When Amna Maqsood started her journey at GW, she could never have imagined that it would take her all the way to Luleå, Sweden, over 4,000 miles from campus.
Maqsood, a student in GW’s Accelerated Master's Program in systems engineering, first read about the Student Research on Sweden’s Energy Transition (SWEET) program in a newsletter for fellow sustainability minors. Once she learned more about the incredible opportunities the program offered, she knew she had to apply.
SWEET, a National Science Foundation-funded program, engages a cohort of eight undergraduate and graduate students from D.C.-area universities in a collaborative and interdisciplinary research experience spanning the spring and summer. Students enrolled at institutions within the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area are eligible to participate.
Students work closely with faculty mentors at the Luleå University of Technology (LTU), Sweden’s northernmost university, to investigate the challenges and opportunities of Sweden’s green energy transition, including how to balance tensions among political priorities, labor and environmental constraints, and technological possibilities.
The program begins with a three-credit research methods course in D.C. during the spring semester. Students then travel to Luleå for five weeks in the early summer to support ongoing research. Once they return to the US, they spend their summer synthesizing their findings.
Maqsood found the research methods course, taught by GW Professors Caitlin Grady and Robert Orttung, incredibly rewarding.
“I would say it’s one of the most insightful research methods classes I’ve taken at GW. It made me realize what it takes to be a meaningful researcher and design research that’s needed in the community,” she shared.
Grady and Orttung designed the course to be a hands-on experience, taking students on multiple field trips around the metropolitan area, including visits to data centers in nearby Loudoun County, to help them understand the local implications of their studies.
Maqsood’s adventures continued in Luleå, where she and her D.C.-based peers collaborated with faculty, staff, and students at LTU and had unprecedented access to Swedish industry and government partners.
“It was so incredible! Because we were there, boots on the ground, I got to learn about steel manufacturing, materials flow analysis, and everyone else’s research. I felt I became very well-versed in the overall energy transition happening in Sweden,” she said.
“I got to meet with so many industry specialists, but we were also exploring iron mines and wind farms and learning how to fish. It was very immersive in the sense that we experienced LTU research culture, but also had access to Northern Sweden in general.”
“Our Airbnb was in a neighborhood, so we got to interact with neighbors, and were within walking distance of several grocery stores. We really got to see what the infrastructure is like in Luleå, and to experience the typical day in the life of Swedish students,” she said.
Maqsood’s research required her to balance community needs with implementation realities as she explored alternative energy sources for Luleå, a community that had previously relied on heat from its steel manufacturing plant as a primary energy source.
“I got to sit with research uncertainty for the first time, looking at the difference between the community needs and what can actually be implemented and what I’m interested in,” she explained.
“Half of the year, it’s very cold and dark, and the other half, the sun doesn’t set. The locals really depend on heat from the steel plant’s manufacturing process because it feeds into their heating system, and the mayor of Luleå was concerned that they didn’t have a sustainable heat source for their homes.”
“It’s all about building reliability into heating systems and having both sustainable and year-round sources, rather than relying on access heat from one source.”
In the end, Maqsood helped executives at Luleå Energi identify a solution for their problem and presented them with a reliable decision-making tool that lets them see projections of heat generation.
“The experience taught me to be aware as a researcher of my biases, and it also really taught me to consider my epistemology and worldview. It really makes you think about who you bring to the table, and whose voices are being heard.”
Maqsood encourages any interested students to apply to the program and credits it as one of her most formative experiences.
“I’m really happy GW has access to this program, and that being in D.C. grants us access to a diverse community with a range of experiences. The SWEET program really enhanced my student research experience at GW Engineering,” she said.
“I highly recommend that people apply, and I’m so excited for this upcoming cohort,” she concluded.
Applications for the 2027 cohort are currently closed. Applications for the 2028 cohort will open in September 2027.