New Directions Series
The Scan|Design Foundation sponsors UW graduate and advanced undergraduate students to study in Denmark. The fellowship allows students to earn UW credit for coursework taught in English at distinguished Danish educational institutions. Fellowships cover UW tuition, airfare, and most living expenses for the semester.
See the list of Danish Fellows studying at the UW.
Learn more about participating institutions and programs.
Jump to: Spring 2009, Fall 2008, Spring 2008, Fall 2007, Spring 2007
Spring 2010: |
Jordan Monez Royal Danish Academy Jordan West Monez is a graduate student at UW studying landscape architecture and urban design in the College of Built Environments. She will be studying in the Architecture, City and Landscape Department at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Spring 2010 through the Scan|Design Fellowship Program, combining her interests in interdisciplinary design. Jordan has previously studied sustainable architecture in Copenhagen as an undergraduate and looks forward to furthering her knowledge of sustainable design, green infrastructure, and culturally-based placemaking while at the Royal Danish Academy. |
Fall 2009: |
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Nic Vondrak Copenhagen Business School  Nic Vondrak is a graduate MBA student at the University of Washington and will study at the Copenhagen Business School in the Fall of 2009. He has an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University and served as an Officer in the United States Navy for five years before returning to graduate school. Nic is interested in finance and sustainability and is looking forward to learning about the business world from the Danish perspective. |
Mona Johnston Royal Danish Academy  Mona Johnston is an architecture graduate student at the UW and will be studying at the Royal Danish Academy in the fall semester of 2009. A native of Seattle, Mona has traveled and worked in Central America, Europe and Asia. With a background in biology and printmaking, her architectural interests range from large scale urban issues to small scale spaces that define everyday life. She has previously received numerous scholarships and awards for her work, and was a participant in the Copenhagen Classroom in August of 2008. The Scan|Design Fellowship supports Mona’s studies in urban development, sustainability, and industrialized construction. |
Todd Copenhagen  |
Natalie Gulsrud University of Copenhagen: Life Sciences  Natalie Gulsrud is studying urban forestry management and urban design in the college of Landscape Architecture at the University of Copenhagen in the fall of 2009. A graduate student in the Evans School of Public Affairs at UW, Natalie is interested in making cities more liveable and environmentally sustainable places. In her graduate studies at UW, she has focused on alternative transportation and environmental policy. As a Fulbright Scholar at Bielefeld University in Germany, she studied cross-cultural policy solutions to climate change mitigation. Natalie’s studies in Copenhagen are an opportunity to learn how the Danes develop and implement policies that make cities part of the solution to climate change mitigation. Natalie completed Danish 101 (Spring 2009) at the UW and looks forward to riding her bike through Copenhagen. |
Thomas Godshalk University of Copenhagen: Nordic, German and Comparative Literatures  Thomas is a junior and Honors student at the UW, double majoring in Danish and German languages and literature. During his semester at the University of Copenhagen, he will be enrolled in advanced Danish language classes in order to achieve written and spoken near-native fluency, while also studying Danish and Scandinavian literatures at the University of Copenhagen. Thomas has some Danish relatives who have been an inspiration for his studies. In the future, he plans to work as an interpreter in government or business. |
Kimberly Cannady University of Copenhagen: Musicology
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Elliott Schmitt Aalborg University: Sustainable Energy Planning and Management
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Spring 2009:Nikolaj Lasbo Aarhus University: Political Science Nikolaj is majoring in journalism and European studies at the UW. He has a keen interest for environmental issues, specifically when looking at how some states' political systems allow or disallow for effective environmental management. Nikolaj's father is Danish and he has traveled to Denmark about once every two years. However, he has never lived in Denmark and is looking forward to studying Political Science and practicing his Danish at the University of Aarhus during Spring 2009. |
Ralitsa Lazarova University of Copenhagen: Nordic and Comparative Literatures  Ralitsa is studying Danish language and literature and Comparative Literature at the University of Copenhagen . She is a Ph.D. candidate in Scandinavian Studies at the UW with specialization in contemporary Swedish literature, documentary novels and the cultural politics of emotions. Ralitsa has served as a Teaching Assistant at the UW in various language, literature, and film courses. Ralitsa is also interning at the University of Copenhagen's scholarly press, Museum Tusculanum Forlag. |
Michelle Whyman Aarhus University: Department of Political Science  Michelle is an advanced undergraduate, majoring in Political Science at the University of Washington and is supported by a ScanlDesign Fellowship during Spring semester 2009. As a 5th-year senior she has already completed a project with the Center for American Politics and Public Policy (CAPPP) for which she was awarded a Mary Gates Research Scholarship. At Aarhus University, Michelle is enrolled in classes at the department of Political Science as well as working with professors Christoffer Green-Pedersen and Peter Mortensen, founders of the Danish Agendas Project. Aarhus was one of the first European Universities to participate in PAP (Policy Agendas Projects) under CAPP. In preparation for her first international educational experience and her work as a ScanlDesign fellow, Michelle completed Danish 101 at the University of Washington during Fall quarter 2009. Following the culmination of this exchange she plans to continue her studies and pursue a Ph.D. in Political Science. |
