As a kid, I was heavily inspired by the work of my uncle- Dr. Charles Menzel- and his many adventures in studying primatology around the world. At a young age, I became captivated with his stories of researching Macaks in Osaka and his experiences living in Japan for a few years. Because of this, my dreams to conduct research abroad in Japan started early.<\/span><\/p>\n As I continued in my career as a researcher- supported and guided by my Uncle, who at the time was one of the only scientists in my family- I grew eager to find an opportunity to conduct work in Japan just like my uncle. Yet, it was the COVID-19 pandemic that threw a wrench into my study abroad opportunities as an undergraduate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n During and after the pandemic, my work in mathematics began to focus more on emergency management. Seeing the need for improved logistics and crisis management after witnessing the COVID emergency first-hand as someone struggling with housing insecurity and financial instability while navigating my undergrad, I realized there was so much exciting overlap between applied mathematics and emergency management. I didn\u2019t realize it at the time, but this pivot would pull me closer to a long-term opportunity to study abroad in Japan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I began my work as a graduate student in 2021, fearing the chances of study abroad were behind me. As someone living low-income and working multiple jobs to support my day-to-day life, I was certain international travel of any kind was nearly an impossibility. As I finished my master\u2019s degree in Operations Research with a focus on emergency operations and began my PhD in Computer Science with a focus on warning alert generation programs, I had the unique opportunity to serve as a 2024 NOAA Knauss Fellow to FEMA, focusing on hazard mitigation and supporting in the response to Hurricane Helene and its impact in North Carolina. This opened my eyes not only to the importance of tech and emergency response- but also landslides and terrain-based natural hazards that can arise from meteorological crises.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Following my time at FEMA and returning to NCSU with a bit more money saved up from the fellowship, I vowed to find some way to travel internationally before my time as a student was finished. Excitingly, I met a wonderful participant of 2025\u2019s MyPack abroad program. While nervous about the travel and all its logistics herself, it was her courage and success with the program that inspired me to submit an application. After a preliminary call with Dr. Tucker, I was thrilled to learn I was still eligible for study abroad as a graduate student- and potential scholarship with North Carolina\u2019s Japan Center. Better still was learning about Nagoya University\u2019s Disaster Mitigation Center- just what I had trained at FEMA in, but from an international perspective.<\/span><\/p>\n Following some hard work and learning of a good research match at the university\u2019s Forest and Hydrology lab, I sent in an application for work and scholarship. In early spring of 2026, I was excited to learn my application had been accepted and I was to receive the Harry C. Kelly scholarship from the North Carolina Japan Center. After decades of hope, I was finally going to Japan!<\/span><\/p>\n Next came the hurdle of international travel. I grew up with minimal travel, having only flown once under the age of 18 to spend a summer with my uncle and aunt. In fact, when I had an opportunity to travel for a conference during undergrad, I bashfully confessed at the airport to the coordinator I had no idea how to check in or go through security- as a 20 year old! Needless to say, the 36 hours of solo international travel (as someone who can\u2019t sleep on planes) to a country speaking a language I knew with minimal proficiency was daunting. While it was certainly overwhelming and nerve-wracking at times, I made it to Nagoya safely, crashing at the airport hotel. Yet nothing could prepare me for the joy of waking up the following morning knowing I was in the place I\u2019d always wanted to visit most!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Everything was thrilling to me in Japan- from the cobini stores (I\u2019m a Family Mart girl for life) to the large shower-tubs, the trains, and the cash- it was like I was seeing the world again for the first time. The lab I\u2019d be working with kindly sent along one of their students to help me drop off my heavy bags at the dorm and find my way to the school- thank you forever, Yamaota-san! Unpacking, learning the subway, and meeting the lab and its many benefactors at a big event that evening was a whirlwind for someone still operating on a 13 hour time difference. But no part of me was nervous (that\u2019s saying a lot for someone like me!)