Research Pack Abroad

Connecting undergraduate students to international research experiences.

Developing Research Skills Globally

Research Pack Abroad provides undergraduate students international research experience – working side-by-side with scientists and immersed in another culture. Students are connected with a host international research institution, where they conduct research for at least 2 months during the summer.

Through this experience students will:

  • Gain in-depth of knowledge of laboratory procedures and/or field research protocols
    at an international research institute
  • Communicate scientific terminology among international researchers
  • Demonstrate knowledge of host country’s work culture and local community culture
  • Develop new perspectives on student’s native culture and the ability to think critically about student’s values, beliefs and goals
  • Develop skill sets for maneuvering through complex situations and increase capability
    to problem solve
  • Develop knowledge of a foreign language through immersion

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Support our students to help them participate in Research Pack Abroad to reach their maximum research potential while having a global impact. 

Participate in Research Pack Abroad

  • Minimum Sophomore standing
  • Experience or strong interest in agriculture or life science research
  • Will require support from academic advisor

Application process:
>  Email resume/CV to Dr. Adrienne Tucker at adrienne_tucker@ncsu.edu
>  Specify preferred partner institution and research interest in email
>  Schedule a meeting with Dr. Tucker to discuss your research goals and to identify the best program

Summer 2026 application deadline: December 12, 2025
Summer 2026 programs announced September 2026

Host Institutions

Nagoya University - Japan

Nagoya University is a strong research and academic partner of NC State since the 1980's. Nagoya University is located in the city of Nagoya, Japan and is one of Japan's leading research universities.

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Universidad de Cuenca - Ecuador

Universidad de Cuenca is a public university located in Cuenca, Ecuador housing an Orchid Greenhouse and Faculties of Agriculture, Chemistry, Engineering, Medicine, Architecture and Urban Studies and more.

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NEW: World Vegetable Center - Kenya/Tanzania

The World Vegetable Center's African regional program focuses on important vegetable crops and African traditional vegetables. The World Vegetable Center conducts research, builds networks, and carries out training and promotion activities to raise awareness of the role of vegetables for improved health and global poverty alleviation.

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Instituto de Productos Lácteos de Asturias (IPLA) - Spain

IPLA is located in a Villaviciosa, a small town in western Spain.  The Institute conducts microbiology and biochemistry research focused on dairy products and the impact of gut microbiota on human health.  

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Universitat Politècnica de València - Spain

La Universitat Politècnica de València is a university located in Valencia, Spain and focuses on academics and research in science and technology.

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NEW: Embrapa - Brazil

The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) was established by the country's federal government to develop the technological foundation for a genuinely tropical model of agriculture and animal farming. Embrapa today is one of the largest agricultural research corporations of the world, with over half a century of contributions focused on innovation, efficiency, sustainability and social inclusion.

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2026 Summer Participants

Anna Babski

Anna is a junior majoring in Biological & Agricultural Engineering with a concentration in Ecological Engineering. She's excited to spend the summer in Valencia, Spain helping with sustainable agriculture research at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. This research focuses on organic farming and its impacts on food quality. Her previous research experience includes working on a project studying litter in urban watersheds. Additionally, she helped with paleontology and citizen science research for the Cretaceous Creatures project at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences.

Coy West

Coy is a junior majoring in Genetics with minors in Zoology and Paleontology. He will be working in Dr. Nishijima's Avian Bioscience lab at Nagoya University investigating chicken primordial germ cells and their applications in the development of new chicken breeds. He is excited to learn how genetic and developmental techniques are applied in research.

Kelsey Kusi

Kelsey Kusi is a senior at North Carolina State University studying Molecular Biology. She will be conducting research at Nagoya University in Japan through the Research Pack Abroad program. Kelsey is excited to gain hands-on laboratory experience, expand her understanding of molecular biology, apply concepts from her coursework in a real-world research setting, and engage with a new culture.

Erin-Jade Padayachee

Erin-Jade is a sophomore majoring in Biochemistry. I am interested in understanding molecular mechanisms that regulate biological systems. This summer, I will be traveling to Nagoya University in Japan, to participate in the research of control mechanisms of biological clocks. I am excited to engage in a global academic setting and look forward to growing my curiosity as I plan my future goals.

Kathleen DiGraitis

Kathleen DiGraitis is a junior majoring in biochemistry with minors in biotechnology and biomanufacturing. She is interested in working in downstream operations in the future but this summer she will be participating in Research abroad. She will be conducting research in Nagoya Japan in the Laboratory of Animal Reproduction studying the activity of kisspeptin neurons in rats. She is excited to gain research skills to help grow her understanding of laboratory processes.

