrade the computers’ software, diagnose and fix thehardware. I also trained the teachers to use an online database CAMEMIS to record
students’ grades, daily attendance, health information, etc.

Students having computerclass in the lab

Aranh Secondary School142

Luke Zhang
Kingdom of Cambodia

Grand opening of Aranh High School

Outside Royal Palace

Value Derived from the Experience:
Throughout my time in Cambodia, I learned something new almost every single day. I
worked with the IT director of all Caring for Cambodia schools to improve the conditionof the computer labs in the schools. By having this opportunity, I was able to see thatcomputer, or technology in general, sometimes could be a inaccessible luxury. I learned
to work in harsh environment where I could not just seek answers on the internet.
Instead, I had to do trial and error to figure out the solution. Caring for Cambodia plays acritical role in not only educating children, but also providing hope and resources to the
local communities around the schools. I am very happy that I can contribute in my way tohelp the organization. As an aspiring developer, I now know that it equally important tosupport legacy hardware as to develop new technology. I also became more openminded to the style of education as I suppressed my idea to change the computer classstructure because I am so used to the structure in United States.

143

Xia Zhao
Indonesia
Comparative & International
Education

University of Gadjah Mada
InternCommunity Service with UGM colleagues in Indonesia village:
Lehigh University cooperated University of Gadjah Mada in Indonesia. We did thecommunity service in the village. We lived in the villager’s home. We visited batik
factories; we compared the befits between natural batik and non-green batik; wecollected the water samples from batik industry and the wells nearby; we interviewed
the workers about their health problems; we cultivated plants for the mosque; wevisited the red cross and did the blood donation in village; we did the regular healthexamination for kids in village; we helped the preschool move and decorate their newpreschool. They also helped me teach in the mosque and in preschool, teach English inelementary school and give me suggestions to make the video for village education.
In our spare time, we went to the mosque also every day near sunset. We joined
father’s meeting, mother’s meeting and youth meeting. We joined several village shows
and one traditional Indonesia wedding. We helped the youths and kids in the mosque
prepare the amazing fasting festival show and hold the football competition between
youths and UGM students.

Best memories with village kids in mosque.

Group members and our hosts.

144

Xia Zhao
Indonesia
Gadjah Mada University

Teaching English

Batik Factory

Value Derived from the Experience:
This internship in Indonesia gave me a chance to put my educational theories into
practice. By visiting schools, teaching kids and communicating with the youths in thevillage, I know a totally different education system. I learned how to teach in a foreigncountry. I was very impressed by the culture, religion, delicious food, and nice people inIndonesia.
Thanks for all the people I met in the village. Because of them, I learned how to live a
simple but happy life; I learned how to be polite and kind to others. Thanks for mystudents and kids in the village. Because of them, I learned how to love and how to
educate. Thanks for my UGM colleagues. Because of them, I learned how to cooperatewith others, how to forgive each other, and how to be happily silly sometimes. Thanks
for my hosts in the village for their kindness to me every day. They treated me like theirown daughter.

145

Faculty/Staff Contributions
Thank you to the Lehigh University Faculty and Staff who created
opportunities for group programs. Their efforts went above andbeyond their responsibilities to the university and they took the timeto prepare and lead a group of students in their international
experience. They are:• Cambodia - Sothy Eng• China - Steve Pessiki• Cost Rica - Don Morris & Rick Weisman• Czech Republic - Christy Novak• Ghana - Kwame Essien• Indonesia - Alex Wiseman & Stacy Burger• Italy - Jack Lule
• Malaysia - James Gilchrist
Special thanks also to the Steering Committee: Paul Brockman, Marie
Helen Chabut, Nik Nikolov, John Savage, Tamas Terlaky, Lorraine
Weidorn and Ex-Officio’s: Richard Brandt & Neil McGurty

Thank you to the donors who madethis program possible!

Anonymous
Jay Allen ‘67
David M. Baldwin '51
Maria '87 & John ’85 Chrin
John R. Day '98
Stewart Early '66
Ernst and Young Foundation
The Freeman Foundation
John C. Evans, Ph.D. '66
Wayne D. Freese '59
Linda and Peter M. Gilbert F/SJudy and Donald M. Gruhn '49
Holt Family Foundation

Lee A. Iacocca '45
Harry B. Levine '56
Howard Lieberman 'F
Vincent G. Munley '74
Donald R. Phillips '84
PricewaterhouseCoopers Foundation
Alex P. Tamm '12
Lawrence J. Tamm '12P
Arthur Tauck ‘59
Vincent R. Volpe, Jr. '80

For Additional Informationwww.lehigh.edu/intint
Carol Ham, Program Director
csh205@lehigh.edu (610) 758-3467
OFFICE OF
INTERNATIONALAFFAIRS148