Once in a while, life provides everyone with an opportunity to explore and go beyond the comfort zone. People are often desperate for change but refuse to not cling to the familiar. It takes a lot to come out of this and go on to explore life. One such example is the story of Connor Messer.
Connor Messer, a recent graduate of Northeastern University has always found himself drawn to the peripheries of his comfort zone. He has lived, worked and studied in Boston, Spain, and Germany. In Spain, he studied the history of Islam and the Catholic pilgrimage. Later he moved to Germany where he worked with Stryker Corporation, a medical device company.
The major challenges faced by Messer in the process of hopping over to new countries is that he couldn’t speak the language. He also found certain ideas about authority, family, and religion foreign. But all these differences didn’t stop him, and he continued to pursue his interest in engineering and robotics.
Talking about his experiences, Messer says
“I think all of those experiences together definitely brought in my understanding and my perspective and really allowed me to think about diverse issues, both from an engineering perspective as well as from a more philosophical or spiritual perspective.”
This year Northeastern University awarded Messer with the Fulbright Scholarship. This is touted to be one of the most prestigious awards that provide grants for research projects or English teaching assistant programs. With the Fulbright grant, Messer is looking forward to developing fabrication strategies for soft robot devices in the United Arab Emirates.
Umayal