- just curious and in awe of getting to finally fulfill my dream of doing research and being a student in Japan. I felt like the American student in my Genki language textbook, introducing myself in Japanese to everyone I met the first day.<\/span><\/p>\n During my time at the Forest and Hydrology lab, under the incredible direction of Dr. Takashi Gomi-sensei, I had the amazing experience of conducting a study related to the landslide alerting system and communication surrounding a major emergency that occurred in Hiroshima, 2021. The study- which we look forward to submitting for publication soon and that will be included in my doctoral dissertation- applies the findings of my doctoral work\u2019s alerting program post-hoc to the disaster and assesses the results. More than anything, it was fascinating to see how different public responses were to alerts in Japan. While populations may not always heed evacuation alerts, the reasons for doing so were quite different in Japan then they were in the US- and that was interesting both from a population simulation and cultural perspective.<\/span><\/p>\n I grew close with other members of the Forest and Hydrology lab and also got to join along and assist in their graduate and undergraduate research. Excitingly, this involved multiple field work sessions out in the mountains of rural Aichii prefecture, taking in everything from sediment samples, water temperature readings, and canopy rainwater collection. Truthfully, it was being out in the nature of Japan- and witnessing the beautiful, more traditional communities built up around these wonders of the forest- that I loved the most about my trip. I felt like I\u2019d disappeared into a Hayao Miyazaki Ghibli movie! Or that I was finally doing work like the photos and stories my Uncle had shared. And am thankful for the lab\u2019s patience with my lackluster hiking stamina. We Computer Science PhDs should probably get more outdoor exercise!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It was also the other opportunities to explore Japanese culture outside of work that I loved the most. While I took trips to the big cities- like Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo- Nagoya still remained my favorite. With minimal tourism (the lab liked to joke Nagoya was voted \u2018most boring\u2019 city in Japan), I felt I got a more authentic perspective of what Japanese daily life was like- which was exactly what I had wanted. I learned from a small shop that I loved Hojicha tea just as much as Matcha (I\u2019m a stickler for drinking both plain- the traditional way) and tried puricura for the first time! The lab went down to Tokoname during a weekend, which is one of Japan\u2019s original pottery centers, and we explored and made traditional ceramics and had a beach barbecue. I cliff-dived into the Atera Valley swimming holes and enjoyed Ichigo kakigori and sweet potato chips at local farmer\u2019s markets. I had the best seafood of my life, tried natto for the first time, and became a fiend for wagashi. Half my suitcase returning was filled with snacks and tea! I even saw my favorite Broadway play, <\/span>Phantom Of The Opera<\/span><\/i>, in Japanese. And my favorite purchase was a traditional Japanese school bag like the other students used on the train each morning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On my last night with the lab before everyone left on Obon holiday, I was provided with the sweetest card, good wishes, and a goodbye gift of tea (my treasure forever). After leaving dinner that night, I had to sit down at a bus stop for a few minutes to cry from happiness. As a graduate student, I\u2019d had the exact experience I\u2019d always wanted but never thought I\u2019d get to live. And despite the difficulties at times, it was more than I\u2019d ever hoped it could be. I was so deeply honored to be a 2026 MyPack Abroad student and truly hope I can pay the favor forward one day should any of my lab mates travel to the US. <\/span>\u65e5\u672c\u3067\u3053\u3093\u306a\u7d20\u6674\u3089\u3057\u3044\u7d4c\u9a13\u3092\u3055\u305b\u3066\u3044\u305f\u3060\u3044\u3066\u3001\u3042\u308a\u304c\u3068\u3046\u3054\u3056\u3044\u307e\u3059 !<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":" Summer 2026 Madeleine “Mac” Gagn\u00e9 As a kid, I was heavily inspired by the work of my uncle- Dr. Charles Menzel- and his many adventures in studying primatology around the world. At a young age, I became captivated with his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":914,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-pack-abroad"],"acf":[],"flickr_id":"","youtube_id":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/914"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10952"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10953,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10952\/revisions\/10953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Summer 2026<\/h3>\r\n
