This year, it was NES's turn to send 12 YCC members--11 graduate students and one undergraduate student--to Germany. The students spent a week in Cologne and Aachen learning about everything from job opportunities in Germany to German culture.

After getting settled in Germany, the students attended a two-part symposium. First, they learned about the German educational system and the changes under discussion in the system to increase its international compatibility. This was followed by an overview of the U.S. system for comparison.

The focus of the second part of the symposium was job opportunities in Germany. The students learned about the German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD, which promotes international academic relations and cooperation by offering mobility programs primarily for students and faculty. This information was of particular interest to SuzAnn M. Hertzler, a graduate student at Boston University.

At one time, it was Hertzler's goal to do a postdoc in Germany, "but once I became a graduate student, that seemed impossible." However, after learning about DAAD on her visit, she says, "I've come home with a renewed goal."

After listening to the symposium presentations, it became clear to the students that working in Germany was not a problem financially and the language barrier was not an obstacle, "so there is no problem," Hertzler says with excitement.

Nearly all of the other students shared Hertzler's enthusiasm for the potential of pursuing a postdoc or other career opportunities abroad after the symposium. "I am more interested now after being here and experiencing the environment and how things operate," reads one student's trip evaluation. "This trip has enabled me to now make a more informed decision, whereas before, I think I would have been more intimidated and uneducated about coming to Germany during my career."

The group also enjoyed a daylong excursion to Bayer AG, in Leverkusen, and to the Research Centre Jülich. Both trips included overviews of the work being done at the site, tours of the research facilities, and discussions of ongoing research.

Sight-seeing was also part of the schedule. The NES YCC group members had an opportunity to visit the great cathedral of Cologne and part of Charlemagne's castle in Aachen. They were also treated to a plenary lecture one evening on the history of Aachen.

AT THE END of their trip, the students attended the three-day spring symposium of the GDCh JDF. Euregionale 2002 was held at the Center for Organic Chemistry, Rhine-Westphalia Technical University in Aachen (RWTH Aachen), and allowed students from throughout Europe to interact and present their research.

As part of the exchange, the NES YCC students also participated in Euregionale 2002. Four of the students gave oral presentations, and the other eight gave poster presentations. The presentations from the NES YCC students covered topics in organic chemistry, biochemistry, analytical chemistry, and materials science.

At the conclusion of the conference, awards were given to the top presenters. Monica A. Rixman, a graduate student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, received the second-place award for her oral presentation titled "Exploring the Origins of Bio(in)compatibility: Using High-Resolution Force Spectroscopy To Probe the Mysteries of Protein-Polymer Interactions."

Albrecht Salzer, professor at RWTH Aachen and chairman of the GDCh Aachen Section, and Carsten Bolm, professor at RWTH Aachen and part of last year's German exchange group that traveled to Boston, as well as other GDCh and JCF members, joined the group for dinner on their last night in Germany.

The dinner gave the group members an opportunity to thank their German hosts and to express their appreciation to all of the German students who made this exchange possible.

The success of the exchange is clear from the trip evaluation forms the students completed following the visit. Most students left feeling their eyes had been opened to new possibilities.

One student notes that "graduate students can sometimes view science with a limited perspective and thought process. The trip really provided us with the opportunity to move beyond" those limits.

Another important aspect of the trip was meeting and interacting with others in the science world. "It's been great to interact on both social and professional levels with the German group," a student writes, adding that this is "very important for establishing friendships and contacts."

Plans are now under way for next year's exchange, explains Michael E. Strem, president of Strem Chemicals and NES chair of the exchange steering committee. "Because next year is a celebration year for chemistry in Germany, NES YCC will again travel to Germany," he says, but notes that the exchange will return to Boston in 2004.

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Copyright © 2002 American Chemical Society