MechSE student wins scholarship to study in Sweden

12/16/2013 Taylor Tucker

MechSE scholarship winner Amanda SteelmanThe Nordberg INSPIRE Student Scholar award, a $2,500 scholarship funded by H. Gerald Nordberg, Jr. and Linda Nordberg, is given to two University of Illinois undergraduate students each year. INSPIRE, the Illinois-Sweden Program for Educational and Research Exchange “explores a transnational partnership alliance between the University of Illinois and universities in Sweden.”

Written by Taylor Tucker

MechSE scholarship winner Amanda Steelman
MechSE scholarship winner Amanda Steelman
MechSE scholarship winner Amanda Steelman
The Nordberg INSPIRE Student Scholar award, a $2,500 scholarship funded by H. Gerald Nordberg, Jr. and Linda Nordberg, is given to two University of Illinois undergraduate students each year. INSPIRE, the Illinois-Sweden Program for Educational and Research Exchange “explores a transnational partnership alliance between the University of Illinois and universities in Sweden.”

This year, one scholarship has been awarded to MechSE student Amanda Steelman, who will be studying at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm during the Spring 2014 semester. Steelman is a fourth-year mechanical engineering major, and has spent the past two summers interning as a drilling engineer in the oil industry. Steelman said the INSPIRE program’s focus on alternative energy technology is significant for her because “finding the balance between fossil fuels and alternative energy is becoming more and more important.”

Although Steelman has spent time out of the country before, she has never been to Sweden, and the opportunity to study abroad is very exciting. “It will be a really good experience, that whole ‘being a fish out of water and you’re all on your own’ kind of thing,” she said.

Steelman said she is intrigued by all the experiences her study abroad will offer, from meeting new people and understanding a different culture to learning a little Swedish. “This is an amazing opportunity I won’t necessarily have again, and I want to make the best of it. I want to learn as much as I can about everything, in and out of class,” she said.

The INSPIRE alliance is the pilot project under the Illinois Strategic International Partnerships initiative. Partner universities in Stockholm include the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University, and Karolinska Institute. The program focuses not only on student and faculty research exchange and collaboration, but on enhancing civic engagement and diplomacy between Sweden and the state of Illinois.


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This story was published December 16, 2013.