Student Earns Scholarship for Year-long Study-Intern Program in Germany

MELBOURNE, FLA.—Brian Silver, a Florida Institute of Technology senior majoring in astrobiology, has been granted a scholarship for a year-long Germany exchange program. The experience, through the Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals, provides four months of classroom studies and a six-month internship. Silver will begin at the end of July.

The scholarship includes a round-trip transatlantic flight, university tuition, language training, a living stipend, accommodations in a German home or student residence and program-related travel costs within German. Silver will also be funded for final evaluation seminars in Washington D.C., New York City and in various German cities.

“I am greatly appreciative of the guidance I have received from my academic advisers, professors and friends at Florid Tech. Their support and advice have made this experience possible,” said Silver.

Silver, a transfer student from St. Johns River State College in St. Augustine, has extensive research experience not only at Florida Tech, but also at Princeton University. At Florida Tech she has worked in the Bioorganic Chemistry Laboratory of Associate Professor Nasri Nesnas on the development of caged neurotransmitters; and in the Polymer Chemistry Laboratory of Professor Gordon Nelson and Senior Scientist Feng Yang improving the fire resistance of materials.

Silver was an intern at Princeton University during summer 2011, working in physics and electrical engineering. There she was involved in a demonstration of the assembly of quantum computing.

Among many honors, Silver has earned a CRC Press Achievement Award for chemistry; achievement award certificates for chemistry and mathematics from St. Johns River State College; and she has been named to the Dean’s List at Florida Tech. Silver is a member of the honor society Phi Kappa Phi, the American Chemical Society Student Affiliates and Student Astronomical Society, both at Florida Tech. Her primary faculty adviser is Terry Oswalt, head of the Department of Physics and Space Sciences.

Silver was born in Miami, Fla., and homeschooled through high school.