Contact: Carl Smith

STARKVILLE, Miss.—A Mississippi State junior will spend this summer in Germany as part of a prestigious undergraduate research program.

Surabhi Gupta, a wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture major from Jaipur, India, is the university’s latest winner of the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst-Research Internships in Science and Engineering, or DAAD-RISE. DAAD, the German academic exchange service, and the RISE program provide research opportunities that match student research interests with local laboratories for biology, chemistry, physics, earth sciences and engineering.

Specifically, Gupta will work with Kiel University’s Department of Landscape Ecology, in Kiel, Germany.

Open to top undergraduates in North America, England and Ireland, DAAD-RISE Germany scholars are paired with Ph.D. mentors and researchers while overseas and receive a stipend for their living expenses.

Gupta is one of 320 students chosen for the prestigious program this year and is MSU’s second winner. A previous member of MSU’s Undergraduate Research Scholars Program and Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates Program, Gupta wants to experience how research is conducted in a different country while gaining field experiences with new species in Germany. She plans on earning a master’s degree and Ph.D. in computational marine ecology following her undergraduate career at MSU.

“I have always wanted to go to Germany because I have a personal relationship with the country. My grandfather was extensively involved with German institutions and was a Humboldt Scholar,” Gupta said. “I chose MSU because of its excellent research output and scholarship support for international students. I am majoring in wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture because the program allows me to develop applicable skills through extensive labs and is very flexible, allowing me to have a multi-disciplinary academic background spanning over wildlife ecology, biology and geosciences.

“MSU’s warm community has provided me help and support whenever I needed it,” she continued. “It has so many resources for students to avail, and everyone is so encouraging.”

David Hoffman, MSU Office of Prestigious External Scholarships director, said Gupta’s extensive MSU research experiences, excellent academic performance, campus engagement and interest in Germany helped her stand out as an applicant to the incredibly competitive program.

“We are overjoyed for her and thankful the Shackouls Honors College was able to provide a small amount to further facilitate her travel,” Hoffman said. “We hope this win enables others to follow in Surabhi’s footsteps in the coming years.”

Learn more about the MSU Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture in the College of Forest Resources by visiting www.wildlifefisheries.msstate.edu. For more information about the RISE Germany program, visit https://www.daad.de/rise/en/rise-germany/about-the-program.

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