In the weeks Merve Fedai studied abroad over the summer, she churned out novel materials science research, made new friends and gained invaluable international experience in Dresden, Germany.

A fifth-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at NC State University, Fedai studied the self-assembly and structural color in liquid crystalline phases. Though she started this project as an undergraduate student at NC State, she put it on the backburner years ago.

Thanks to the researchers she worked with in the program, she was able to revive the project with some simple coding.

“It was a very cool experience because I really didn’t have any kind of international experience other than me coming to the U.S., but that was a long time ago,” said Fedai, who immigrated from Turkey in 2015.

Through a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) students from NC State, Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill spend their summers in an immersive summer research program in the historic city of Dresden.

This summer, NC State’s third cohort of students will make the trip to collaborate with professors and other Ph.D. candidates at Technische Universität Dresden.

“Students really shouldn’t miss these kinds of opportunities, especially for those interested in traveling around the world, but also doing productive work,” said Fedai. “They should definitely check out the IRES program for next year.”

The Dresden study abroad program is for Ph.D. students studying soft matter science. It  is part of the NSF program International Research Experiences for Students (IRES).

The 2025 cohort was led by Joseph Tracy, a faculty scholar and professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at NC State; Stefan Zauscher, director of graduate studies and professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Duke; and Amy Josefsberg in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Tracy reached out to Zauscher because of his connections at TU Dresden.

“The greatest value for students is the opportunity to immerse themselves in a new and stimulating research environment,” said Zauscher. “This experience can add fresh dimensions to their Ph.D. work while also providing the unique cultural perspective of living abroad. The professional connections they build often extend well beyond their Ph.D. and can be valuable throughout their careers.”

Though geared toward materials science students, anyone can apply. Nikki Hammond is a third-year Ph.D. student in chemical and biomolecular engineering.

Her primary interest is computational modeling for protein and peptides, but she has collaborators who work in polymer systems, and she wanted to learn more. In Dresden, she built a model of a DNA repair system. Since returning stateside, she has presented that research at a conference and plans to attend another in November.

“I love traveling, so that’s always been very important to me,” said Hammond. “My advisor did his postdoc abroad, so he supported me participating in an international program. I lived in Germany for a previous summer, about four years ago, so I knew what to expect going in and had always wanted to go back and do more research there.”

In addition to using new tools in new ways and gaining new insight into research in different parts of the world, students also had the chance to collaborate and get to know their fellow student researchers, including their American peers, and connect with professionals in their fields.

“Before we left, we took a German class with the other North Carolina students, so we all got to know each other a little bit through that, which I think was very beneficial going into the trip,” Hammond said. “I was really amazed by how collaborative the research is, in Dresden, too. Even though I was a visiting researcher, I was welcomed into the community there.”

Fontaine McFeaters, a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in materials science and chemistry at NC State, befriended UNC student Claire Wang, whom she still sees now that they’re back in North Carolina.

McFeaters is an MSE and chemistry student who researched multifunctional anchor polymer coatings for next-generation antibacterial surfaces on the trip.

“We’re all Ph.D. students, so we’re really not very different,” she said. “It was cool to be in an environment where everyone understands what you’re going through and be in this experience together.”

Despite the rigor of the program, students were able to travel on the weekends to places like Poland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and France, among others. 

“It’s such a valuable experience,” McFeaters added. “For students who haven’t studied abroad, it’s really a great opportunity to put yourself out of your comfort zone. We got to see a different side of research from an international perspective, and I think that’s something everyone should experience.”

Students interested in applying for the 2026 summer program should apply here.