During the spring semester of 2016, seven students from the Chemical, Mechanical and Industrial, and Civil and Environmental Engineering Departments are participating in the college’s study abroad program by spending five months at Heriot Watt University, located in Edinburgh, Scotland. We say “thanks” and give the tip of a hat to Professor Sarah Perry for nominating two of the students and asking one of them, Meaghan O’Brien, to write her impressions of her experiences overseas.

Woody Allen famously said that “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” If students in the College of Engineering want to take advantage of this basic premise from “Life 101,” then their first step toward success is to show up at the brand new Experiential Learning Center in Marston Hall 112 and check out the myriad ways for jumpstarting their careers.

What exactly is “experiential learning” anyway? In short, it means learning from hands-on, first-hand experience. That’s what the Experiential Learning Center is all about.