Three years ago, under the auspices of a Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) U.S.-Russia Program grant, Georgia Tech began sending students to St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University (SPbSTU), a Russian national research university.  Last year three GT students completed academic programs in bioengineering, mathematics and mechanical engineering.  They clearly impressed their hosts!  To sustain and further develop the relationship with GT, SPbSTU will replace the outgoing FIPSE Scholarship by waiving both tuition and dormitory fees for GT students.

 Gregory Crisler, Georgia Terzieva and Alexander Dodson studied Russian in the Ivan Allen College School of Modern Languages, participated in the Russian Language for Business andTechnology program and spent the year at SPbSTU.  They returned with professional language and cultural skills, experience collaborating with Russian peers, and a wealth of experiences.  Majors in Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science respectively, each will also major in Applied Language and Intercultural Studies—Russian.

 Said Terzieva, "The SPbSTU program was an amazing experience, probably the most immersing and meaningful in my entire time as an undergraduate at Georgia Tech. It allowed me to meet many interesting people, get involved in a great mechanical club, celebrate traditional Russian holidays, go to the Bolshoi Theater using student discounts and pay $3 for it, travel to Kazan, enjoy the white nights, take classes that I will never be able to take at Tech, and, finally, enjoy a year of discovery, growth and maturation. I learned so much outside of the classroom while meeting and interacting with different people, exploring the streets of the city and simply following my interests and passions in this new environment. As an exchange student, I had a lot of freedom to tailor my experience, but I also didn't forget to enjoy it because it is a once in a lifetime experience."

 Those interested in finding out more about the program, and students interested in studying at SPbSTU with a GT-SPbSTU Russian scholarship, should contact Professor Stuart Goldberg (sgoldberg@gatech.edu).