Teddy Lagrander

Ted Lagrander played French horn for the Worcester Youth Orchestra while in high school, and the summer after his junior year, the orchestra performed in Germany and Austria. 

He was impressed by the beauty of both the countryside and the cities.

“Ever since, I’ve wanted to go back,” says Lagrander, an honors mechanical engineering major with a minor in aerospace studies.

Two years later, he did – alongside seven other UMass Lowell mechanical engineering students enrolled in the Engineers Made in Germany program at Pforzheim University, which is near several of the country’s automotive factories. The summer program is exclusive to students from UMass Lowell and Penn State, Rutgers and Lehigh universities.

Lagrander and the other students earned nine credits while taking four classes, one in the German language and three taught by working engineers: Innovative Laser-Based Production Facilities, Emerging Technologies and Production Management & Supply Chain Management. 

“This is very unique, very hands-on,” he says.

As part of the program, the American students tour automotive factories and museums, including the Mercedes-Benz factory and museum and the Technik Museum Sinsheim, which features everything from classic American cars to a Concorde jet. 

They also tour historic cities and towns, accompanied by their “buddies,” four German university students who are each assigned to a group of American students.

“They showed us around and taught us about the culture and mannerisms,” Lagrander says.

Lagrander’s buddy and a friend took their group for a drive on the autobahn and, on another day, to hike in the outskirts of the German Alps. He was also able to take weekend trips, including one to Switzerland with two friends he made in the program.

Lagrander, who plans to go to graduate school for aerospace engineering, says he learned a lot from the German students about the differences in the American and German educational systems. 

“Most students here do an internship for a couple of years,” he says. “My buddy worked for Porsche before he went back to school to study industrial engineering.”

Back at UMass Lowell, Lagrander spent the rest of the summer working in the Submillimeter-Wave Technology Lab, helping researchers use advanced image processing to improve radar identification of vehicles and aircraft, in part by building precise models.

He was recommended for the job by older students in the campus Machining Club, which he serves as treasurer.

“I just love building stuff,” he says.

Of course, Lagrander also attends band camp, held two weeks before the fall semester begins. He plays French horn in the UML Concert Band and mellophone in the UML Marching Band.

The opportunity to join the marching band was one of the main reasons Lagrander decided to attend UMass Lowell. Another lure was a $4,000 Immersive Scholarship, which covered about half the cost of the summer study abroad program in Germany. A visit to campus and the university’s reputation for engineering cemented his decision.

“I really loved the campus and the environment,” he says.