Hello everyone! My name is Matthew Renda, and I’m a freshman at Swanson majoring in mechanical engineering. I’ve always known I wanted to be an engineer since I started touring colleges, and can happily say I made the right choice. I’m from Westchester County, New York, which is about one hour north of NYC. At Pitt, I am involved in the FSAE team, and I often play intramural and recreational sports with my friends whenever I’m not studying for finals. For more personal interests, I enjoy reading, playing video games, and listening to music. Some of my strengths as a team member are my ability to see how different areas connect to each other, and my goal-oriented approach to big picture problems.

The +3 location I was most captivated by during the program application phase was definitely Cyprus. The unique culture, various industries, and logistics of an island nation in the center of the Mediterranean drew my interest and has kept it ever since. One of my main goals during this trip is to explore the culture of a nation on the other side of the world and see how that specific culture affects the business and engineering principles as compared to the US. Having the ability to understand the priorities of other cultures can help make me a more well-rounded engineer with the ability to help a wider range of people. I also hope to make new friends have new experiences and gain a better understanding of how engineering and business interact. I can’t wait to get to know everyone more and explore Cyprus together!.