US-Sweden Bioinformatics IRES: Investigating Engineering Students’ Attitudes and Perspectives Throughout a 10-Week International Research Program

The US-Sweden Clinical Bioinformatics Research Training Program is an NSF-funded International Research Experience for Students (IRES) program that aims to develop a diverse cohort of globally competent and engaged scientists/engineers that seek career opportunities and collaborators throughout the world. The program consists of a six-week preparatory virtual training series, a 4-day pre-departure symposium at the University of San Diego and a ten-week research program on site at the Science for Life Laboratory in Stockholm, Sweden. The focus of this paper is to examine student attitudes and perspectives during their time abroad through an analysis of blog entries. In Summer 2021, six engineering undergraduates—three women and three men—participated in the inaugural program session. Over the course of the ten-week program, the students completed blog posts in response to four prompts related to their experiences, observations, and challenges. In this paper, we present a qualitative analysis of the student blogs using a hybrid deductive and inductive thematic analysis approach. Our findings span two primary categories: professional and personal.