MS&E student finds her path during study abroad trip to Japan

In this Q&A, Lucy Kneeley (she/her) shares how a study abroad summer in Japan helped her conquer fears and find her path.

Lucy, can you share where you are at in your academic journey?

I recently graduated from UW-Madison with a bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering, and now I’m in the accelerated master’s program for MSE.

In between walking at graduation and starting your master’s, you had a study abroad experience in Japan. Can you tell us a little bit about what that was for?

There’s a summer exchange research program that we have set up with the Institute of Science Tokyo. Professor John Perepezko sent out an email, and I decided to sign up just to see what it was about. I ended up joining a research lab, where I was a research intern there for about three months over the summer.

It was great because I got to pick the top three labs I wanted to join, and there were so many options. Single-molecule chemistry is what I ended up doing. This was something I had experience with already, so I got to transfer the skills I’d learned in undergrad into this internship.

What did you learn about yourself during this internship?

I learned that I actually do enjoy research. Previously, I went back and forth on whether it was the kind of job I wanted to pursue. My experience in the lab during my Japan trip rekindled my love for it, which I was super excited about.

What fun experiences did you have outside the lab?

I was housed by the university in one of the dorms close to campus. It was incredible because those are only a twenty-minute train ride from Shibuya, which is kind of where you think the center of Tokyo is.

I loved Tokyo so much. There was always something going on. For example, my friend and I went out to get some tonkatsu one night. When we got to the station, it was bustling, so we looked out from a viewing area and saw a full dance festival stretching about a mile and a half down the street.

I had a few different weekend trips, too. A good friend of mine from the water ski team here at UW-Madison lives in Osaka now. We met up to visit some of the outside cities and ended up climbing Mount Fuji.

Do you have advice for anyone considering a study abroad trip like yours?

I was so nervous going into it because I didn’t know Japanese. I was also afraid of accidentally being rude to someone. I felt like I was going in clueless, and I worried that I wouldn’t fit in. After I got there, I quickly realized that everyone knows you’re just trying your best. There’s leeway that people give you. When I did pick up some Japanese after the first month or so, people would get excited to practice with me. I found community in a way that I really didn’t think would be possible for me.

It takes some mental fortitude to get over some of the initial feelings when you’re in a new place, but it’s so worth it. My advice to others thinking about studying abroad would be to have a little bit more faith in yourself and in the country that you’re going to. It will be a more positive experience than you could’ve imagined.