Three undergraduate students at the University of Iceland received a scholarship for a 10 week project at California Institute of Technology this summer; Caltech in Pasadena, California. The students study chemical engineering, software engineering and electrical and computer engineering
This is the ninth time these grants are awarded. The University of Iceland and Caltech have been in a structured partnership since 2008 in the fields of teaching and research. The collaboration involves the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, or SURF, at Caltech. This programme is based on research collaboration between supervisor and student in undergraduate studies. From the beginning of the SURF collaboration 23 students from the University of Iceland have gone to Caltech, and this year three more are going.
Caltech university is one of the world‘s leading research universities, and is placed in the first seat according to the esteemed Times Higher Education World University Rankings. Dr. Kiyo Tomiyasu, who passed away last December 96 years of age, was a world renowned scientist in the field of electrical engineering and a key figure in establishing the collaboration between Caltech and the University of Iceland. The Rector of the University of Iceland has decided that the grants allocated will from now on bear the name of the couple Kiyo and Eiko Tomiyasu who have shown the Icelandic students at Caltech exceptional kindness through the years.