Visiting Morocco, Spain, and France was an experience of a lifetime for University of Minnesota Crookston students Evelyn Stuck and Emily Haggadone, and Associate Professor Venu Mukku, Ph.D., this summer. On the trip, they visited three universities, performed experiments and continued work on a previous manuscript, and toured world famous cathedrals and museums.
Mukku and students went to universities in Tangier, Marrakech, and Agadir where they performed experiments and ventured on a one-day expedition to collect plants. They were able to use a microwave extractor and perform insecticidal assays, a new to them lab opportunity. The group also toured a university hospital in Tangier and a clinic in Marrakech which performs certain types of metabolomics studies and is identifying biomarkers in certain diseases that are more prevalent in Morocco.
At Agadir they followed up after a previous Zoom meeting with a doctoral student from the University of Ibn Zohr and continued work on a manuscript, plus visited a canning factory where they learned about the chemistry behind various quality control experiments.
Outside of academics, they explored Spain and France where they soaked in thousands of years of history at monuments and museums such as the Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey, Columbus Monument, Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris, Louvre Museum, and Palace of Versailles.
“The students adapted well to various countries, currency exchanges, laboratory expectations, food habits, and daily chores such as finding laundromats, transportation etc.,” said Mukku. “All in all we had a great time, although my wife and I were unable to walk by the end of most days.”
Fortunately, the group also had the unique opportunity to attend a Summer Olympics event - the soccer (futbol) match between the Dominican Republic and Uzbekistan.
