Connect with us

Technology

Revolutionizing Study Abroad Access: IES Abroad Unveils Breakthrough Financial Aid Initiative, Doubling Opportunities for Underrepresented & Pell-Eligible Students

Published

3 years ago

on

CHICAGO, Feb. 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — IES Abroad, a global not-for-profit study abroad and internship provider, proudly announces its new High-Impact Aid Commitment, a transformative approach to financial aid to greatly increase access to study abroad.

This is a revolutionary approach to study abroad financial aid focusing on funding transparency and supporting students.

Driven by a dedication to fostering inclusivity and access in study abroad, IES Abroad has completely restructured its financial aid approach, prioritizing a financial aid program that expands IES Abroad’s reach and directs funds to high-need students, making study abroad possible for an even greater number of students than its existing program. IES Abroad wanted to develop a program that used funds as efficiently and effectively as possible, to make the greatest positive impact.

The High-Impact Aid Commitment strategically allocates resources to those with high financial need while simplifying the financial aid process and demystifying the costs associated with studying abroad.

Providing dedicated financial resources to make study abroad accessible has always been integral to IES Abroad’s mission. In the organization’s history, they have annually allocated significant resources to financial aid (up to $7 million in 2023/24) and have awarded nearly 45,000 scholarships overall. As part of their goal to elevate their existing financial aid program and provide increased accessibility to study abroad, particularly for historically underrepresented and financially disadvantaged students, the High-Impact Aid Commitment was formed.

This new approach to awarding financial aid first began as a pilot in Spring 2024 with a group of 12 institutions who are a part of the IES Abroad Consortium, including two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), which saw a significant increase in financial aid applications and participation rates.

Gregory D. Hess, Ph.D., President and CEO of IES Abroad, emphasized the organization’s goal to address the growing financial barriers that come with study abroad: “As an economist and former college president, I closely observed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education. The significant increase in student financial need highlighted the growing difficulty for students to access transformative study abroad experiences. Upon discussing these challenges with colleagues, we took it upon ourselves to do something about it by re-shaping our financial aid program to address the evolving landscape of international education.”

Upon the rollout of the pilot program, IES Abroad received more than three times as many financial aid applications from pilot school students compared to the year before, and students with the highest need are receiving an average of $2,000 more in financial aid. Students coming from a school who is a member of the IES Abroad Consortium with an Expected Family Contribution of $0 can receive up to $7,000 in financial aid towards their semester program. 

The pilot phase of the High-Impact Aid Commitment has already delivered significant positive outcomes, including the following:

A 194% increase in financial aid applications from students enrolled at pilot institutionsA 120% increase in financial aid applications from students with the highest financial need ($0 Expected Family Contribution) enrolled at pilot institutionsA 106% increase in program participation from Pell-eligible students enrolled at pilot institutions

Encouraged by these outcomes, IES Abroad is rolling out the program across all 270+ Consortium Member schools, starting with the Spring 2025 semester. The aid application for Spring 2025 is now open.

This initiative required extensive collaboration, strategic planning, and input from partner institutions of IES Abroad. IES Abroad also engaged an industry-leading external consultant to help guide this initiative. These collective efforts have proven to be impactful as countless students will now gain even greater access to study abroad opportunities.

Susan Thomas, Associate Director of Financial Aid for IES Abroad, further emphasized the long-term goals of the commitment, saying: “The IES Abroad Financial Aid Team’s focus is on creating transformative experiences for students from all financial aid backgrounds, and this new program is a revolutionary approach to financial aid that centers around funding transparency and supporting students. This new approach will change the lives of so many more students, and I look forward to seeing the widespread impact this has on students and the field at large as we continue to push for greater access to study abroad.”

As Dr. Gregory D. Hess most notably says as part of the mission, “Study abroad changes lives, and changed lives change the world. We look forward to evaluating the success of the High-Impact Aid Commitment so that future students have greater access to lifechanging intercultural experiences.”

Learn more about IES Abroad and its scholarship and financial aid.

About IES Abroad: 
Founded in 1950, IES Abroad is a not-for-profit academic consortium of more than 260 top-tier American colleges and universities, with more than 240 additional partner universities worldwide. IES Abroad provides premier study abroad and internship programs around the world through IES Abroad, IES Internships, IES Abroad Customized & Faculty-Led Programs, and The Study Abroad Foundation. With a total of more than 400 study abroad programs in 85 locations worldwide, the organization creates authentic global education opportunities for more than 10,000 students annually. IES Abroad has more than 140,000 alumni who have benefited from studying on IES Abroad programs since its inception, and offers more than $5 million in scholarships and financial aid. Learn more at www.IESabroad.org.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/revolutionizing-study-abroad-access-ies-abroad-unveils-breakthrough-financial-aid-initiative-doubling-opportunities-for-underrepresented–pell-eligible-students-302074474.html

SOURCE IES Abroad

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Technology

commercetools Named a Leader in 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Commerce as AI Reshapes the Market

Published

56 minutes ago

on

October 22, 2026

By

commercetools is a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Commerce for the seventh consecutive year.commercetools has been driving AI innovation on how enterprises build, operate and sell, including capabilities like Sphere, Commerce MCP and commercetools for Builders.commercetools is helping global enterprises modernize complex commerce operations and prepare for a future where both people and AI agents discover, shop and transact.

