One Year Later: Fulbright-MTP Participants Reflect

The 2014 Fulbright-MTP Participants after a panel at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York City at the end of the 2014 MTP journey. From left to right: Ammar Mohammed from Yemen; Alyas Widita from Indonesia; Katie Nikolaeva from Russia; Anser Shaukat from Pakistan; Silvia Tijo from Colombia; and Patrick Dowd, Fulbright U.S. Student Program alumus to India (2010-2011)  and MTP founder.

For the second year, the U.S. Department of State is funding Fulbright participants to join the Millennial Trains Project (MTP) journey as an enrichment component of the Fulbright Foreign Student Program. Last year, five Fulbright Foreign Students joined 20 other riders on the MTP journey to gain an in-depth understanding of life in the United States and to strengthen their leadership, social entrepreneurship and communication skills.

Here, the 2014 Fulbright-MTP participants update us with where they are now and their advice for this year’s six participants:

Silvia Tijo, a Fulbright Foreign Student from Colombia studying at Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) joined the Fulbright-MTP journey to experience sustainable building technologies existing along the train route from Portland to New York. Today, Silvia has finished her second year of Ph.D. studies in Building Construction, where her main interest is conducting research in sustainable building design and development.

1) What was the highlight of the 2014 Fulbright-MTP enrichment experience for you?

The MTP journey had so many memorable parts that it is difficult to choose one. From a personal perspective, it was amazing to share the train space with a group of people with different interests and leadership experience; from the speakers to the participants and of course the mentors. From an academic point of view, the opportunity to visit sustainable buildings across the United States is most memorable — specially the algae power house at White Fish, MO.

2) What are you currently working on? Any updates to share?

The Fulbright-MTP experience opened my mind to new frontiers. After the train I participated the 2015 U.S. Department of Energy Race to Zero competition as part of the Georgia Tech team. The team won the award for “Analysis Excellence.” Due to my experience with MTP, I received an invitation to attend the Global Emerging Entrepreneurs Event at the White House, where I met entrepreneurs from 22 different countries around the word. At the event, President Obama announced new commitments in support of the Spark Global Entrepreneurship Initiative — a bold goal of generating $1 billion in new investment for emerging entrepreneurs worldwide by 2017. For the near future I’m planning to begin a business as a consultant for the design, construction, and retrofitting of more efficient buildings.

3) What advice do you have to share with this year’s group of Fulbright-MTP participants?

My advice would be to live in the present — listen to the people you meet, and really see the places you visit. You will probably not have time to keep in touch with your own world during the journey, because you can’t access the internet or have cell phone service while you are traveling from one city to another; use that time to interact with the participants of this journey and to listen to yourself. Try to record every memory, to copy every thought, to take every picture, you will only have one chance to do it.

Alyas Widita, a Fulbright Student from Indonesia, recently graduated with his Masters of Science in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Iowa. Widita’s MTP project, “Millennials and the Future Cities,” is inspired by United Nations research stating that in 2050 70 percent of the world’s population will be city dwellers. His project studied Millennials’ current engagement in the urban development process in each of the MTP city-stops to garner Millennials’ ideas (and concerns) about the future cities.

1) What was the highlight of the 2014 Fulbright-MTP enrichment experience for you?

Difficult question. Every bit of the 2014 MTP Journey is tremendously memorable. The MTP’s journey nurtured my personal and professional development. The mini-research project I did during the journey further solidified my research/intellectual capabilities. In further extent, the MTP journey broadened my horizons and opened up my perspectives; making me listen more, appreciate each individual’s/community’s value more, and to further embrace the beautiful diversity of this world. More importantly, the Fulbright-MTP experience does attest this notion: we can collectively make the world better by making and strengthening connection across generations. 

2) What are you currently working on? Any updates to share?

Just recently got back to Indonesia! I will be working as a lecturer/instructor in my alma mater in the Department of Architecture and Planning, Gadjah Mada University.

3) What advice do you have to share with this year’s group of Fulbright-MTP participants?

Have fun! Appreciate whatever you encounter. You’d be surprised how ‘scary’ the time flies during your journey.

Anser Shaukat, a Fulbright Student from Pakistan, recently graduated with his MFA in Illustration at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. His MTP project focused on developing images for an artist book to explore the diverse cultural landscape of the cities along the MTP route and what it means to be part of an urban culture for the inhabitants.

1) What was the highlight of the 2014 Fulbright-MTP enrichment experience for you?

