Showing posts with label Nicolò Lanciotti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nicolò Lanciotti. Show all posts

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Team Algaebus - out of the box and out of the classroom

Tired of hearing us say that SAIS is an experience both inside and outside the classroom? Bear with us and consider this example of student activity.

Nicolò Lanciotti, Andrew Orihuela and Michael Volpe recently participated in a global competition sponsored by Airbus. Part of the airline's efforts to develop a greener future for aviation, the "Fly Your Ideas" challenge drew entries from 2,600 students from 75 countries.

Participants chasing the €30,000 first prize were encouraged to propose an idea related to one stage of the aircraft's life: design, supply chain, manufacturing, aircraft operations or aircraft disposal.

You'll have to watch the short video below to learn the details of the SAIS Bologna students' project. To whet your curiosity: think algae, biofuel, cosmetics, fishmeal and Omega-3.

Orihuela, Volpe and Lanciotti
Mentored by SAIS Bologna Director Ken Keller and assisted by engineer Luca Perletta, the three MA candidates focused on creating a cost-effective and marketable idea. They made it to the second round, where the number of participating teams was whittled down to 80 from more than 300.

"I was able to integrate the project to some of the courses I am taking. It was a great way to use the efforts put into the project in class," said Volpe, a U.S. citizen.

The fledgling engineers said one of the biggest challenges was finding time outside of class. They had to consider the project from the standpoint of an investor and then market their idea. "I highly recommend this experience, although it was time-consuming," said Orihuela, also from the United States.

Lanciotti, from Italy, edited the video. Volpe contributed the drawings. We'll let you guess who did the voice-over.



Amina Abdiuahab

Monday, April 18, 2011

Winning photography

Today and tomorrow we will showcase some photography by current Bologna Center students. Below is a note by Courtney McCarty, a current student who helped to organize a photography contest. She provides some details and background on the contest. Below her note is the winning photograph by Nicolò Lanciotti. Tomorrow we will run several others that won different categories in the competition. 


Our SAIS class has a lot of different talents, and we've gotten to see that in many ways this year. We've seen (and heard) our classmates form a rock band, perform in a local orchestra and play various sports with the Bolognese, for example. But I had also noticed many classmates who take excellent photos. Every time I visited Facebook, one classmate or another had posted some amazing shots from their latest weekend trip to Morocco, or Sicily or even here in Bologna. Our student blog has highlighted some of that talent, but I thought it would be a good idea to have a photo contest/exhibit, in print format, to really show it off. 

So, I worked with the Student Government Association and school administration to make it happen. I sent out a call for submissions, asking for photos in the themes of Bologna, Italy, Travel and People, because these are the themes that have really defined our year here. I received 41 entries from 21 students, had them printed in a local photography shop and displayed them in the Library in a competition format.  About 1/4 of the students, plus some staff, participated in the voting, and we named winners last week. We're hoping to display some of the winning photos in different ways throughout SAIS. 

When seen in print format, the photos really were amazing, and it was great to see everyone's experiences in both Bologna and farther afield throughout this year. I have heard from both students and staff how great the photos looked and how impressed they were by the students' work.



Courtney McCarty


Morocco scene
by Nicolò Lanciotti
Nelson Graves

Monday, February 14, 2011

A stately tradition

Every academic institution has its traditions. Some involve pomp and circumstance -- convocation and commencement come to mind. Others are less grandiose. Some, well, we just should not mention.

One of the Bologna Center's best-known traditions has withstood the tests of time and indeed radical changes in Europe and  international relations. The Austrian Ball remains a fixture on students' calendars.

The annual Ball reflects the Center's longstanding ties to Austria, which has provided us 367 alumni, punching well above the relative weight of its population. The winter social event illustrates the cohesiveness that tends to characterize classes here.

Below are some photographs by Bologna Center students of this year's Austrian Ball, which they attended in Vienna on February 5 during the break between the first and second semesters. The annual ball is hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency's staff association.

Most students took an all-night chartered bus to get to Vienna -- and yet by evening looked every bit the part in the stately Hofburg Palace.

by Nicolo' Lanciotti
by Megan Holt

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano
by Edna Kallon

by Rachel Salerno
by Jennifer Crawford
by Nicolo' Lanciotti



 
by Elisabeth Mondl
by Rachel Salerno
by Annabel Lee
by Megan Holt
by Elizabeth Mondl
by Britt Sylvester

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