Oconto Falls Woman Studies in Sweden and Finland

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Kassidy Yatso in Sweden.

HOUGHTON, MI (10/31/2011)(readMedia)-- Kassidy Yatso, a graduate of Oconto Falls High School and currently a master's student at Michigan Technological University, spent a year in Sweden and Finland as part of the ATLANTIS program. ATLANTIS (Actions for Transatlantic Links and Academic Networks for Training and Integrated Studies) prepares graduate students on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean to tackle the world's forest resources challenges.

Yatso, who also earned her Bachelor of Science in Applied Ecology and Environmental Science at Tech, spent one semester at the University of Helsinki and one at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. She is back on the Michigan Tech campus now, completing her master's degree.

Yatso's academic experiences reflect the demands of graduate school in Scandinavia. In her blog (http://blogs.mtu.edu/student-abroad/tag/atlantis/), she describes a week that included a thesis defense, three demanding assignments for an intense two-week silviculture course, and an all-day field trip to Snogeholm to study multiple forest management techniques and current landscape architecture trends.

She still found time and energy to hear some live music by a Swedish all-girl band at a club in Malmo. "I was absolutely blown away," she blogged. "They are now one of my favorite bands."

Yatso is the daughter of Paul James Yatso and Kolleen Margaret Quilici.

In ATLANTIS, graduate students from each university spend up to a year at a foreign partner university and up to a year at their home institution earning dual master's degrees from both universities. The program provides for faculty exchanges as well. So far, 10 Michigan Tech faculty have spent time at the Swedish or Finnish universities to establish new collaborations, and a total of 24 graduate students will earn their degrees through the program.

ATLANTIS is jointly funded by the US Department of Education and the European Union. Michigan Tech's partner universities are North Carolina State, the University of Helsinki in Finland and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Michigan Technological University (www.mtu.edu) is a leading public research university developing new technologies and preparing students to create the future for a prosperous and sustainable world. Michigan Tech offers more than 130 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in engineering; forest resources; computing; technology; business; economics; natural, physical and environmental sciences; arts; humanities; and social sciences.