BOSTON, Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — commercetools, the digital commerce AI company, today announced it has been positioned as a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Commerce. This marks the seventh consecutive year commercetools has been recognized as a Leader in the report.

As AI reshapes commerce, commercetools is expanding how it supports the enterprises who build and operate commerce experiences, and the shoppers who use them. Global enterprises including JD Sports, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Chemist Warehouse and Mirion Technologies are using commercetools to modernize complex digital commerce, accelerate growth and adopt new AI-powered ways of operating and selling.

“Commerce is moving from systems that simply respond to human instructions toward systems that can increasingly understand, decide and act,” said Doug McNary, Chief Executive Officer at commercetools. “We’re proud to be named a Leader for the seventh consecutive year. Enterprises shouldn’t have to choose between the flexibility they need today and the autonomy they’ll need tomorrow. Our focus is giving them the technology to support both.”

Over the past year, commercetools has introduced new products and capabilities designed to bring AI across the commerce lifecycle:

Sphere: Brings together commercetools’ AI-native infrastructure and agent governance through Commerce MCP into a unified platform for enterprises to build, operate and sell with AI.commercetools for Builders: Helps anyone build, extend and evolve enterprise commerce faster with AI.AgentSphere: Lets enterprises build and manage AI agents to run commerce operations and agentic shopping, with appropriate guardrails to do so safely and at scale.Modular commerce offerings: Gives enterprises the flexibility to start with the capabilities they need and expand over time, accelerating time to value without requiring a full commerce transformation upfront.Commerce Integration Layer: Centralizes integration logic behind customer-facing experiences. Storefronts, mobile apps and AI agents connect through a unified layer hosted and maintained by commercetools.Smart Data Modeler: Uses AI to accelerate product data modeling, helping teams build the right foundation faster and reduce time-to-launch.

commercetools’ customers include large enterprises across retail, manufacturing, life sciences, healthcare and telecommunications in markets around the world.

To learn more about commercetools’ position as a Leader, download your complimentary copy of the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant report today.

About the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce

Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce Platforms, Aditya Vasudevan, Penny Gillespie, Sandy Shen, Jason Daigler, Mike Lowndes, 19 October 2026

Gartner and Magic Quadrant are trademarks of Gartner, Inc., and/or its affiliates.

Gartner does not endorse any company, vendor, product or service depicted in its publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s business and technology insights organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this publication, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About commercetools

commercetools, the global digital commerce AI company, helps enterprises transform commerce for the AI era. Built API-native from the start and AI-first by design, our technology enables agentic shopping experiences, automates commerce operations and gives businesses the agility to modernize faster, innovate continuously and operate more intelligently.

More than 500 global brands, retailers and enterprise companies rely on commercetools to power their digital commerce. Together, they process more than $100 billion in annualized GMV, over 700 million orders and more than one billion customer records on our platform.

Media Contact: comms@commercetools.com 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/commercetools-named-a-leader-in-2026-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-digital-commerce-as-ai-reshapes-the-market-302916761.html

SOURCE commercetools

Continue Reading

Technology

Phylo’s Biomni Lab to expand the use of AI agents in scientific research at Bayer

Published

57 minutes ago

on

October 22, 2026

By

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Phylo, Inc. announced today a partnership with Bayer to deploy Biomni Lab, Phylo’s agentic AI platform to accelerate scientific research and evaluation. 

Under the agreement, Phylo will provide Bayer with full access to its agentic platform that helps Bayer scientists bring together scientific literature, biomedical data, and analytical methods in one environment, reducing the manual effort required to assemble and assess evidence. The platform’s inspectable workflows preserve the context behind each result, allowing researchers to review the underlying sources, methods, and execution and apply their own scientific judgment. Bayer scientists will gain access to Biomni Lab for workflows focused on assembling literature and omics evidence for drug discovery.

“This partnership reflects our belief that AI should expand scientific curiosity, not just speed up routine work. Giving our scientists an AI partner that brings rigor to every step lets them explore more ideas, ask bolder questions, and find the insights that move drug discovery forward, ultimately accelerating the pace at which we can bring new medicines to patients,” said Sai Jasti, Senior Vice President, Head of Data Science & Artificial Intelligence, Bayer Pharmaceuticals R&D.