Rebecca Clark University of Copenhagen: Economics
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Fall 2008: |
Roman Pohorecki Architecture/Royal Academy Aaron Panzer Copenhagen Business School Paul Young University of Aalborg: Sustainable Energy Management and Planning
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Spring 2008:Richard Anderson Aarhus University: Department of Political Science Advanced undergraduate Richard Anderson is majoring in Political Science at UW and is supported by a Scan|Design fellowship during Spring semester 2008 at Aarhus University. As a 5th-year senior Mr. Anderson has already completed a project with the Center for American Politics and Public Policy (CAPPP) for which he was awarded a Mary Gates Research Scholarship. At Aarhus University, Richard will work with Christoffer Green-Pedersen and Peter Mortensen, founders of the Danish Agendas Project. Aarhus was one of the first European Universities to participate in PAP (Policy Agendas Projects) under CAPP. In preparation for his first international educational experience and his work as a Scan|Design fellow, Mr. Anderson completed DANISH 101 at the UW during Fall quarter 2007. |
Andrea Baer University of Copenhagen: Departments of Nordic and Comparative Literature  Andrea Baer is studying Danish language and literature and Comparative Literature at the University of Copenhagen during the Spring semester 2008. Ms. Baer is a Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Literature at the UW with specialization in American, German, and Scandinavian literatures and cinema studies. Andrea has served as a Teaching Assistant at the UW in various language, literature, and film courses. As a graduate student at the UW, she undertook the study of Danish and achieved an advanced proficiency. The opportunity to study for a full semester at a University of Copenhagen allows Andrea to engage in graduate-level literary studies taught in Danish and to enhance the comparative perspectives in her Ph.D. dissertation dealing with postmodern fiction.
Andrea is also interning at the University of Copenhagen's scholarly press, Museum Tusculanum Forlag.
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Sam Gooch Aalborg University: Sustainable Energy Management and Planning MS Program A UW graduate student in Mechanical Engineering, Sam Gooch is spending Spring Semester 08 in the Sustainable Energy Management and Planning program at Aalborg University. Sam has studied sustainable energy design at the UW under Professor Phil Malte. Throughout his undergraduate engineering studies at UW, Sam focused on sustainable energy engineering. A Seattle native, born and raised in Ballard, Sam completed DANISH 101 (beginning Danish) at the UW in preparation for his first foreign study opportunity. In the future, he hopes to work on collaborative research projects in bio-energy involving Aalborg and UW College of Engineering. |
Katherine Idziorek Royal Academy of Fine Arts (School of Architecture) in Copenhagen  Katherine (“Katie”) Idziorek received her M.Arch degree in June of 2007, and is now working to finish her Masters in Urban Planning. Ms. Idziorek has previously received numerous awards and scholarships for her professional achievements, including the American Institute of Architects Henry Adams Medal (Spring 2007). A native of Minnesota, she has traveled and worked in diverse regions of Asia and Europe and has studied Chinese, Italian and Spanish. During the spring semester 2008, the Scan|Design Fellowship supports Katie’s work with two professors at the Institute of Building Culture at the Danish Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Professors Algreen-Ussing and Thule Kristensen) and research in her area of specilization: community involvement in design and communicating community values in the built environment. |
Catherine Silva University of Copenhagen: Department of Regional and Cross-Cultural Studies  Catherine (“Cat”) Silva is an undergraduate in her senior year with a double-major in Danish and History and a minor in Scandinavian Area Studies. In high school, Ms. Silva spent a year in Denmark (at Grenaa Gymnasium) supported by the Rotary Youth Exchange Program and fell in love with Denmark. Having grown up in a multi-cultural home, Cat has selected the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen for coursework; she is keen to learn how Danish scholars study the US. Of course, Ms. Silva is also spending her semester in Denmark fine-tuning her advanced proficiency in Danish and likely trading her Jutlandic accent for a Copenhagen dialect. |
Sarah Valdez Aarhus University: Department of Political Science  Also studying at Aarhus University is Sarah Valdez, a Ph.D. candidate at the UW in Sociology with a dissertation project focused on contemporary Danish politics and immigration policies. Ms. Valdez is spending the semester at Aarhus taking courses in political sociology and collecting data for her Ph.D. dissertation. Sarah is particularly interested in the Danish electoral system and will work closely with professors, such as Lise Togeby, of the Dept. of Political Science at Aarhus, to enhance her research. Sarah has already completed three years of Danish language study at the UW and was a participant in the Copenhagen Classroom 2006 Summer program. |
Spring 2007Christina Oh University of Aarhus: Political Science As a Scan|design fellow at the University of Aarhus during the Spring semester 07, Christina Oh studied Danish politics and Denmark's welfare state and began learning to speak the difficult Danish language. She enjoyed meeting Danish university students in the Department of Political Science and especially loved the dinners and events coordinated by Dr. Marianne Stølen for the UW Scan|design fellows. Now back at the Jackson School of International Studies at the UW, Christina is currently writing her senior research paper dealing with environmental norms in Scandinavia and is continuing the study of Danish in the intermediate class at UW. Christina is also in the process of applying to graduate schools and plans to begin a masters program at a university in Scandinavia in the autumn of 2008. |
