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Students' impressions
"My off-campus experience has helped me understand how to use what I learned in the classroom and apply it out in the field...During my internships, I also learned much that directly helps me excel in the classroom and laboratory: Try to be the best you can be; meet deadlines; make your project the most beneficial it can be."
"The experience has been great so far. I worked in industry for three years before returning to work on my PhD. One of my concerns was working on projects that were too abstract with little connection with the 'real' world. I've found the opposite to be true; the projects we work on are cutting edge as far as research goes but also have a very real impact on industry. The research staff at GM is also a great resource, as most have 20 to 30 years of experience and are the leaders in their areas of expertise."
"The experience had a huge impact on me since I now work for the company who funded my research....In my mind the primary benefit unique to this collaborative work arrangement is exposure--that I got to GM and that GM got to me....[During the interview process], where every question begins with 'Tell me about a time when you...,' I'd give an answer related to my work and they'd say, 'Oh yeah, I remember that.' They were familiar with me."
"I have a much better appreciation now for the cultural differences that exist in the scientific community. I believe a successful academic or technical professional needs to work abroad to gain these experiences first hand."
"I've had the opportunity to travel to California, Germany and England to present my research through the GM collaboration. I've also had the distinct pleasure of working with researchers from various countries and have learned to speak German, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. I've made contacts with people at other corporations and become a better technical presenter."
Physical Chemistry Institute, University of Heidelberg
"My experience at GM has given me some exposure as to how research and development plays in the corporate environment and will influence what career path I choose when I finish my PhD. My experience in Germany offered the chance to see how approaches to research compare to those here....I also had the chance to meet people of a different culture and to learn German."
"At Sandia, I worked with some of the most highly skilled people in the world, using some of the most advanced laser-diagnostic equipment in the world, which allowed me to do research that wouldn't have been possible otherwise."
"The experience was valuable in many ways. At the professional level, the research conducted at the University of Karlsruhe is relevant to my future dissertation topic so it was a great learning opportunity. It was also a privilege to meet and work with Prof. Ulrich Maas. But just as rewarding was to be part of another culture, meet new people at the university, at the International Department where I stayed, or even on the streets. Karlsruhe is a very diverse and charming city, with very hospitable people, so it is not difficult to like the environment. When I left the US I thought a month would be a long time, but as the fourth week arrived I wished time would go by a little slower." |
A key element of student education at the U-M is the chance to study, work and conduct research through collaborative and innovative off-campus experiences. These opportunities, coupled with the high caliber of teaching and research activities, prepare students for a wide range of career opportunities.
Associate Professor Volker Sick strongly supports his students in pursuing such experiences. "Why do you believe they're important to students?" Members of his research group have participated in collaborative projects the world over, which have enabled them to broaden their academic, cultural and professional horizons.
A long-term research collaboration with General Motors allows students a close-up view of industry research. Undergraduate and graduate students work hand-in-hand with researchers at GM's R&D Center in Warren, to advance the state of the art of modern engine technology by developing and applying advanced laser-imaging techniques that allow the study of chemical and physical processes that take place inside engines.
After finishing his master's thesis, recent PhD graduate Boris Stojkovic spent a summer as an intern at GM. His work developed into a new research program at the company, and Boris continued his PhD work mainly in the laboratories of GM. There he jointly devised and applied an optical imaging technique for soot and temperature measurements in engines with GM researchers Michael Drake and Todd Fansler. After earning his degree, Boris was hired by GM now works on advanced diesel engine development.
Master's student Doug Frieden's focus on fuel mixing in direct injection engines made him an attractive candidate for a position within the respective group at GM. In a joint research project, Doug spent several months at GM and then decided to accept a staff position within GM R&D.
Other students have traveled abroad and spent time with researchers in the United Kingdom and Germany. Josh Driscoll and Christophe Gibaud worked with Professor Peter Lindstedt and his students at Imperial College in London on detailed chemical kinetic modeling of nitric oxide formation and destruction in laminar flames. Part of an NSF-funded research project, these visits allowed the students to deepen their understanding of flame chemistry and the importance of the laser-based flame measurements they worked on at the University of Michigan. Driscoll also visited the Combustion Research Facility of Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California, to work with scientists Roger Farrow and Paul Schrader for several months on advanced picosecond laser measurements. "Josh significantly enhanced his PhD research by using the advanced laser systems at Sandia," said Sick.
For the past two summers, U-Mgraduate Brian Peterson has had internships, first at John Deere and then at Sandia to work with scientist Richard Steeper on an optical homogeneous charge compression ignition engine. This work will lay the foundation for Peterson's master's thesis research that he will continue in the fall of 2004 in Prof. Sick's group.
NSF graduate fellowship student Vinod Natarajan spent four months working with Prof. Christof Schulz and graduate student Wieland Koban at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, on a new concept to image temperature distributions in gaseous flows. Natarajan's German language skills improved during that visit, so much so that he taught medical students in a lab course at Heidelberg.
Katherine Driscoll has visited Heidelberg twice for several months to investigate fuel sprays and tracer-based laser induced fluorescence measurements. Her visits to Heidelberg, as those of Charles Funk and ME Research Investigator Udo Fissenewert, were funded by NSF's International Programs, a student exchange that also brought several students from Heidelberg to Ann Arbor.
As part of a similar NSF-sponsored student exchange, graduate students Claudia Fajardo and Jay Smith work with Professor Maas and his students at the University of Karlsruhe. They will use multi-dimensional modeling to investigate the interaction of turbulent flows and chemistry on ignition stability under engine conditions. This ties into their research projects within the GM Collaborative Research Laboratory on Engine Systems Research at the University of Michigan.