Romanian computer scientist Mihai Leonard Cirlanaru, who graduated the Jacobs University Bremen in 2011 and is currently a post-graduate student in an MA program at the University of Cambridge is the Romanian Student of the Year in Europe, according to Romania's External Affairs Ministry.

“This award goes to a brilliant Romanian computer scientist, who is another example of how Romania shines in the IT field. We have colonized Sillicon Valley, but we also need such people in the Romanian IT industry, people who one day will return to the country,” said Romanian External Affairs Minister Teodor Baconschi.

Cirlanaru, who graduated the Tudor Vianu high-school in Bucharest in 2007, will end his MA in Advanced Computer Science at the University of Cambridge in 2012. He previously attended the Robotics Institute Summer School at Carnegie Mellon University. More about him in his LinkedIn CV here.

The grand award of the evening went to Alexandra Balahur-Dobrescu, post-doctoral researcher at the European Commission Joint Research Centre. She graduated the Computer Science Faculty in Iasi and became an European Doctor in 2011. Other Romanians who study abroad received an award from the External Affairs Ministry: Marian-Daniel Iordache (Joint Programme between Instituto Superior Tecnico, in Lisbon, and Universidad de Extremadura, Caceres, Spain)- for post-graduate studies. Dragos Ionut Potirniche, who studies at the Princeton University, got the Romanian Student of the Year award for the US on the bachelor level, while Sabinei Stefania Alistar from the Stanford University, the post-graduate award.

The following were also awarded during the gala: Alexandru Eugen Ichim (Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany), Vadim Radu-Toader (Oxford University, UK), Vlad-Petre Glăveanu (London School of Economics, UK), Anca Madalina Farcaș (Oxford University, UK), Ramona Todoca (Savannah College of Art and Design, US), Tudor Alexandru Dumitras (Carnegie Mellon, US) and Rares Vernica (University of California, Irvine, US).

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: External Affairs Minister; in photo, left to right, shaking hands: Mihai Cirlanaru, teodor Baconschi )