Karim Heredia and his wife Jessica in Hamburg, Germany. Alumni "Ingeniero" abroad by Jean Arthur Two MSU alumni took a direct leap with their bachelor's degrees from Bozeman's mountain-fringed campus to become department heads on campuses in volcano-rimmed El Salvador. Jose Burgos, '98 CS, leads the computer science department at Capitain General Gerardo Barrios University in San Miguel. Karim Heredia, '98 CS, became head of the computer science department at Don Bosco University in Soyapango, near San Salvador. Heredia and Burgos participated in a 1996 Fulbright program, which drew Central American students to U.S. universities. They arrived on a 20-degree-below-zero day, when Burgos noted that he had become "ice cream." . "While in the U.S. I visited 25 states, but let me tell you, there's no place like Montana," said Burgos. "I consider Montana to be the most wonderful place in the states." . After completing their MSU degrees, Heredia and Burgos knew they would return to Central America but did not expect jobs in academia. Yet they recognized a need for their expertise and found, as Heredia noted, that they were well prepared. José Antonio Burgos is sitting in his office "I had a lot of influence here in El Salvador by completing the computer science program at MSU," said Heredia. "I organized all the resources necessary for students to reach the degree of 'Ingeniero,' the equivalent of a bachelor's degree." People with advanced degrees are scarce where "anyone with computer science skills tends to go into private industry," said John Paxton, MSU computer science professor who worked with Heredia and Burgos. "A bachelor's degree from the U.S. places them at the top among academics." Thanks to Burgos, who initiated many positive changes on his campus, "more than 50 percent of our 5,000-plus students are now studying computer science." Heredia used skills learned at MSU to revamp the curriculum at Don Bosco University, then invited Paxton to present innovations to faculty. Paxton traveled to El Salvador last summer to teach three weeklong mini-courses. "The purpose of my teaching at Don Bosco was to introduce the faculty to new ideas," said Paxton, who taught sessions on artificial intelligence, neural networks and theory of computation. "A degree from the U.S. puts Central American students at a level above their peers. The benefit for MSU students was in meeting Central American students and learning about the international community without leaving Bozeman. I certainly have a much more accurate perception of the life in Central America." Both alumni are working on master's degrees, Heredia in information in Media Technology at the Technical University Hamburg-Harburg and Global Technology Management at the Northern Institute of Technology, and Burgos, a degree in international business management and e-commerce. "Maybe next year the U.S. will sign a free-trade agreement with Central America, so it will be useful to know about international business management," said Burgos.