Thanks for your interest in EuroScholars, a unique research study abroad program in Europe. In each edition, this newsletter aims to keep you updated with the latest developments on the program!

EuroScholars alumna, Idu Azogu (Rutgers University), shares her experiences studying abroad with EuroScholars. Idu participated in a research project at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

The University of Zurich lies at the heart of a vibrant and multilingual society that cherishes its traditions of liberalism, pluralism, and tolerance. The high standard of education in Switzerland has made Zurich a business and financial center and a preferred location for both national and international headquarters. Zurich has repeatedly been placed number one in Mercer’s worldwide quality of living survey. Its highly developed infrastructure and public transport system put all major European cities within easy reach.

The University of Zurich has long been a driving force in the educational system in Switzerland; its origins date back as far as 1525. It was chartered in 1833, becoming the first European university founded by a democratic state without ecclesiastical or royal patronage.

The University of Zurich has a long tradition of excellence and innovation: it was the first university in Europe to accept female students; it has always employed the most renowned teaching staff (Albert Einstein was a professor at the University!); it fosters the highest quality of research – the work of Nobel laureates such as Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen and Rolf M. Zinkernagel testifies to this. The University of Zurich is counted among the world’s top institutions for its cutting-edge research in various global and European rankings. To maintain and advance this strong position, the University has established peer-reviewed evaluation (the first Swiss university to do so). The University monitors and evaluates teaching, research, services, administration and management systematically.

The University of Zurich is a research-based institution and provides a stimulating and inspiring environment for the advancement of innovative, high quality teaching. Service departments such as the Multi-media and E-learning Center offer practical support for the development and implementation of new teaching media. The University boasts outstanding facilities: state-of-the-art laboratory facilities, two main university libraries and various departmental libraries. The University’s language center provides courses in more than ten languages at various levels. An academic sports club with expert instruction in more than 70 different sport disciplines, spacious dining halls, various cafeterias, cafés and snack bars complement the academic facilities and make students, teachers and researchers from all over the world feel at home as part of a lively and stimulating university community.

Learn More about the University of Zurich HERE>

 

Search the EuroScholars Research Project Database for projects at Zurich HERE>

Revenge is sweet

As part of the University’s interdisciplinary research program on the foundations of human social behavior (involving economists, neuroscientists, psychologists, evolutionary anthropologists and philosophers), a team of the Institute of Empirical Research in Economics focuses on altruism. Altruistic behavior is unique to humans – no other species shows the same level of cooperation. Using neuroimaging techniques, researchers have been able to show that decisions to punish unfair behavior in others lead to heightened activity in the brain’s reward center: revenge is sweet! They have also found that altruism helps us to organize and sustain cooperation in large groups. http://www.oec.uzh.ch/index_en.html

A milestone in spinal cord repair

Damaged spinal nerves are prevented from growing new connections by various inhibitory proteins and other chemicals. Ten years ago, the Director of the Brain Research Institute and his team identified the protein Nogo as one of the major factors in preventing nerve cell regeneration. They have since developed and successfully tested various antibodies to Nogo on animals: when Nogo is eliminated, damaged nerve cells regenerate and assume their original functions. Currently a specifically human antibody to Nogo is being tested in clinical trials on humans with acute spinal injuries, and the first results are eagerly awaited. www.med.uzh.ch 

Rewriting the history of global media

The Center for Medieval Studies Zurich has initiated a national research program on media history and media change. Researchers from backgrounds as diverse as history, linguistics, literature, art history and cultural studies define media in the broadest terms possible, encompassing, for example, changes in communicative practices and the development of communicative networks, the advent of print culture, and new combinations of text and image. Projects deal with linguistic changes, such as the change from oral to written language, as well as cultural ones, such as the transition from papyrus to paper. Researchers are concerned with the historical dimension of communication and media change, and the question of how media generate cultural meaning. http://www.phil.uzh.ch/index_en.html

In search of dark matter

Dark matter can at the moment only be detected indirectly through its gravitational effects, but researchers worldwide strive to see it using laboratory experiments. The University of Zurich’s research in the field of direct or indirect detection such as annihilation is multifaceted and seminal. Researchers showed that lumps survive when dark matter halos collapse. They discovered that the largest lumps are distributed within a dark halo that surrounds galaxies like the Milky Way. The responsible research team has done large-scale calculations of these halos that will lead to a detailed hypothesis about what might be possible to detect in a laboratory. Another research team is building a detector located deep underground to cut down noise from backgrounds such as cosmic rays. Their aim is to detect dark matter particles using liquid Xenon. www.mnf.uzh.ch  

Congratulations to the following EuroScholars who received a EuroScholars AWARD for the Fall 2009 Semester:

Jennifer Bean

(Missouri State University)

Presently at the Department of Astronomy, Leiden University, The Netherlands

Sam Teitelbaum

(University of Maryland - College Park)

Presently at the Department of Physics, University of Geneva, Switzerland

For the academic year 2009-2010 as well as for 2010-2011, the EuroScholars program will offer several EuroScholars Awards in the amount of € 500 each. From Spring 2010 additional scholarships will be available at select institutions.

All participants with a 3.5 GPA and higher are eligible and automatically considered for an award upon acceptance to a EuroScholars research project. There is no additional application required.