Owls Abroad
Whether for a week, a semester or a year, Rice students are seeking — and finding — new opportunities for international learning.
Fall 2025
By Sarah Rufca Nielsen ’05
Illustrations by Delphine Lee
A passport doesn’t guarantee perspective — but when it comes to diverse learning opportunities, it’s a good place to start. Whether classifying chameleons in Madagascar, joining a university’s swim team in Singapore or learning how to tackle maternal mortality in the Dominican Republic, Rice students are increasingly in search of notable, hands-on experiences and deeper cross-cultural understanding.
On an institutional level, Rice is investing in making global experiences more accessible, more integrated and, critically, more meaningful. “Our hope is that every student at Rice has an opportunity to engage in a global experience,” says Leslie Schwint-Bayer, the Thomas Cooke and Mary Elizabeth Edwards Chair in Government and Democracy in the School of Social Sciences and associate dean of undergraduate education at Rice. “We’re working to reduce barriers, expand opportunities and build the infrastructure so these experiences are supported, not siloed.”
We spoke to eight Owls who sought out various paths to expand their educations through international experiences, from fellowships to field schools, a cross section of how Rice students are exploring the world while learning to see themselves as global citizens and scholars.
Jessica Shi ’25, ’27
Uzbekistan
HART in the World
Offered every other year, the Department of Art History’s popular HART in the World course includes both a spring seminar and a two-week trip to a related location the following May. This summer, Jessica Shi (Brown) joined associate professors of art history in the School of Humanities Lida Oukaderova and Farshid Emami and classmates to explore Uzbekistan and the region’s art and architecture from the pre-Islamic era to the post-Soviet and contemporary periods.
Why did you decide to study here? I have taken a Rice Global Paris summer course with the art history department and really enjoyed it. I have also taken a course with Professor Lida and totally loved it. So, I was excited to hear about HART in Uzbekistan. I had never studied that part of the world before, and probably won’t have much chance to travel there on my own, so it was a great chance to learn about that part of the world with a group of people who share similar interests.
How did this experience influence your future career goals? It showed me how to conduct effective site visits and how to generate information and questions from the object or primary sources themselves rather than secondary sources written by others.
A highlight of your trip? On the fourth day of our trip, we drove almost the whole day to the Aral Sea and stayed in yurts overnight. Crossing through the desert, we saw the different landscapes formed by the shrinking sea; we visited a museum and local village; and we watched the most beautiful sunset while swimming and floating in the sea, as well as seeing the Milky Way in the night sky.
Arryana Lyon ’26
Brazil
Loewenstern Fellow
Cognitive sciences major Arryana Lyon (Jones) spent this summer in São Paulo, Brazil, through the Loewenstern Fellowship. She studied Brazilian culture and infrastructure to inform a social impact project addressing local access to clean water, sanitation and recycling.
Why did you decide to study here? I study how both the natural and built environment can affect our way of life and well-being, especially in the face of climate change. This program was a great opportunity to learn how other places in the world are dealing with environmental issues.
What is something about your experience that you wouldn’t have been able to replicate at Rice? My fellow Rice classmate and I were the only native English speakers in our classes. The other students were Brazilians who enrolled in the course to improve their English skills and learn about different topics. It was an invaluable experience learning not only Portuguese from them as they learned English from us, but also to learn about Brazil, its history, its people and its rich culture.
How did this experience influence your future career goals? This experience has definitely complemented my ultimate career goal of being an urban planner.
Top recommendation for future travelers? I’d say they absolutely must go to a futebol match. The stadiums are electric when fans go to cheer on their favorite teams. I had the privilege of attending a match in May to support São Paulo’s home team.
Cory Voskanian ’28
Taiwan
Rice in Country
From the start, studying abroad was high on Cory Voskanian’s college bucket list. This summer, the Martel resident traveled to Taipei, Taiwan, as part of Rice in Country. In addition to the program coursework, the statistics and social policy analysis double major spent a month as a research assistant at National Taiwan University, working as part of an international team of scholars exploring AI’s potential to prevent natural disasters.
Why did you decide to study here? I had a really cool experience the second week of my freshman year when my teacher invited me to visit the Taiwanese economic and cultural center in Houston. I was able to hear from students who went on the trip last year and meet with Taiwanese youth ambassadors. These interactions made studying through Rice in Taiwan a priority.
What is something about your experience that you wouldn’t have been able to replicate at Rice? Studying intercultural communication has exponentially improved my Chinese through open conversations and experiences with local Taiwanese people, whether it be learning about the intricacies of the Chinese language over hot pot with our Taiwanese teacher, or hourlong discussions with our language partners (local students).
A highlight of your trip? Our trip to Xiaoliuqiu, a small island off the south coast of Taiwan. We spent the day snorkeling and seeing sea turtles as well as eating traditional Taiwanese barbecue and singing karaoke and playing Mahjong at night.
Valerie Valentin ’28
Dominican Republic
Rice 360 Institute for Global Health Technologies
A bioengineering major with a minor in global health technologies, Valerie Valentin (Lovett) spent the summer in Santo Domingo on an internship with Rice 360 Institute for Global Health Technologies. She joined a group of students who are gaining on-the-ground insights to better understand local health challenges and identify opportunities for impactful engineering solutions.
Tell us about your Rice 360 project. Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world, but it’s also one of the most preventable. Through my research I found that the Dominican Republic has a high [cervical] cancer rate and risk, with uterine cancer being almost as high; however, most hospitals can’t afford many training models to teach residents or primary care providers how to properly perform screening procedures. Without this training, cervical biopsies are either done poorly or not done at all.
