Clarkson Chemistry faculty and graduate students actively participated in the Erasmus+ exchange program, established through an agreement between Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania and Clarkson University. Participants this year included Egon Matijević Endowed Chair Silvana Andreescu Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry and Department Chair, Daniel Andreescu, Associate Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry, and one of their graduate students Ulfet Erdogan. Each year, the exchange enables a number of students, faculty, and staff to travel between the two institutions to participate in teaching and research experiences. The travel expenses are covered by the Erasmus+ grant awarded to Al. I. Cuza University of Iasi by the European Union, supporting cross-cultural academic collaborations, teaching activities and professional development.
Both Drs. Andreescu and the graduate student Ulfet Erdogan traveled to the lab of Dr. Brindusa Alina Petre at Al. I. Cuza University of Iasi, where they met with her and colleagues from the Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry to establish research collaborations and initiate new projects. The Al. I. Cuza University team involved in conversations included: Drs. Brindusa Alina Petre, Dumitru-Claudiu Sergentu, Laura Darie-Ion, and Robert Gradinaru.
“This city and the university are beautiful, Dr. Alina and their lab are helping me a lot. They are amazing people. I am very lucky to be here, and I am very excited about summer school. Dr. Alina has research plans for me for this summer. I have started learning a lot of things and doing research”, said Erdogan. “I already took a walking city tour, visited churches and museums in the Palas. And I enjoyed the “3 Tenors”concert at the Palas garden” ended Erdogan.
It is worth noting that this is an ongoing collaborative partnership. Dr. Petre also hosted Dr. Darie and his four graduate students (Aneeta Arshad, Pathea Bruno, Taniya Jayaweera & Victor Njoku) in her lab. Other Clarkson faculty and/or staff who have traveled to Iasi through the Erasmus+ program were Drs. Jim Peploski, Daniel Andreescu, and Melissa King.
Dr. Petre knows Clarkson University well; she visited Potsdam while herself was an Erasmus+ exchange faculty in 2020, and then returned as a Fulbright Fellow for three months in the summer of 2021. She will also come in August 2025 for four months as a Fulbright fellow in Dr. Darie’s lab.