A semester or two abroad is not the only way Tech students are finding themselves on foreign soil to learn.

Caitlin Balthrop, an undergraduate civil and environmental engineering major, traveled to Ethiopia last summer with a team of nine undergraduate and graduate students funded by the National Science Foundation to study the hydrology of a key Ethiopian watershed. Balthrop’s team worked to develop reliable methods of monitoring the water resources in the region over time.

Ethiopian students showed the team the sites, including the palace of King Menelik II, Lucy [the 3.5 million-year-old hominid skeleton] at the Ethiopian National Museum and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

“This experience opened my eyes to the world in a whole new way,” she said. “I met new friends who immersed me in their culture and helped give me a different perspective on life. Ethiopians are very hospitable and social people, so we often planned around a cup of shi or buna — tea or coffee, respectively,” she said.

Balthrop admits she overcame her fears of flying and developed an appreciation for how civil engineering impacts people all over the world in different ways.

“Now I want to discover other places in this vast and richly diverse world,” she said. “And I developed a stronger value for my education, family, culture and country.”

Most university students don’t have a job that requires a 14-hour flight to China and offers glimpses of Shanghai skyscrapers, including the ones Tom Cruise swung off in Mission Impossible III.

But Steve Bradford, a senior computer science major and co-op student, blended academic and career experience when he spent part of his summer playing an integral part of his company’s efforts to set up a client’s new plant in China. Soltus, a small hardware and software engineering company in Nashville, provided Bradford with the opportunity for international experience.

The challenges Bradford faced on the trip were typical: long flight, long cab rides and a language barrier. He spent the majority of his time with application programming as well as training the plant engineers how to use the software and configure hardware, but said the best parts were the experience he gained and the time spent at some of the world’s most incredible sites.

“Although we spent a lot of time working, we also got to do a lot of sightseeing,” he said. “I saw the Great Wall and the Forbidden City in Beijing and went up to the top of the third tallest building in the world, Pearl TV Tower, in Shanghai.”

A few cultural differences made an impression on Bradford as he traveled through China, but those experiences were also part of his education.

“The food was completely different than American food,” said Bradford. “As a note, Chinese food is nothing like an American Chinese buffet. Also, the restrooms often were a lot different, with the toilet embedded into the floor. And most public restrooms didn’t have toilet paper.

“I think this will be big in getting a job in the future,” he said. “I now have over a year’s experience on real-world projects using modern technology. I also have become a lot more familiar with how the business side of things work.”

President Bob Bell says every student’s opportunity to study abroad is a good example of how the university is more focused than ever on broadening student and community international understanding.

“This blend of academic and career experience is a great example of how the university can improve interest, understanding and appreciation of other cultures,” said Bell.

(Spring 2008)