Lisa Dulude Royal Academy of Fine Arts: Architecture  Lisa Dulude, a graduate student in Urban Design and Planning, is currently finishing her master’s thesis on bicycle commuting and wrapping up her final semester at the UW. As a Scan|design fellow at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, she studied bicycling and transportation policies in Denmark in preparation for her Master’s thesis project. She also enjoyed meeting Danish and other international students at the architecture school in Copenhagen, traveling in Europe, and the Danish bakeries! Lisa feels that her first-hand experiences of Danish transportation systems will be valuable in her future career pursuits as an urban planer. |
Peter Leonard University of Copenhagen: Scandinavian / Comp. Lit.  Peter Leonard is a Ph.D. student in Scandinavian Studies at the UW where he studies Swedish and Danish literature. As a Scan|design fellow during the Spring Semester 2007, Peter took courses in the departments of Comparative Literature and Danish Literature at the University of Copenhagen. In addition to coursework and research for his doctoral thesis, Peter interned at University of Copenhagen’s academic press, Museum Tuscalanums Forlag. He is now spending a year abroad in Sweden as a Fulbright Fellow. An archive of his time in Denmark is available online. |
Melissa Lucas University of Copenhagen: Scandinavian  Melissa Lucas is pursuing the Master’s degree in Scandinavian Studies at UW, with a focus on Danish language and literature. Melissa has a background in German, Linguistics, and Speech Pathology and speaks Danish, some German, and some Norwegian and Swedish. As a Scan|design fellow at the University of Copenhagen during spring semester 2007, Melissa studied advanced Danish language & literature and focused both on Danish Phonetics and the Danish Short Story. Her professional goal is to teach in Academia. This Fall quarter 2007, Melissa is teaching DANISH 101 as an evening class at UW, a Teaching Assistantship supported by the Scan|design Foundation. |
Samantha Albert University of Copenhagen: Film and Media Studies  Samantha Albert is an advanced undergraduate in Cinema Studies at UW. As a Scan|design fellow during the Spring semester 2007, she studied at the Film and Media Studies program at the University of Copenhagen, a graduate program taught in English. Among her courses were Danish Cinema and Minorities and Postcolonial issues in Recent French Cinema. Although she speaks German, Samantha had never previously studied or lived in Denmark. Samantha is back at the UW during Fall quarter 2007, completing her undergraduate degree. Her professional goal is to work in film production. |
Fall 2007Todd Beyreuther Royal Academy of Fine Arts: Architecture. Todd is a UW graduate student in architecture finishing his thesis project at the School of Architecture at the Danish Royal Academy this fall. Todd is using his thesis preparation work at UW that focused on global and urban scale “nomadism” to design a mobile living module at the Royal Academy in a department that focuses on Danish industrial design. In December, at the end of the semester, Todd will bring his models and presentation materials back from Denmark to the UW for his final thesis review.
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Kimberly is a Ph.D student in the Ethnomusicology department where she has taught courses on both American folk music and American popular music. Her current research involves the late Danish musician Natasja Saad and related issues of transnationalism and politics in contemporary Danish popular music. She will study at the University of Copenhagen in the fall taking courses through the Musicology Department. In addition to her academic interests in music, Kimberly is also a classically trained vocalist having completed a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance. 
Elliott is pursuing a PhD in Mechanical Engineering with research interest in life cycle assessment and renewable energy technology. He works in the UW Design for Environment Lab with Professor Joyce Cooper. At Aalborg, he is enrolled in the graduate program in Sustainable Energy Planning and Management and working with both Danish and other international students on group-based engineering projects. Elliot works with Danish faculty at Aalborg who are pioneers advancing the field of consequential life cycle assessment, a methodology used to identify the environmental consequences of disseminating new technologies into economic systems. Elliott feels that his experience and collaborations in Denmark will broaden his understanding of sustainability and lead to future collaborations between UW and Danish engineers in solving global issues, such as, clean energy and climate change. 
Rebecca is a 5th year senior, pursuing a double degree in Italian Studies and in Economics with a Certificate of International Studies. She was drawn to the University of Copenhagen due to the extensive amount of courses it offers in the areas of macroeconomics and economic development. She spent the fall on her own at the University of Copenhagen and is thrilled to have received the Scan|Design Fellowship that allows her to continue her studies in Copenhagen. The experience from being in Denmark will provide an invaluable perspective on macroeconomic policy from a northern European country that plays a vital role in the world economy. Rebecca plans to work within development in less developed countries after she graduates.
Paul is a graduate student in Mechanical Engineering focusing on sustainable energy. He is also planning to complete the Environmental Management Certificate Program. Paul is participating in the Program in Sustainable Energy Planning and Management at Aalborg University that teaches from technical and non-technical viewpoints of energy systems and particularly the Danish system. Paul feels that the different teaching style at the University of Aalborg which is project and group based will be beneficial because converting the world’s energy production to sustainable methods cannot be done alone. Paul would like to combine his studies regarding specific technologies (wind turbines, solar panels, bio-fuels) as an engineer and the more broad system knowledge gained in Denmark