International students earn Business Services scholarships
Contact: Nicol Tinsley
VCU Global Education Office
(804) 828-6463
nctinsley@vcu.edu
Richmond, VA (July 11, 2022) — Three Virginia Commonwealth University international students were recently awarded VCU International Student Scholarships by VCU Department of Business Services in recognition of their involvement in organizations or activities that provide contributions to VCU through scholarship, service and leadership. Polina Beloborodova, Silas Contaifer and Svea Sturm were each awarded scholarships of $5,000 for use in the fall 2022 semester.
VCU’s Department of Business Services sponsors scholarships through agreements with business partners to support and enhance scholarship opportunities for all VCU students. In addition to the scholarships given to international students, scholarships are awarded that focus on categories such as excellence in community service, assistance for single parents, graduate and professional studies, the advancement of women, nursing students and health sciences leaders.
About the awardees
Polina Beloborodova
Home: Perm, Russia
Degree: Doctorate, Social Psychology
Polina Beloborodova is a doctoral student from Russia studying social psychology. Beloborodova applied for the scholarship in order to supplement finances when dire financial circumstances affected her support.
“As an international student, I have very limited opportunities to obtain extra funding for my research, as well as living expenses,” she said. “This year, my financial situation is especially precarious because I lost access to my savings in Russia due to the sanctions.”
The scholarship provides great support for Beloborodova with student fees and insurance and allows her to continue attaining her doctorate degree, conducting research and supporting others from her home country while at VCU.
“This generous scholarship is a life saver,” she said. “The scholarship will provide some financial security and allow me to have enough peace of mind to fulfill my research, teaching, and service duties, as well as volunteer for various projects that help Ukrainian and Russian people in distress,” she said.
Beloborodova considers the research she conducts and her academic work to be the core of her contributions to VCU. While she conducts her own research, she contributes to VCU faculty research as well. She is currently working on her dissertation in which the study will “examine the effects and mechanisms of a smartphone-delivered mindfulness-based intervention in a racially and ethnically diverse sample of VCU undergraduate students,” she explained.
During the study, the participants will learn to practice mindfulness meditation to mitigate stress and benefit from enhanced emotional wellbeing. In addition, Beloborodova works with VCU faculty to develop mindfulness measurement instruments.
“Student well-being has always been one of my main service areas,” she said. “In addition to my research, I currently undergo RecWell Mindfulness Ambassadors training to facilitate mindfulness meditation sessions for international students.”
Her contributions also include starting international collaborations with psychology researchers in Russia, and she serves as a peer mentor for incoming students who are starting their social psychology PhD training.
“I am doing my best to contribute to research at VCU and forging departmental and international collaborations,” she said.
Beloborodova actively advocates for international students at VCU regarding campus causes, including issues occurring during the backlash against the ICE 2020 directive.
“I deeply care about diversity, equity and inclusion in academia and society at large and I am trying to amplify the voice of international students and the immigrant community in the diversity conversations,” she said.
Beloborodova aspires to become an internationally-recognized social psychology researcher, author, and speaker, as well as conduct high-quality research to “share with a broad audience in order to help people grow and thrive,” she said.
Silas Contaifer
Home: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Degree: Doctorate, Pharmaceutical Sciences
Silas Contaifer is an international student from Brazil pursuing his doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences. Due to the pandemic and economic problems in Contaifer’s country, he applied for this scholarship to help defray costs of travel and student fees, which had increased after his arrival.
“I am grateful for doing my studies here, but because of that budget impact, I had to search for scholarship opportunities,” he said.
Contaifer, especially excited by the sentiment of the selection committee when notified of the award, noted how the scholarship will allow him to achieve his goals while the financial support is provided.
“It was significantly impactful to receive an email stating, ‘The selection committee was impressed with your application materials, scholarship, and significant contributions to the university and community,’” he said. “I am in my second year as a Ph.D. student, and this scholarship boosts me to achieve more in the following years while I focus on the research results and explore new skills.”