“For agentic AI to matter in research, it has to earn the trust of the scientists doing the work. Bayer’s selection of Biomni Lab is a strong endorsement of the scientific rigor and AI capabilities we’ve built into the platform,” said Kexin Huang, Ph.D., Co-Founder and CEO of Phylo. “Our vision is an AI-native operating system for biopharma, where every scientist can direct a team of AI agents to pursue complex research questions. With Bayer, we aim to show what becomes possible when AI capabilities meet deep scientific expertise: more hypotheses explored, more discoveries made, and new possibilities for medicine.”

About Phylo

Phylo’s mission is to bring the best agentic intelligence to every biomedical scientist. Its enterprise-grade AI platform, Biomni Lab, is the first Integrated Biology Environment—a unified workspace where scientists collaborate with AI agents across literature research, experimental design, biological data analysis, and scientific decision-making.

Biomni Lab is now used by leading global biopharma, including Bayer, Chugai Pharmaceutical and Ono Pharmaceutical. Phylo is based in South San Francisco, backed by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Menlo Ventures.

For more information, visit phylo.bio. To learn more about Biomni Lab, visit biomni.phylo.bio.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/phylos-biomni-lab-to-expand-the-use-of-ai-agents-in-scientific-research-at-bayer-302917080.html

SOURCE Phylo, Inc.

Continue Reading

Technology

Sandler Partners Welcomes Bryan Rias as Director, Sales Engineer, West Region

Published

57 minutes ago

on

October 22, 2026

By

New Hire Announcement | Independent Technology Distributor Sandler Partners grows its Sales Engineering team, adding Bryan Rias as Director, Sales Engineer, West Region.

REDONDO BEACH, Calif., Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Sandler Partners, the leading independent Technology Solutions Distributor, announces the addition of Bryan Rias as Director, Sales Engineer, West Region, further strengthening its dedicated sales engineering team and the technical support available to Partners in the West Region.

Bryan brings more than two decades of experience designing and delivering complex technology solutions, including enterprise and Cloud architecture roles at Lumen/Savvis and IBM focused on infrastructure modernization and customer success. His expertise spans automation, edge computing, disaster recovery, application performance monitoring (APM), and DevSecOps. In his role, Bryan will support Partners across the West Region, aligning early with them on strategy and leading thoughtful discovery to help them find the right fit for each client.

For Bryan, strong relationships and solid values guide his life and form the foundation of his professional success, a perspective that fits naturally within the Sandler Partners community. When he is not working, Bryan spends time with his family, including his wife, three sons, and a grandson, RVing, boating, and biking, along with pursuing his passion for freediving.

“Bryan brings the kind of hands-on experience our Partners value: he’s been in the room on complex deals and knows how to turn a customer’s needs into the right solution,” says Justin Marano, Chief Revenue Officer, Sandler Partners. “He came to Sandler for the freedom to work across best-of-breed Providers, and our Partners in the West will feel that right away. He’s collaborative, grounded, and focused on helping Partners win. I’m excited to have him on the team.”

“I’m excited to get to work alongside our Partners, helping them navigate complex opportunities and bring clarity to technical decisions,” says Bryan. “For me, it all comes back to relationships. When you build them on trust and shared values, the results follow for our Partners and their clients. That’s something that the Sandler community really embodies, and I look forward to getting to work with our Partners!”

About Sandler Partners
Sandler Partners helps empower its network of leading independent Sales Partners to deliver a comprehensive range of technology solutions to organizations worldwide, including Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Connectivity, Cloud, Colocation, Mobility, Internet of Things (IoT), and Continuity. Its community-focused approach enables Partners to identify the right solutions for customers quickly and objectively from a diverse portfolio of 220+ Providers. Partner sales agents, VARs, and MSPs gain access to an innovative suite of sales tools within the Sandler Portal—including SCOUT, Solutions Finder, Scout for Solutions, and the Marketing Center—several of which are AI-powered, all backed by a robust support network, dedicated Sales Engineering expertise, and rich marketing resources. Together, these tools and resources empower Partners to focus on what they do best: delivering quality, value, performance, innovative solutions, unmatched expertise, and exceptional service to their clients. Members of the Sandler Partners community also benefit from the industry’s strongest negotiated agreements and a dedicated team committed to ensuring commissions are accurately identified, tracked, and paid. For more information, visit www.sandlerpartners.com.

Sandler Partners – Media Contact
Tina S. Dyksterhouse
tina@sandlerpartners.com
310-861-2295

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sandler-partners-welcomes-bryan-rias-as-director-sales-engineer-west-region-302916413.html

SOURCE Sandler Partners

Continue Reading

Trending