UF in Lille students do the Gator Chomp during International Night, which celebrates different cultures represented at the summer school at the Université Catholique de Lille (pictured in back). Photo courtesy of Joel Parker

 

Source: News from Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering

By Dave Schlenker

With Tom Petty providing their soundtrack, about 110 University of Florida students explored the intersection of engineering and art in Europe this summer.  

Amid the masterpieces, class work and cuisine, students in two engineering and arts study-abroad programs — UF in Lille and UF in Brno — relied on a beloved Gainesville tradition. 

“We would come together to sing ‘I Won’t Back Down’ by Tom Petty whenever we got the chance,” said Franco Chaluja, an industrial engineering sophomore who traveled with the first Brno program, a spin-off of the popular UF in Lille, France.

Recorded by Gainesville-bred Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the song is a beloved football tradition in The Swamp on gamedays.  

Those Gator-soaked singalongs were among many highlights from the eight-week study-abroad program based in Lille, France, and its new Brno program in the Czech Republic. The programs bring Gator engineers into museums and other cultural corners in Europe, bridging both sides of the brain and encouraging them to think visually. 

The program started in 2021 at the University of Pavia in Italy with 10 students.  

“But we needed a larger campus, so we partnered with the European summer program that goes on at the Université Catholique de Lille and were able to bring 27 students the next year. Then it went to 54, then 80, and then this year, 87 (in Lille),” said program leader Joel Parker, associate director of experiential learning at UF’s Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. 

The program was so popular it expanded into the Czech Republic this year with about 20 students. In Brno, UF students took a physics class taught by a Masaryk University instructor and an art class taught by Dan Dickrell, Ph.D., of UF’s Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering.  

“Taking Physics 2 abroad allowed me to learn in a focused and hands-on way,” Chaluja said.  

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