With nearly 40,000 undergraduate students at the University of Florida, only four received prestigious $5,000 Summer Undergraduate International Research Scholarships, the Center for Undergraduate Research and The International Center announced this past week. Two of those four were School of Architecture students at the College of Design, Construction and Planning: Jovana Grdinić and Melos Shtaloja.
“These are gifted students from United World College schools who have distinguished themselves as leaders and remarkably strong students in the classroom,” SoA Professor Jason Alread said. “Both were in my Design 1 studio and were outstanding in their effort, intellectual rigor and creative talents. Melos and Jovana are exactly what we hope for as faculty – students who can surpass our own efforts and make a better future.”
Sponsored by Professor Martha Kohen, Grdinić will use the scholarship to spend 10 weeks this summer studying at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Shtaloja, who is sponsored by Alread, is researching this summer at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City.
“This is a prestigious recognition of their research efforts and quality as student scholars,” Alread explained. “Melos and Jovana have been working on an undergraduate honors research project together for the past year and a half looking into the impact of urban space on health. This award allows them to further their studies with travel and international experience.”
Kohen agreed.
“it is truly remarkable that two of the four have been scholarships have been awarded to DCP students in their third year! This follows the incentives toward engaging in research at undergraduate level that we are pursuing here in the School of Architecture.”
