Demetrio A. Lima
West New York, NJ
Class Of: 2013

Campus: Manhattan
Major: Electrical and Computer Engineering, B.S.

There’s no better “win-win” situation than seeing the world without having to take time off from school, according to Demetrio Lima. Because NYIT afforded him the chance to earn degree credits in a host of unfamiliar places, he has set foot in eight countries since he began his studies in computer and electrical engineering two years ago.

“One of my goals in life is to travel the world,” Lima says, explaining that beyond visiting family in Mexico and managing a trek to Niagara Falls, he’d had few opportunities to travel abroad before enrolling at NYIT.

His latest foray overseas led him to France, where he joined 36 scholars from around the globe at a summer engineering program run by the École Catholique des Arts et Métiers in Lyon. There, he studied energy topics such as solar and fuel cells, wind power, and motor conversions— but managed to save some of his own energy for exploring the French Republic for the first time.

“France was phenomenal. We were welcomed graciously, the landscape was marvelous and the architecture was indescribably pleasing,” he says, adding that his foreign language skills were improved by a required French immersion class offered through the engineering program.

Between trips to vineyards, silk factories, and the French Riviera, Lima completed a group research project on innovations in electric car technology. He says the combination of working alongside new people of different ages, races, and educations within a new culture gave him more confidence in his ambition to use his skills for the greater good.

“Many of us were humanitarians and believed in helping the world with the knowledge we were gaining.”

After the program’s end, Lima took some time to visit England, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland. Also a veteran of NYIT’s Semester at Nanjing program, he is already working with Julie Fratrik, director of the Center for Global Academic Exchange, to research more study abroad programs for next summer: one in Geneva, Switzerland, and the other in Okinawa, Japan.

“Who knows where I might be in the next few years?” Lima says. “But I do know that my choice might open up more options for all students studying at NYIT."