Prepared for Graduate School

CEPS grad receives full scholarship to MIT

Friday, May 11, 2018

Lorenzo Milani ’18

UNH has had all kinds of firsts throughout its 150-year history, but here’s one the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences is especially proud of: Lorenzo Milani ’18, who was recently accepted to MIT, is the first UNH student to receive a full scholarship to the Cambridge school’s chemical engineering practice graduate degree program.

And although this likely isn’t a first, it’s still pretty impressive: According to Nan Yi, UNH assistant professor of chemical engineering, Milani, an international student from Italy, has the second highest GPA among the 2018 class of chemical engineers.

“Getting an advanced degree will give me more background and provide more opportunities."

In 2017, Milani received a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship and later presented his work at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers National Conference in Minneapolis, thanks to a travel award from the Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research. He also has a first-author journal paper under review.

“Lorenzo is a talented student, a highly motivated undergraduate researcher and a truly enjoyable person to work with,” Yi says. “He has displayed great command in mastering the course concepts as well as applying them to solve challenging problems. When he encountered problems in his research projects, he took the initiative to conduct extensive experiments to test different approaches as well as to seek help from other experts.”

The son of a school teacher and a banker, Milani attended a five-year science and technology high school in Italy. He spent his fourth year at a high school in Maine. That experience convinced him he wanted to attend college in the U.S. as well.

Milani was accepted to six other graduate programs in addition to MIT’s. Eventually he hopes to work in the U.S.

“Getting an advanced degree will give me more background and provide more opportunities,” Milani says. “That MIT was able to give me money makes a big difference. I know it will be a lot of work and a lot of commitment, but I’m ready for that. I feel UNH has prepared me well.”