Piloting a new Program

By Emily Kashka-Ginsburg, associate director, and Jaya Mohan, director, Undergraduate Research & Enrichment Programs

the Undergraduate Research & Enrichment Programs team ran a pilot of the Research Fellowship Supplement Program (RSFP) this year in collaboration with the Steinbright Career Development Center to support students who apply for the DAAD Research Internships in Science and Engineering (RISE) program.

DAAD RISE is a summer internship program for undergrad students in the fields of biology, chemistry, physics, earth sciences and engineering to work with research groups at universities and research institutions in Germany.

As a full-time, funded research internship, DAAD RISE is a good fit for students who would like to fulfill their co-op requirements while also gaining research experience outside of Drexel. However, in the past, receiving co-op credit for RISE has been a challenge for two reasons: 1. As a summer-only program, RISE is not, on its own, long enough to fulfill the 4-month minimum duration requirement for most programs’ coop cycles; 2. RISE does not notify recipients until February or March. Students had to sit out of Drexel co-op’s A & B Round while they waited to hear whether they had been accepted to RISE, which was a barrier to application for many students.

The RSFP aims to alleviate both of these concerns, allowing more students who would like to apply to RISE to do so, without compromising their ability to have a compelling co-op experience.

Recipients are eligible to receive a $4,000 award through RFSP. If they are accepted to RISE, they can use these funds to support a full-time, paid, on-campus research experience in Spring Term, followed by a summer research internship in Germany through

RISE. If they are not accepted to RISE, they can still use these funds to support a parttime, paid, on-campus research experience in Spring and Summer.

UREP had seven students apply for RISE with support from their office and found out in February that Nhat Nguyen, material science and engineering ‘25, received the internship and two others were waitlisted. Applicants included three Honors Program students, five former STAR Scholars and three first-generation college students. Through RISE, Nguyen will spend the summer in Germany conducting research on the formulation of nanoparticles for drug delivery.

“DAAD-RISE is one of the few fellowship opportunities that is open to non-U.S. citizens,” says Emily Kashka-Ginsburg, associate director of UREP. “Because of this, we tend to get a lot of interest from international students for this award. Launching RFSP makes it even easier for students to participate in RISE, which in turn helps provide more opportunities to international students who often aren’t eligible for similar, federally funded research programs.”