WASHINGTON, PA (Feb. 6, 2012)—A third-year student from Brazil is spending 2012 taking classes at Washington & Jefferson College (W&J), courtesy of his government’s Science Without Borders program.
Antonio Edvan Camelo Filho, who is pursuing a degree in internal medicine at Universidade Estadual do Ceara, is focusing on neuroscience courses at W&J, according to Traci Fruehauf, director of global education at W&J.
“We’re delighted to welcome Edvan to the W&J community,” Fruehauf said. “Not only will he benefit from our excellent science faculty and facilities, but our domestic students will also benefit from the perspective he’ll bring to the classroom.”
Camelo Filho is among the approximately 650 Brazilian undergraduate students arriving on United States campuses with scholarship support from the Brazilian government. The students will study for two semesters at one of more than 100 colleges and universities across the United States, and will take part in a summer internship. An additional 1,500 students are scheduled to arrive later this year for programs beginning in Summer or Fall. The number of U.S. institutions hosting these students is expected to increase with the arrival of the next cohort of students.
“It’s a unique opportunity for me to get in touch with the brand new technologies and concepts from the neuroscience field,” Camelo Filho said. “Besides medical interests, it’s a way to meet new people and different cultures, broadening my horizons. I believe this program will offer me valuable skills that will distinguish me from other future physicians in technical and human aspects.”
The Science Without Borders program, announced in August 2011, provides scholarships to undergraduate students from Brazil for one year of study at colleges and universities in the United States. Scholarships are being given primarily to students in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Students in the program will return to Brazil to complete their degrees.
This undergraduate scholarship program, administered by the Institute of International Education (IIE), is part of the Brazilian government's larger initiative to grant 100,000 scholarships for the best students from Brazil to study abroad at the world’s best universities.
“We are pleased to be partnering with the Government of Brazil and with the U.S. host campuses to implement this important program,” said IIE's President and CEO Allan Goodman. “At a time when Brazil’s economy is expanding rapidly, and Brazil and the United States are forging unprecedented ties in trade, energy and scientific development, we look to higher education as another area where our two countries should seek much stronger cooperation.”
W&J President Tori Haring-Smith, Ph.D., has encouraged the growth of the College’s global movement, increasing the number of study abroad programs from four to 40 and establishing programs for international students at W&J.
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