Northwestern welcomes delegation from the Ministry for Science, Education and Research in Austria

On Monday, September 19, Northwestern’s Office of International Relations welcomed a delegation from the Ministry for Science, Education and Research in Austria to campus for a formal visit and tour of the university. 

The group was led by Martin Polaschek, Austria’s Minister for Education, Science and Research, who has held his current position for almost two years. Before that, he was Rector at the University of Graz from 2019-2021, and Vice-Rector for Studies and Teaching and Director of Studies from 2003 to 2019. Currently, Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine has a cooperative partnership with the Medizinische Universität Graz, the university's medical branch.

After a tour of the Evanston campus, the delegation —which was accompanied by representatives from the Office of Science and Technology Austria (OSTA) in Washington, D.C.— heard various presentations from faculty across departments at Northwestern. These included discussions about teaching media literacy, tackling issues related to biological engineering and more. Presentations were conducted by Medill Professor Stephanie Edgerly, McCormick Professor Danielle Tullman-Ercek, and Milan Mrksich, the Vice President for Research. 

Along with listening to presentations from faculty, delegation members also visited The Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics and were led on a tour by Anthony Banks, the institute’s director of engineering research.