Over the next three weeks around 60 students from the USA are taking part in the Summer University at DTU Chemical Engineering. Students from Virginia Tech are again attending in great numbers. The students we met today were from University of Alabama and Case Western.
The pilot plant at DTU Chemical Engineering is buzzing with activity, students engulfed in lab exercises and the humming of English phrases – this is Summer University, a recurrent event at our department. The students work in groups of two and complete a wide range of large scale unit operations in the pilot laboratories. All operations are documented in reports, and each team is expected to make an oral presentation. Besides the lab exercises and studying, the students are going on planned excursions and enjoy social life in Denmark.
Excellent facilities and nice staff
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Students from University of Alabama and Case Western Reserve University all agreed that the facilities are excellent and that the staffs, professors and tutors, are really nice.
At University of Alabama, the students may also take part in lab exercises in their own Summer School – but may also choose to go abroad to e.g. DTU, “the facilities are really nice, and all new – and we can make more experiments here”, Kevin Naderi explains. Kevin works with Libby Lehman of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
Photo (left): Kevin and Libby are performing a simulation of oxidation of a fermentation fluid. Oxidation is a critical operations parameter in fermentation – and not least in industrial scale where even short cuts in supply of oxygen can ruin the product. |
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Ryan Flamerich, University of Alabama, also finds the facilities “very, very nice”, and reflects on the European perspective on engineering which he finds different from the perspective in the USA, in a general sense.
Another difference that Ryan has noted so far is the “work ethics” amongst American and Danish students – Ryan is surprised by the near to deserted campus, libraries and laboratories here during summer; a time in which American students still take many classes.
Photo (right): Ryan is mixing two salts in water and subsequently filtering the precipitate. |
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The course spans a total of four weeks and heading the Summer University is its ‘father’, Technical Manager Lars Kiørboe, who can be contacted for further information and future attendance at .