Science without borders
Six Mount Holyoke College students have been selected by the DAAD RISE program to study science at German research institutions or universities during the summer.
Mount Holyoke College students Genevieve Breen ’27, Puja Chakraborty ’27, Brynn Graham ’27, Cloe Hinck ’28, Cristina Lopez Mendoza ’27 and Bhargavi Patil ’27 have been selected for this summer’s session of DAAD RISE Germany. The program allows college students to live in Germany and work with an associated research institution or university to contribute to projects in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.
RISE Germany provides opportunities for students actively enrolled in a North American, Irish or British university to study and work in Germany the summer following their sophomore or junior year. Although program funding varies by case, Mount Holyoke students who do not receive full funding may use their Lynk funding to help cover program costs.
Elle Mader ’26 participated in the program during the summer of 2025, studying the composition of plant communities in the peatlands of southern Germany with the University of Hohenheim. Although she already had experience in wetland research through her work at Mount Holyoke, going abroad allowed her to gain a wider understanding of what her future could look like.
“It broadened my perspective of science in general, and really helped me understand where the field is at and where I want to go in the field,” Mader said.
This summer, Cloe Hinck ’28 will stay in Müncheberg to study the impact of field robots on agricultural sustainability. She is looking forward to the project itself and the opportunity to work with her host institution.
“I hadn’t really been in a research environment full-time,” Hinck said. “I’m in school all the time, so I know what it’s like to be in a university environment, but I think it’ll be really cool to get to work in an institution that is just for research.”
Puja Chakraborty ’27 was chosen to work at the University of Oldenburg in a lab focused on biophysics and computational physics. While she has previous experience in chemistry, she is excited to broaden her academic strengths with this new project.
“I have worked on the same skill sets that I’ll use — coding and theoretical chemistry — in other areas at Mount Holyoke, but this is a different area,” Chakraborty said. “I want to expand my horizons.”
Cristina Lopez Mendoza ’27 will work with the University of Wuppertal, training machines through trial and error to improve production and manufacturing sustainability. In addition to her prior experience in the field, her interactions with the school’s faculty during the application process encouraged her to commit to the program.
“When I met the supervisor, we matched really well,” Lopez Mendoza said. “I really felt like I could belong there.”
April Stroud ’99, associate director at the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives and director of study abroad, emphasized the rarity of having six Mount Holyoke students admitted to the program for a single summer. She also praised the program itself and the opportunities it can provide for students, especially those in STEM fields.
“Science doesn’t end at borders. With solving problems, borders are irrelevant in that sense,” Stroud said. “So, I think it’s really important to have some sort of cross-cultural experience.”
