Student internships

I was an undergraduate student of agronomy at the University of São Paulo/ESALQ, Brazil when I made my first contact with the Consortium for International Training in Seed Technology (CISTT). I remember that I was in the last year of my courses and was planning on spending the last semester in a foreign university which is mandatory training for graduation at ESLAQ. As a result, I spent the last five months of 2005 at The Ohio State University and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I learned much about how to conduct research there. In addition to the graduate and undergraduate courses that I attended, the seminars that I gave, and the research that I conducted, the friendly contact with importantresearchers in the seed world was fundamental to overcoming barriers that young students conducting research normally have, always thinking that the capacity to produce revolutionary scientific work is restricted to a small group of important professors from foreign universities. I discovered that I could also do it. In addition to the importance of learning the English language, knowing more about a new way of life, visiting beautiful places that I only had seen before on television, and participating in nice parties and commemorative events, I think that I brought a lot of friendship in my luggage when I returned to Brazil. After my return, I started my Ph.D. at ESALQ, where the Consortium is more present than ever. We had an international course last year by videoconference and we are now preparing to have another in the beginning of this year. It is very nice to be part of this group and to feel that it is making substantial progress in student education.