Damian Nikolov

Damian Nikolov is a senior in biochemistry minoring in biotechnology and microbiology. He will be working with Dr. Margolles at the Instituto de Productos Lácteos de Asturias (IPLA) in Oviedo, Spain. His project entails using qPCR for characterizing occurrence and levels of the bifidobacterial species in infant fecal microbiotas in correlation to the human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) consumed by the infant. Damian is looking forward to exploring Spain's culture, landscape and architecture.

Joy Othoo

Joy is an undergraduate senior majoring in Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, concentrated in Urban Horticulture. This summer she will be working with the World Vegetable Center in Nairobi, Kenya to support Traditional African Leafy Vegetable Production across Central Kenya. Joy is looking forward to growing her field research experience and supporting agroecological vegetable production through school garden installations and farmer training, especially within Kenya where many her parents immigrated from and many of her family members currently reside.

Madison Nguyen

Madison is a freshman at North Carolina State University majoring in Biochemistry with a minor in Psychology. She will be conducting research at Nagoya University in Japan through the Research Pack Abroad program under Dr. Sakakibara in the Plant Signaling Laboratory. Her work will involve molecular biology techniques such as RNA extraction, qPCR, and gene expression analysis, as well as plant sample preparation, hormone and metabolite assays, and data analysis including RNA-seq and statistical interpretation. She will also gain experience with liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry, host plant maintenance, and pathogen inoculation.
Her previous research experience includes microscopy-based analysis of lemur hair using ImageJ and interdisciplinary projects in chemistry and biology. Madison is excited to gain hands-on laboratory experience, apply concepts from her coursework, and expand her understanding of molecular biology in an international research setting.

Zahra Douglas

Zahra Douglas is a junior double majoring in Animal Science and Applied Zoology. She plans to attend veterinary school after completing her undergraduate degree. This summer, she will be traveling to Nagoya, Japan, where she will conduct research in the Laboratory of Animal Integrative Physiology. There, she will participate in research focused on the control mechanisms of biological clocks. She is excited to gain hands-on research experience as well as broaden her global perspective on animal sciences.

Madeleine "Mac" Gagné

Madeleine "Mac" Gagné (She/They) is a current NCSU PhD student in Computer Science studying the autogeneration of emergency weather and disaster alerts. She continues to excel in work related to the mathematical modeling of crisis narratives, algorithms, and optimization. She has completed prior research in emergency management as a 2024 NOAA Knauss Fellow to FEMA and in weather as a 2020 NOAA NWS Lapenta Intern. She is a project lead in AI for Northrop Grumman part-time while completing her degree and has extensive past experience with government-academic-coorporate collaborative research. As a part of RPA, Mac eagerly looks forward to gaining an international perspective of coastal resilience- a particular sub-focus of her doctoral dissertation. By focusing on forest and hydrology studies, she hopes to learn more about how environmental pre-preparation can improve robust coastal disaster preparation while lending her skills in computational modeling and mathematics.

2025 Summer Participants

Brooke Boger

Brooke Boger is a Junior studying plant biology with a double minor in Spanish and in teaching English as a foreign language. Brooke will be assisting in research at the University of Cuenca focused on soil health and bioactive compounds in medicinal plants. She is excited to learn more about these topics while also gaining lab and field research experience.

Brooke's Research

Zander Ketwitz

Zander is an undergraduate student majoring in Plant Biology and minoring in Genetics with a general love for microbiology. With an interesting Plant Pathology, I am looking to work in labs relating to this topic to broaden my understanding of it. I hope to go on to graduate school and do research directly relating to plants.

Zander's Research

Julia Yurkiv

Julia is a junior majoring in Biochemistry and minoring in Biotechnology & Microbiology. She will be doing research with Dr. Takemoto at Nagoya University to study plant pathology using RNA sequencing data. She is excited to learn more laboratory and collaboration skills in a different country. This will help her when she applies to graduate school to broaden her global experience and perspective.

Julia's Research

Riley Keeley

Riley is a sophomore majoring in Biochemistry with minors in Biotechnology, Genetics, and Microbiology. I will be doing research with Dr. Kenji Ichiyanagi ’s lab at Nagoya University.
I am particularly interested in epigenetics and advancing my knowledge in bioinformatics and genome sequencing. These skills align with my career goals of examining the interplay of genetic and environmental factors in mental health conditions and potential epigenetic contributions to immune responses and diseases, such as allergies or cancer. This opportunity will enable me to develop competencies in optimal scientific communication and cross-cultural collaboration, enhancing my readiness for a career at the intersection of genetics and bioinformatics.

