KINGSTON, R.I. – May 05, 2026 – German precision is a cliché often linked to German cars and, more broadly, to the nation’s manufacturing and technology abilities. 

German precision could also be applied to Michaella Junge. Her journey these last five years at the University of Rhode Island has been straight and precise, following a path that began in middle school. 

“I’m just trying to live in the moment and enjoy the last weeks of my undergraduate degree,” said Junge, who will graduate this month with a dual undergraduate degree in chemical engineering and German.  

Growing up in a military family, the Colonel Alden Peterson Memorial Scholarship recipient moved around a lot. While she lived in Rhode Island through middle and high school, her family is currently based in central Maine. In high school, Junge studied German and engineering, and eventually became familiar with URI’s engineering program.

Unlike many students, Junge knew exactly what she wanted to study in college.

From a young age, she was drawn to robotics and engineering with a focus on helping others, and a love of Germany. That love grew from her relationship with her grandmother, who migrated from Germany to the U.S. in the 1970s. 

Junge grew up hearing stories about the village her grandmother left behind. Through games, Junge picked up small sayings and other things from her grandmother.

“Anytime I would visit her, I would be eating German food for Christmas. My favorite time of year was when I would get German chocolates,” Junge said. “From a very young age, I think, without even knowing it, I was already embracing my German heritage and culture.”  

Her interests led her to enroll in URI’s International Engineering Program, and to her being awarded the Otto Dornberg Study Abroad Endowment and the Gertz Family Engineering Endowment. URI’s IEP is a five-year track that allows students to double major in engineering and a foreign language. Part of its appeal is the opportunity to study and work abroad, typically for a year—six months at a university and six months interning, often with major companies.

“When I talked to different universities I told them, I really want to do these two things. But I often heard that I could only minor in German,” said Junge. “So, as I was applying to universities, the IEP, of course, stood out to me because it was the perfect ability to continue to do both.”

Junge credits Sigrid Berka, the executive director of URI’s program and a professor of German, with playing a major role in steering her toward the program and helping her along the way.

Junge arrived in Germany in June 2024, ultimately spending 14 months overseas. The first several months were spent at TU Braunschweig, the oldest technical university in Germany. She also had an opportunity to do an internship through the highly competitive DAAD RISE program, where she conducted lipid nanoparticle research.

Junge later headed to southern Germany for a second internship at Siemens—an opportunity made possible by Berka.

Junge’s work at Siemens, one of Europe’s largest engineering companies, focused on quality control for semiconductors used in CT scanner machines. 

“My job was to see if there’s a possibility to be able to reuse the semiconductors because financially and environmentally speaking, it would be a huge improvement for the company,” Junge said.

“I gained hands-on experience with a lot of new advanced characterization techniques, including scanning electron microscopy, which is my favorite.”

Though she had a family connection to Germany and went there once as a teenager it took time to master the language’s nuances. 

“You’re in a classroom every day for eight hours speaking in German. I really, really enjoyed it because I’d always been a little shy about speaking German,” Junge said.

She also formed close bonds with classmates from around the world, including students from Jordan, Mexico, and Tokyo. Junge also enjoyed leisure time, traveling to 18 countries and reconnecting with distant relatives.

“I had the privilege of going to my cousin’s son’s baptism. It was amazing,” Junge said.

Junge credits the strong foundation she received in material science on campus with preparing her for the journey to Germany. Knowing she wanted to help others, Junge enrolled in a graduate-level biomedical nanotechnology course taught by Daniel Roxbury, an associate professor of chemical, biomolecular, and materials engineering in the College of Engineering. 

“He took me in for research when I was a sophomore, and now I’m a fifth-year student. So, he’s been very, very supportive,” Junge said.

Roxbury’s research focuses on biomedical nanotechnology, where he leads the nanobioengineering lab. His work examines how engineered nanotubes and other nanomaterials interact with biological systems such as human cells. The course laid the foundation for Junge’s capstone project, which focused on recreating ibuprofen. Her capstone team was recently awarded best poster in the department’s capstone showcase.

“That class introduced me to a lot of topics in the nanotech field that I want to go into and is actually one of the main classes that inspired me to apply for the program that I’m going to be doing in Germany,” Junge said.

Following graduation, Junge will return to Germany to pursue a Master of Science degree in the advanced materials and processes program through FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg. The program enrolls about 50 students from more than 800 applicants each year. She has also been awarded the highly competitive German DAAD Master Studies for All Academic Disciplines scholarship, which is fully funded through the German Federal Foreign Office.

However, Junge won’t leave for Germany just yet. She plans to spend the summer in Kingston as an orientation advisor, a role she sees as meaningful because she was never able to attend orientation as a student because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s a full circle moment to return here and be supporting the next generation of students,” said Junge.

Junge says she will not forget her time in Kingston, especially at the College of Engineering. Her time spent as a student coordinator, helping to oversee the college’s student organizations and as a part of its Connect Mentorship and IEP Partnership programs have left an indelible mark.

“The new partnership program is focused on supporting international students who are engineers and pairing them with students who are in the IEP, so they have a point person in the college that they know can speak their native language,” said Junge.

She says the support and the sense of family is unlike any other.

“I think what makes the College of Engineering so truly special is the sense of community,” she said.