Penn State and Leibniz University of Hannover celebrate a year of collaboration

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State and Leibniz University of Hannover (LUH), Germany, recently wrapped up an active year of partnership collaborations, one “defined by vibrant student exchanges, faculty initiatives, and staff engagement across multiple disciplines,” said Alexandra Persiko, director for global partnerships in Penn State Global.

“This comprehensive partnership checks all the boxes when we talk about a strategic partnership: It is deep, broad, multi-disciplinary and involves many constituents,” added Persiko, who oversees the European partnerships portfolio.

The relationship, sparked by an LUH delegation visit to Penn State in 2022 and a history that extends to vibration dynamics, energy harvesting, production engineering and smart materials, has steadily expanded into multi-faceted activities. From engineering and law to sports science, education, German studies, mathematics and sustainability, the collaboration now spans a wide range of academic fields. Formal agreements, including a Memorandum of Understanding and a Memorandum of Agreement in Law, have further anchored the partnership and ensure its long-term direction.

In 2025, LUH secured a competitive Erasmus+ grant in coordination with Penn State Engineering and Penn State Global. The grant supports student and faculty travel focused on sustainable product development — a theme that resonates strongly with both institutions. The initiative grew out of a faculty-led engineering program in November 2024.

"Our two universities share similarities in profile, structures and vision,” said Stephen Sechrist of LUH’s International Office. “These provide a good foundation for mutual understanding and cooperation. The opportunities for cooperation arise in the areas where we find complementarity — that’s where the magic happens!” 

In September 2025, LUH students and faculty visited Penn State’s campus, collaborating on a keystone project in sustainable product development. The work did not stop there: Students from both universities continued their collaboration in mixed teams virtually throughout the fall, culminating in Penn State engineering students traveling to Hannover over Thanksgiving break to complete the projects in person with their LUH colleagues.

“My biggest takeaway was successfully managing distributed engineering projects in a multicultural environment,” said one student. “Dealing with the time zones made me quickly develop skills in defining scopes and diligently tracking design updates.”

In addition to the academic activities, team cohesion was fostered through planned activities such as attending an American football game at Penn State and going to the Christmas Market in Hannover.

"I appreciated observing how the students simultaneously recognized and appreciated their differences, while also realizing that they had much more in common including shared values and goals,” said Sachin Gore, professor of mechanical engineering. “What started as ‘Us’ [Penn State] and ‘Them’ [Leibniz] transformed into ‘We,’ resulting in lifelong friendships and professional connections that will serve students well in their careers."

Adding to the momentum, an LUH delegation returned to Penn State in mid-November, led by LUH’s VP for International Affairs and Sustainability Regina Nogueira. Their visit featured intensive faculty-to-faculty meetings in sustainability, engineering, education and mathematics.

“Our partnership encourages students and researchers to work together to find solutions to challenging questions from basic to applied research perspectives,” said Nogueira.

Teams from Leibniz University’s International Office and Penn State Global Partnerships have demonstrated strong ties through concrete initiatives, including facilitating a multi-site study involving Ukrainian Refugee Youth. One of the key outcomes of the recent visit was the emphasis on fostering virtual engagement through EDGE (Experiential Digital Global Engagement), viewed as an important foundation for future collaboration.

Looking ahead, the next steps will involve a detailed review of potential collaborative opportunities, building on the energy generated by the visit and the joint student work in engineering.

For more information contact Alexandra Persiko at axp1225@psu.edu and Stephen Sechrist at stephen.sechrist@zuv.uni-hannover.de. Additionally, partnerships information can be found on the Global Partnerships webpage.