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A view of the campus of Technical University of Berlin. |
ME ProfessorVolker Sick and colleague Frank Behrendt, a professor in the Institute of Energy Engineering at Technische Universität Berlin, have received funding to develop a summer program for students. The grant comes from Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD), or the German Academic Exchange Service, which promotes German universities to promising international students and faculty.
The four to six week program, ”Summer School Projektingenieurwissenschaften,” developed by Behrendt and Sick, will give U-M engineering students the opportunity to live abroad and work on research in small teams at TU Berlin, one of Germany's largest technical institutes. Participants will choose from among 10 projects and work with just three to five other students. "The beauty of this program," said Sick, "is that will work very closely in U.S.-German teams." In addition, students will be exposed to German culture, history and language. The program may include a travel component too, where U-M students tour other parts of Germany and Europe.
Unlike other exchange programs which to target students in their junior or senior years, the professors are hoping to recruit first-year and early-second-year students from departments throughout U-M's College of Engineering. "In ENGIN 100, a first-year engineering required course, students learn essential tools for engineering practice--communication, teamwork, research skills. To that, we want to add international experience. We want to expose students to an overseas experience early in their academic careers so that they become more aware of additional international opportunities, like summer internships, during their time in Berlin."
About 15 students will participate during the summer of 2006, and they will gain much more than technical know-how, added Sick. They will be exposed to different approaches to engineering education and to solving research problems. "The largest benefits will be the exposure early on to different ways of thinking and approaching engineering--students need to develop an understanding of these differences--and the long-lasting professional contacts they'll make."
Sick plans to teach accompanying courses in Germany that he and Behrendt intend to develop. Recruitment for the first group of students will begin in fall 2005. Behrendt will visit U-M to assist with the effort.
The new summer exchange program expands existing collaborative efforts that the College has with TU Berlin through a formal cooperative agreement. Master's- and faculty-level exchanges have been underway for several decades already, and faculty from both institutions often jointly supervise students.
In addition to his colleague, Sick credits Melissa Eljamal, Director of the International Programs in Engineering Office, and Stella Pang, Associate Dean for Graduate Education, for getting the summer school program going.