The contributions to the university for which Contaifer was rewarded include his work as a teacher’s assistant, a role that allowed him to teach coding skills to future professional pharmacist students. In addition, he is a member of the Pharmacists for Digital Health (PDH), an organization that allows members to learn and teach data science and electronics as it relates to digital health.
During Contaifer’s first year as a doctoral student, he has made significant achievements in his field of study. He has participated in Hackathons, representing VCU and winning in the category of reducing the Burnout in Healthcare Workers, with three fellow VCU students.
The VCU Medical Informatics Interest Group allows Contaifer to exchange knowledge with students in his field, enhancing the professional learning experiences he is exposed to.
“We started this group in the fall of 2021, sharing techniques and presenting the challenges in our research,” he said. “By associating with them I got to be a part of the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) where my lab mates and I are analyzing and identifying insights with respect to medical complications of COVID with sickle cell disease.”
Contaifer has been successful in acquiring resources for his department by working with the Office of Research and Innovation to create and release a virtual reality software for visualization of the Oral Microbiome, a mobile app that, connected to a headset, allows people to see bacterial interactions inside a human mouth.
Contaifer will utilize the scholarship money for expenses that will provide him with reliable transportation to attend school and visit the Veterans Affairs Hospital. His future aspirations will allow him to continue contributing to the university and the community in general.
“These next two years will be great,” he said. “I am working on my scientific publications and patent registration for my surgery aid software. It has been an incredible journey, and I want to keep working on this type of research in the future, possibly in a startup.”
Svea Sturm
Home: Waltrop, Germany
Degree: Graduate, Business Administration
Graduate student, Svea Sturm, is an international student from Germany who is earning a master’s degree in business administration. The scholarship she has earned will assist with finances; Sturm had previously received an athletic scholarship as a member of the varsity field hockey team.
“I was able to do my undergraduate degree at VCU through a generous athletic scholarship,” she said. “Since I'm not eligible to play anymore, I have to self-fund my studies, so I looked for (academic) scholarships that could help me with part of the tuition.”
Sturm feels being awarded the scholarship signifies the work that she has done while at VCU and feels fortunate to represent other international students.
“I'm really grateful and proud that I'm a recipient of the international scholarship,” Sturm said. “It showed me that my hard work paid off and that I'm valued. I'm honored to represent international students at VCU and I will continue to try my best to be successful in my studies.”
As a student athlete, Sturm served the community on different occasions and contributed through leadership. While a member of the VCU Rams Leadership Academy, she learned leadership skills and served as a sector lead on VCU’s Student Managed Investment Portfolio.
These leadership skills Sturm learned were used while on the field playing her sport, as she became more confident as a leader, and also helped her become more vocal in her classes.
“It helped me to open up more and speak up in my classes even as an international student who does not speak English as the mother tongue,” she said.
Sturm says being active in student organizations has helped her with growth and meeting others. She has been able to benefit from the various activities she has been involved in.
“I enjoy being actively involved in student organizations at VCU because I meet new people and therefore broaden my personal and career network, experience and learn from different cultures, gaining more knowledge in the business field.”
Another way that Sturm has given back to the community is by visiting the Children’s Hospital of Richmond multiple times with her team. The visits and conversations with the children helped to keep her own well-being in perspective.
“During our visits, which was a humbling experience, we had conversations with the children and their parents and learned more about their experiences with dealing with life threatening diseases,” she said. “ I realized how lucky I am to be healthy and that life is a gift that I should value every day.”
Participating in the yearly National Girls & Women in Sports Day gave her the opportunity to show girls and boys field hockey-related exercises and helped them to execute them, which allowed Sturm to help dispel gender biases occuring in sports.
“Teaching girls and boys my passion for field hockey and sports, in general, was valuable because I hope the next generations of female athletes do not have to deal with biases against women’s sports anymore,” she said.
Sturm has goals to explore her interest in finance, and gives VCU credit for the experiences she has had, hoping to reciprocate in some way in the future.
“I aspire to work in the financial industry, either as an investment banker, equity research analyst, or fintech analyst,” she said. “In the future, I hope I will be able to give back to VCU and VCU athletics for everything they have helped me with in my academic and athletic career.”