Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Germany and the Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have announced a partnership that will facilitate new student internship placements and strengthen faculty and student collaboration between the two universities.
The MIT-Germany Program is part of the MIT Science and Technology Initiatives that aim to connect students and faculty members with research and industry partners abroad. Founded in 1997, the MIT-Germany Program is one of the largest MISTI programs and sends an average of 80 to 100 students each year.
“We’re looking forward to a productive partnership that will benefit students and faculty at both universities”
The partnership will allow the Global Teaching Labs program to expand Erlangen and Nürnberg, with both MIT and FAU participants.
Through the GTL program, students are matched with foreign high school hosts for three weeks where they have the opportunity to prepare then teach tailored courses on STEM subjects that complement the school’s curriculum.
For faculty, the partnership creates a new MIT-FAU Seed Fund that will finance collaborative early-stage research projects as part of the MISTI Global Seed Funds program.
MIT-Germany Program manager Justin Leahey said that interest in internships in Germany continues to rise, given the high quality of projects with top German partners.
“Our students have already had great research internships at FAU itself, but FAU’s strong ties to local industry… afford new opportunities,” he said.
“We’re looking forward to a productive partnership that will benefit students and faculty at both universities.”
MIT-Germany faculty director and head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Markus Buehler, described it as an exciting opportunity for MIT faculty, students, postdocs and staff to make connections with Germany.
“As the MIT-Germany program grows, many new opportunities for collaborations will emerge, and create synergies between FAU and MIT, spanning the spectrum from teaching to cutting-edge research,” he added.
