Orientation Day in Portugal and at CMU
On September 6 th the Fall Orientation was held at Carnegie Mellon and on October 12 th it was held in Lisbon, Portugal. The purpose of the orientation was to assist the students in getting acclimated to the new location and to begin to build rapport with other students and faculty engaged with the program. Both ICTI poles model the orientation to be consistent with the other and information is provided as it relates to an overview of the program, working effectively with advisors on both sides of the Atlantic, proper attribution, student life and expectations as it relates to immigration, scholarship, housing etc. Collectively, 24 constituents were in attendance at the Carnegie Mellon orientation and 29 in attendance at the Portugal orientation. The attendance included faculty, students, staff, and faculty exchange members affiliated with the program.
During the Orientation Day held by the ICTI@Portugal, Vasco Trigo, a well-known Portuguese reporter from the public TV channel RTP2 was in attendance to interview João Barros, national director of the CMU Portugal Program about the impact of the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program and the renewal of the partnership for five more years. Afterwards Vasco Trigo collected the statement from Carla Costa, Ph.D. student, about her experience. Carla was one of the first doctoral students that joined the program in the academic year 2007/2008. Questioned about her experience, Carla answered that “it has been a very fantastic and rewarding experience.” The other three students that spoke with Vasco are starting their Ph.D.’s this year: João Dias Semedo (Portugal), Serban Mogos (Romania) and Jayakorn Vongkulbhisal (Thailand). Their expectations and motivations to join the program are different, but all of them agreed that the dual degree is a very positive program issue that will have impact on their future.
November, 2012