Madeleine \"Mac\" Gagn\u00e9<\/h3>\r\nAs a kid, I was heavily inspired by the work of my uncle- Dr. Charles Menzel- and his many adventures in studying primatology around the world. At a young age, I became captivated with his stories of researching Macaks in Osaka and his experiences living in Japan for a few years. Because of this, my dreams to conduct research abroad in Japan started early.<\/span>\r\n\r\nAs I continued in my career as a researcher- supported and guided by my Uncle, who at the time was one of the only scientists in my family- I grew eager to find an opportunity to conduct work in Japan just like my uncle. Yet, it was the COVID-19 pandemic that threw a wrench into my study abroad opportunities as an undergraduate.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nDuring and after the pandemic, my work in mathematics began to focus more on emergency management. Seeing the need for improved logistics and crisis management after witnessing the COVID emergency first-hand as someone struggling with housing insecurity and financial instability while navigating my undergrad, I realized there was so much exciting overlap between applied mathematics and emergency management. I didn\u2019t realize it at the time, but this pivot would pull me closer to a long-term opportunity to study abroad in Japan.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nI began my work as a graduate student in 2021, fearing the chances of study abroad were behind me. As someone living low-income and working multiple jobs to support my day-to-day life, I was certain international travel of any kind was nearly an impossibility. As I finished my master\u2019s degree in Operations Research with a focus on emergency operations and began my PhD in Computer Science with a focus on warning alert generation programs, I had the unique opportunity to serve as a 2024 NOAA Knauss Fellow to FEMA, focusing on hazard mitigation and supporting in the response to Hurricane Helene and its impact in North Carolina. This opened my eyes not only to the importance of tech and emergency response- but also landslides and terrain-based natural hazards that can arise from meteorological crises.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nFollowing my time at FEMA and returning to NCSU with a bit more money saved up from the fellowship, I vowed to find some way to travel internationally before my time as a student was finished. Excitingly, I met a wonderful participant of 2025\u2019s MyPack abroad program. While nervous about the travel and all its logistics herself, it was her courage and success with the program that inspired me to submit an application. After a preliminary call with Dr. Tucker, I was thrilled to learn I was still eligible for study abroad as a graduate student- and potential scholarship with North Carolina\u2019s Japan Center. Better still was learning about Nagoya University\u2019s Disaster Mitigation Center- just what I had trained at FEMA in, but from an international perspective.<\/span>\r\n\r\nFollowing some hard work and learning of a good research match at the university\u2019s Forest and Hydrology lab, I sent in an application for work and scholarship. In early spring of 2026, I was excited to learn my application had been accepted and I was to receive the Harry C. Kelly scholarship from the North Carolina Japan Center. After decades of hope, I was finally going to Japan!<\/span>\r\n\r\nNext came the hurdle of international travel. I grew up with minimal travel, having only flown once under the age of 18 to spend a summer with my uncle and aunt. In fact, when I had an opportunity to travel for a conference during undergrad, I bashfully confessed at the airport to the coordinator I had no idea how to check in or go through security- as a 20 year old! Needless to say, the 36 hours of solo international travel (as someone who can\u2019t sleep on planes) to a country speaking a language I knew with minimal proficiency was daunting. While it was certainly overwhelming and nerve-wracking at times, I made it to Nagoya safely, crashing at the airport hotel. Yet nothing could prepare me for the joy of waking up the following morning knowing I was in the place I\u2019d always wanted to visit most!