I believe the research setting at Nagoya University will provide unique learning opportunities and access to advanced technologies that will further my understanding of molecular biology and epigenetics in ways not readily available domestically.

I am ecstatic to be traveling, this will be my first experience outside of this time zone! During my time so far at State I have continued to grow my passion for laboratory work. I appreciate the guidance from my mentors at NCSU not only encouraging my dreams but also being a supporter in creating them.

Jasmine Alston

Jasmine Alston is a undergraduate junior majoring in animal science with a concentration in industry and a minor in agricultural business management. Her freshman year she was a research assistant at NCSU's Equine Unit which was the gateway to her interest in medical animal research. She is driven by her goal to advance the understanding of reproductive health which is why she has decided to do research in Nagoya, Japan with reproduction physiology with an emphasis on neurology.

Jasmine's Research

Cooper Weir

Cooper is a junior majoring in biochemistry. I am particularly interested in the human gut microbiota. I'm excited to assist in the research at IPLA focusing on this topic and developing my research skills. I look forward to investigating how dairy products can impact the gut environment.

Cooper's Research

Courtney Kim

Courtney Kim is a sophomore double majoring in Biological Sciences and Psychology. She is currently on the Pre-Med track, but is also exploring the possibility of a future in research. Courtney will be researching biological clocks alongside Dr. Yoshimura in the Laboratory of Animal Integrative Physiology at Nagoya University in Japan. She is excited to apply knowledge from her classes in a real-life setting while broadening her cultural competency.

2024 Summer Participants

Rebecca Shenk

Rebecca is a first-year Food Science student at NC State. She enjoys playing piano, drinking coffee, and playing board games with friends in her free time. Rebecca is conducting research at the Polytechnic University of Valencia this summer in food safety, and will be working to develop a visual indicator test for listeria, methyl-mercury, and histamines. She is excited to be back in the lab and to be gaining international perspective.

Rebecca's Research

Sophia Nunez

Sophia is a sophomore majoring in Biochemistry with minors in Biotechnology and Computer Programming. Sophia will be doing research at Nagoya University in Dr. Ichiyanagi's lab. This is an epigenetics lab where I will be researching the role of promoter elements in the regulation of gene expression. With the use of CRISPR/Cas9 technology, we will modify long terminal repeats to observe their cis-regulatory activity. This data will be used to determine possible improvements for cancer treatments!

Sophia's Research

Tommy Godwin

Tommy is a junior studying Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems and International Studies. I will be going to Nagoya University researching photorespiration and water use in rice. Global warming has been a key issue with rice production in recent years with increasing temperature lowering the rice quality and yields. The goal of the project I am working on is to increase understanding of stomatal dynamics of field grown rice under drought and heat stress.

Tommy's Research

Jacob Baker

Jacob is a junior currently getting a degree in biochemistry and a minor in genetics. I am also in CALS honors and the University Scholars program. Both organizations have made it possible to do what I am doing this summer which is studying at Nagoya University in Japan under Dr. Ichiyanagi. I will be studying the differences between human and chimpanzee cells after they have begun growing. This research aims to see how epigenetic gene regulation via histone modification and DNA methylation affect the phenotype of the human and chimpanzee cells as they mature. Human and chimpanzees share 98% of their genomes with each other but are obviously different, so we are studying those small differences to better understand how gene regulation works. I will be receiving class credit for this course and will be presenting my research at the fall symposium.

Jacob's Research

Zoe Tobien

Zoe is a rising sophomore who was initially undecided, starting in exploratory studies, and is now in environmental science. I’ve discovered an interest in agriculture and paired with the strong desire I’ve always had to study abroad, I figured this opportunity was great! My interest lies at the intersection of the environment and agriculture, especially in sustainable agriculture and how climate change will continue to affect unpredictability for farmers. My research in Valencia, Spain will center on the amino acid content of organic vs non-organic tomatoes.

Zoe's Research

2023 Summer Participants

Renee Long

Renee is a senior in Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems and is conducting research at Universitat Politecnica de Valencia. Renee is working with Valencia Club Cocina to research gastronomy and food nutrition. She also gets to experience how a small business operates in Spain by assisting in some of the operational details of the cooking clubs business.