The Fulbright-MTP community and the family that organically forms on the train.

2) What are you currently working on? Any updates to share?

I am in the process of wrapping up my MTP artist book and preparing to head back to Pakistan in June. Set against the backdrop of the American landscape, “Tracing,” is a pressure-printed artist book, celebrating the spirit of community that emerges on a train and is based on my experiences of traversing the tame and wild terrain of the United States, from east coast to west as part of the Fulbright-Millennial Train Project.

3) What advice do you have to share with this year’s group of Fulbright-MTP participants?

Use your time efficiently and effectively. Every moment is an experience. Interact with everyone and listen to everyone’s stories. Tell them yours.

Katie Nikolaeva, a Fulbright Student from Russia, recently graduated from Brandeis International Business School with a Master’s degree in International Economics and Finance. During the MTP journey she explored small businesses and social innovation across industrial cities in northern American states to collect the innovative and creative approaches of startups.

1) What was the highlight of the 2014 Fulbright-MTP enrichment experience for you?

Surprisingly, my biggest achievement was learning more about myself through our group discussions. On MTP we discussed issues people normally do not mention in conversation, which opened up new ways of understanding fundamental problems in our societies. The learning sessions scared me at first; it was hard to open up in front of 30 people you barely know. Fortunately, the train is a great place to get out of your comfort zone, as it’s not possible to remain disengaged in such a confined space. I believe once this first barrier was broken, the real learning process started.

The most memorable part would of course be our discussion panel at the White House at the very end of our trip, where we covered the results of our projects and the whole journey for the press. I remember that at that point it felt like years had passed since our creative team boarded the train, and it was only 10 days before.

2) What are you currently working on? Any updates to share?

I just graduated from Brandeis International Business School with a Master’s degree in International Economics and Finance. It’s been a long and challenging journey, but I’m happy I made it to the end and all the hard work has been rewarded at the commencement ceremony. Now I’m starting work at Boston-based Pixability, the leading video ad-buying and marketing technology company working closely with YouTube and Google.

3) What advice do you have to share with this year’s group of Fulbright-MTP participants?

The MTP experience offers a unique platform for networking not only with the professionals from your field of interest, but also from some other spheres you might not have even heard of before. For instance, we learned a lot about (and even used!) 3D printers and the prospects of their future uses. Before MTP, I didn’t even know they existed!

I couldn’t imagine I would be given an opportunity to meet so many interesting (and sometimes influential) people, who are real “aficionados” in what they are doing. My advice would be to make a full use of these connections and stay in touch with other participants as well as the speakers and mentors of the project, as they will contribute a lot to your own projects as well as personal development; motivating, inspiring, and challenging you intellectually.

Ammar Mohammed, a Fulbright Student from Yemen, is completing his master’s degree in Sustainable Development at SIT Graduate Institute in Vermont. Mohammed’s MTP project sought to answer the question, “What if every marginalized youth in Yemen is given the opportunity to reach their potential?” To advance this research, he used the Fulbright-MTP journey to explore programs and initiatives that support U.S. minorities’ entrepreneurial ambitions.

1) What was the highlight of the 2014 Fulbright-MTP enrichment experience for you?

The Fulbright-MTP journey helped me learn how to talk about an area I’m so passionate about: the integration of marginalized population into society. It helped me write a paper on integrating marginalized African Yemenis that I submitted in my Ph.D. application and also as one of my requirements for graduation. I plan to build on this paper to be more comprehensive in the future. Besides the academic benefits of this trip, the one thing I won’t forget about MTP is the exposure to the beauty of nature, especially in Whitefish, Montana! This year the Fulbright-MTP ride might not be as green, but I suggest to find beauty in whatever scenery you pass by!

2) What are you currently working on? Any updates to share?

I’m graduating this weekend from SIT Graduate Institute, VT! I will live in Burlington, VT for the next four months completing two remote internships: one as a Policy Research Assistant for one of my current professors and another as Policy support for the Oxfam Great Britain team working on the emergency response in Yemen.

3) What advice do you have to share with this year’s group of Fulbright-MTP participants?

My advice is to form warm relationships as you will be spending about 10 days in a ‘warm’ space on board Fulbright-MTP. Be expressive, don’t hesitate to talk about your experiences, document every moment and just enjoy learning; learn to enjoy!!!

To see a full picture of the Fulbright-Millennial Trains Journey 2014, visit Fulbright Programs’ Storify!