My project was creating a training model for endometrial biopsies by making an anatomically realistic uterus and cervix model that can be attached to the LUCIA, a low-cost cervical biopsy training model made by Rice 360. We worked in collaboration with the Dominican Foundation for Mothers and Infants to bring our project to public maternity hospitals, where doctors try them out and see
if they work.
Top recommendation for future travelers? Every weekend we tried to visit a new place. My favorite was Saona Island. You take a boat to the island, and there are iguanas all over and the water and the beach are beautiful.
Maddie Jeffery ’26
Republic of Madagascar
School of International Training
A double major in integrative biology and French studies, Maddie Jeffery (Baker) spent fall 2024 deep in the rainforests of Madagascar studying biodiversity and natural resource management with the School of International Training. In addition to taking classes in both English and French, her program included a monthlong research project spent backpacking through Marojejy National Park, where Jeffery identified 15 species of chameleons.
Why did you decide to study here? With a dual degree, it’s tough to squeeze in a whole semester abroad on a four-year plan, so I needed a program that could combine my niche interests into one package. I also wanted to go somewhere I could never just travel to, and I knew Madagascar was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
What is something about your experience that you wouldn’t have been able to replicate at Rice? Madagascar is a country that’s incredibly diverse in geography. It’s also a biodiversity hotspot, so I got to see lemurs, chameleons and rare species of fish and marine animals. For many, it’s the only place to study them in their natural habitat.
How did this experience influence your future career goals? It sparked even more passion for studying the post-colonial period of [former] French colonies, especially in women’s roles in forwarding those countries. And it definitely refined my love of animals and animal conservation.
Top recommendation for future travelers? Anyone visiting Madagascar should go to Lake Itasy. I will never forget days spent cliff jumping, exploring geysers, bathing in waterfalls, eating mangos and nights spent watching the stars.
Ananya Rao ’26
Republic of Singapore
National University of Singapore
Ananya Rao (Jones), who is majoring in computer science with a minor in data science, spent the spring 2025 semester enrolled at the National University of Singapore through a student exchange program. In addition to living in dorms and taking classes full time, Rao joined the NUS swim team and made the most of her time abroad, traveling to Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia.
Why Singapore? I wanted to be in a program with local students. And I wanted to be in Asia, and in Singapore there’s no language barrier. A big part of what made the Singapore experience unique is that you have access to people all over the world — the exchange community at NUS is super diverse, from all over Asia as well as Australia, Canada, Germany, etc.
A highlight of your trip? I went to northern Vietnam with some friends. It was a mix of backpacking and homestays in various villages. It was incredible and really cool to be present in that experience with people whom I had just met a month before.
Top recommendation for future travelers? Singapore has food centers called hawker centers — kind of like food courts where each stall specializes in one or two dishes and everyone picks a stall and then eats together in a communal setting. Go to one for breakfast and order kaya toast covered in butter and kaya jam, which is made of coconut and pandan.
Connor Findley ’26
United Kingdom
University of Exeter
English major Connor Findley (Martel) spent his entire junior year at the University of Exeter, taking English literature courses alongside local students. Between classes, he made time to explore the U.K., proving that studying abroad can be both intellectually and geographically expansive.
Why did you decide to study here? My greatest passion is creative writing and literature in the English language, so I wanted to pick a program that would allow me to develop these skills in particular.
What is something that complemented your Rice studies? The university offered several subjects that I’d never heard of before — for example, there was one on the surrealists that was a great passion of the professor who taught it. Surrealist art is particularly challenging in its explorations of the ‘nonsensical,’ the dreamlike, the taboo and more, which exposed me to new and uncommon ways of thinking. I’ll be thinking about surrealism for the rest of my life.
How did this experience influence your future career goals? What I learned in Exeter has already enriched my creative and career pursuits and also my general perspective on life. I’ve written a short story I’m proud of that is set at a bus stop in Exeter and makes use of surrealist methods.
A highlight of your trip? During Reading Week (a weeklong fall break), I traveled by train to Edinburgh. As an author, it was an especially inspiring city — the Writer’s Museum memorializes three of the most important Scottish writers. Perhaps the highlight of that whole visit was a bus tour up to the Scottish Highlands. The city is one thing, but the majesty of those hills is entirely different.
Noor Ayache ’26
Jordan
Rice in Country
A philosophy major with a minor in politics, law and social thought, Noor Ayache (Duncan) spent six weeks this summer in Amman, Jordan, diving deep into the Arabic language and culture through community excursions and daily life with a homestay family.
Why did you decide to study here? Since I am a native Arabic speaker with Lebanese origins, I already had ties to the language and culture; however, I recognized that there is much more learning to be done.
How did this experience influence your future career goals? I am currently pursuing an oral history research project that explores the philosophy of life and death within the Druze community, a religious minority mostly residing in the Middle East. The Rice in Jordan program allowed me to strengthen my language skills, which will help me document and translate the Druze perspectives better.
A highlight of your trip? My most memorable highlight was being invited to celebrate Eid El-Adha with a friend’s family. I ate traditional Palestinian food for the first time, met their relatives and got to learn more about their way of life in Jordan. This filled in a small homesick spot I had and gave me a deeper appreciation for the hospitable customs and sense of community that define life in Jordan and Arab culture as a whole.
Top recommendation for future travelers? You must visit Wadi Rum, Petra, one of the seven wonders of the world, and the Dead Sea. We got to experience the desert landscape through a camel ride and jeep tour, and at night, there were performances of traditional Bedouin music and dance, followed by stargazing.