Renee's Research

Cormac Holland

Cormac, a sophomore in Horticultural Science (Production Systems & Entrepreneurship) is spending the summer in Ecuador at the Universidad de Cuenca studying organic matter accumulation and nutrient cycling through litterfall collection procedures at several native and non-native tree plantations. Ecuador saw some of the highest deforestation rates on the planet between 1990-2015, so this information will provide science-backed research for reforestation / rewilding projects and reference data for new environmentally-friendly policies in the country.

Cormac's Research

Brady Farlow

Brady is a junior double-majoring in Horticultural Science (Plant Breeding & Biotechnology) and Spanish. He contributes to research on sustainable urban Landscape Design & Management, focusing on cataloging campus tree species and their carbon dioxide sequestration potential. Additionally, Brady is involved in other research related to the synergies between green spaces and their utilization for enhancing "climate comfort," studying how these areas can optimize environmental conditions and promote well-being.

Brady's Research

Nicolas Mastrovito

Nicolas is a senior in Biochemistry and is conducting research at Instituto de Productos Lácteos de Asturias (IPLA). He is helping IPLA to quantify certain antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) found in the gut microbiota of elderly subjects. This work will help to determine whether the level of ARGs in the human microbiota is associated with age, specific dietary habits, and microbiota composition. These findings could be useful for improving digestive health and preventing the spread of antibiotic-resistant microbes.

Nicolas's Research

Ashmi Dagar

Ashmi is a senior studying Agricultural Science with a minor in Agroecolgy and Agribusiness Management and is spending her summer in Spain researching sustainable farming practices at Universitat Politecnica de Valencia. Her research in Valencia involves analyzing extensive data sets, aiming to understand the impact of organic farming methods on the yield and quality of almond crops.

Ashmi's Research

2019 Summer Participants

Kelsey Kolar

Kelsey is a Biochemsitry student and conducted research at Instituto de Productos Lácteos de Asturias, where she analyzed BlaSHV gene trends between term length and antibiotic treatment for infants over time. Kelsey's project was just a piece of the puzzle in developing early-life interventions to promote the establishment of health microbiota to reduce the risk of early-life and correlated diseases. Kelsey will be graduating in May 2020 and has her sights set on continuing in life sciences research.

Kelsey's Research

Eric Schneider

Eric is majoring in biochemistry with a minor in biotechnology and conducted research at Instituto de Productos Lácteos de Asturias. Eric's research was a portion of the greater project to understand how Lactococcus lactis responds to cell wall damage.

Eric's Research

Cristobal Cisneros

Cristobal, an Agroecology student, conducted soil moisture research at Universitat Politecnica de Valencia. Cristobal worked with Chufa, which is yellow nutsedge, and is used to make hortchata in Valencia.

Cristobal's Research

Bartolome Cisneros

Bartolome is a Biochemistry major who conducted onology research at Universitat Polticnica de Valencia. Bartolome worked along graduate students in the lab using an HPLC to quantify polyphenols in wine grapes.

Bartolome's Research

Alexandra Veverka

Alexandra is double majoring in plant and soil science with a concentration in crop biotechnology and Spanish language and literature. Alex conducted research at Universitat Polticnica de Valencia in biofumigation - using chemicals naturally found in plants to incorporate into the soil and eliminate pests issues.

Alexandra's Research

2018 Participants

Jasmeen Kaur Mandair

Jasmeen graduated with a BSc. in Biochemistry in May 2018. Jasmeen conducted research at Instituto de Productos Lácteos de Asturias with a focus on developing technologies to create new food products by using the residue of Caseiculture, Milk Whey. Her research targeted two main objectives: developing nutritional beverages for people who are allergic to cow milk and reducing environmental waste by using milk whey as a key ingredient in those beverages.

Jasmeen's Research

Kirby Morris

Kirby, Senior in Biochemistry and Spanish, conducted research at Instituto de Productos Lácteos de Asturias. Kirby researched the binding abilities of two chimeric proteins containing the SH3 domains of Staph bacteriophage endolysins LysRODI and LysIPLA5 to address Staphylococcus antibiotic resistance.

Kirby's Research

Mark Watson

Mark, Senior in Horticultural Sciences and Crop and Soil Sciences, conducted research at the International Potato Center. Mark worked in the field and the lab to characterize micronutrients in potato varieties grown in Peru to address health needs.

Mark's Research

Follow the research pack's adventures Past Posts

Oct 6, 2025

Soil Science and Tissue Culture Research in Ecuador

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Sep 2, 2025

Phytoalexin Release Plant Pathology Research in Japan

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Aug 20, 2025

Antimicrobial Pathway Plant Pathology Research in Japan

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