Scenes from Thailand, Egypt, & Germany: Undergraduate Photo Story Contest Winners
For the Roberta Buffett Institute’s inaugural photo and video contest, we invited our undergraduate program participants to submit entries showcasing their experiences abroad. Our Elliott Scholars, Undergraduate Research Fellows, and International Senior Thesis Research Grantees, among others, shared meaningful photos and stories from their research and experiences abroad. Winners included:
Luca Hirsch
Radio/Television/Film, School of Communication; International Studies, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences ‘26
Luca Hirsch was a member of our inaugural Elliott Scholars Program cohort, through which students explore global development through a two-quarter course sequence followed by an international internship. In summer 2025, Luca traveled to Chiang Mai and Huai Lan, Thailand to intern with Leaf in the Garden, an organization aiming to reduce the number of Gurjan leaves in local forests by collecting them and turning them into art. Because these leaves are highly flammable and often contribute to dry season wildfires, members of Leaf in the Garden periodically gather and repurpose the leaves to creatively reduce their environmental impact.
Hirsch with a Gurjan Leaf from a forest in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
“Participating in the Elliott Scholars program gave me valuable insight into the history, debates, and pathways to success in development. Although my academic focus is in a different field, it was a rewarding experience that strengthened my understanding of how to work effectively in international and multicultural contexts. I look forward to using the principles I learned throughout the course and my internship in Thailand as I embark on a career focused on international media,” said Hirsch.
Hirsch cutting composite board, made of crushed Gurjan leaves glued together in a heated hydraulic press with rice-flour based glue into an art piece depicting Thailand's famed pygmy hippopotamus Moo Deng.
Rahib Taher
Journalism, Medill School and Computer Science, McCormick School of Engineering ‘26
Rahib Taher is a Buffett Undergraduate Research Fellow. Under the mentorship of Fatima Khan, Associate Professor of Arabic Instruction, Taher worked on the development of an Arabic language app. This project aims to transform an existing basic online tool into a high-functioning app with multiple capabilities including flashcards, favorites, history, and sharing features. Both Taher and his fellow Buffett Fellow Yanis Zaim traveled to Egypt to refine their grasp of the Arabic language.
Taher and another Buffett Undergraduate Research Fellow, Yanis Zaim, posing with their Arabic language instructor at al-Diwan Center Maadi in Egypt, along with their study materials.
“We spent 10 days of our two-week stay in Egypt studying Arabic every day for four hours straight. We both felt that through our one-on-one engagement with our corresponding instructors, we were making rapid improvements in our Arabic. Additionally, we got the chance to learn some words from the Egyptian dialect by being around the locals and trying to use our modern standard Arabic against their Egyptian Arabic. Whether we were trying to haggle with our tour guide at the Pyramids or having a casual conversation with our Uber driver, we realized that our consistent use of the language was bringing us closer to fluency,” Taher observed.
Taher and Zaim pictured with the pyramids of Giza and riding camels.
Vincent Xiong
Chemistry, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences ‘26
Vincent Xiong was awarded the Roberta Buffett Institute’s summer International Senior Thesis Research Grant in 2025. The grant supported Xiong’s travel to Münster, Germany to continue work with Professor Cristian A. Strassert’s research group at the University of Münster. He began this work in the summer of 2024 during his first visit to Germany as a Buffett Undergraduate Research Fellow.
In Münster, Xiong carried out research for his thesis “Exploration of Supramolecular Platinum Fluorescence in Hydrophobic and Lipid Film Environments.” Xiong investigated possibilities for the design of supramolecules that can promote healing by delivering drug molecules to injured tissue sites. At the University of Münster, he used advanced chemical synthesis and purification tools in the service of drug delivery systems that will reduce inflammation with fewer side effects.
Xiong at a University of Münster chemistry lab.
“Traveling to Münster for a second time and an extended period allowed me to continue with full-time chemistry research alongside immersing myself more deeply into the Münster and German cultures. While at the University of Münster, I used specialized instrumentation only found in the Strassert research group and continued to learn from their expertise in a different subfield of chemistry. Planning experiments, analyzing results, and immediately refining our approach taught me to think more critically and flexibly about experimental design, while also maximizing the impact of our collaboration across different scientific perspectives,” Xiong shared.
Xiong in front of the Hercules monument in Wilhelmshöhe Mountainpark in northern Hesse, Germany.