\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nEverything was thrilling to me in Japan- from the cobini stores (I\u2019m a Family Mart girl for life) to the large shower-tubs, the trains, and the cash- it was like I was seeing the world again for the first time. The lab I\u2019d be working with kindly sent along one of their students to help me drop off my heavy bags at the dorm and find my way to the school- thank you forever, Yamaota-san! Unpacking, learning the subway, and meeting the lab and its many benefactors at a big event that evening was a whirlwind for someone still operating on a 13 hour time difference. But no part of me was nervous (that\u2019s saying a lot for someone like me!)- just curious and in awe of getting to finally fulfill my dream of doing research and being a student in Japan. I felt like the American student in my Genki language textbook, introducing myself in Japanese to everyone I met the first day.<\/span>\r\n\r\nDuring my time at the Forest and Hydrology lab, under the incredible direction of Dr. Takashi Gomi-sensei, I had the amazing experience of conducting a study related to the landslide alerting system and communication surrounding a major emergency that occurred in Hiroshima, 2021. The study- which we look forward to submitting for publication soon and that will be included in my doctoral dissertation- applies the findings of my doctoral work\u2019s alerting program post-hoc to the disaster and assesses the results. More than anything, it was fascinating to see how different public responses were to alerts in Japan. While populations may not always heed evacuation alerts, the reasons for doing so were quite different in Japan then they were in the US- and that was interesting both from a population simulation and cultural perspective.<\/span>\r\n\r\nI grew close with other members of the Forest and Hydrology lab and also got to join along and assist in their graduate and undergraduate research. Excitingly, this involved multiple field work sessions out in the mountains of rural Aichii prefecture, taking in everything from sediment samples, water temperature readings, and canopy rainwater collection. Truthfully, it was being out in the nature of Japan- and witnessing the beautiful, more traditional communities built up around these wonders of the forest- that I loved the most about my trip. I felt like I\u2019d disappeared into a Hayao Miyazaki Ghibli movie! Or that I was finally doing work like the photos and stories my Uncle had shared. And am thankful for the lab\u2019s patience with my lackluster hiking stamina. We Computer Science PhDs should probably get more outdoor exercise!\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nIt was also the other opportunities to explore Japanese culture outside of work that I loved the most. While I took trips to the big cities- like Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo- Nagoya still remained my favorite. With minimal tourism (the lab liked to joke Nagoya was voted \u2018most boring\u2019 city in Japan), I felt I got a more authentic perspective of what Japanese daily life was like- which was exactly what I had wanted. I learned from a small shop that I loved Hojicha tea just as much as Matcha (I\u2019m a stickler for drinking both plain- the traditional way) and tried puricura for the first time! The lab went down to Tokoname during a weekend, which is one of Japan\u2019s original pottery centers, and we explored and made traditional ceramics and had a beach barbecue. I cliff-dived into the Atera Valley swimming holes and enjoyed Ichigo kakigori and sweet potato chips at local farmer\u2019s markets. I had the best seafood of my life, tried natto for the first time, and became a fiend for wagashi. Half my suitcase returning was filled with snacks and tea! I even saw my favorite Broadway play, <\/span>Phantom Of The Opera<\/span><\/i>, in Japanese. And my favorite purchase was a traditional Japanese school bag like the other students used on the train each morning.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nOn my last night with the lab before everyone left on Obon holiday, I was provided with the sweetest card, good wishes, and a goodbye gift of tea (my treasure forever). After leaving dinner that night, I had to sit down at a bus stop for a few minutes to cry from happiness. As a graduate student, I\u2019d had the exact experience I\u2019d always wanted but never thought I\u2019d get to live. And despite the difficulties at times, it was more than I\u2019d ever hoped it could be. I was so deeply honored to be a 2026 MyPack Abroad student and truly hope I can pay the favor forward one day should any of my lab mates travel to the US. <\/span>\u65e5\u672c\u3067\u3053\u3093\u306a\u7d20\u6674\u3089\u3057\u3044\u7d4c\u9a13\u3092\u3055\u305b\u3066\u3044\u305f\u3060\u3044\u3066\u3001\u3042\u308a\u304c\u3068\u3046\u3054\u3056\u3044\u307e\u3059 !<\/span>\r\n\r\n "},"excerpt":{"rendered":"