Ruhr Fellows at RUB
For the third time a group of students from the Ivy League universities Harvard, Princeton and Pennsylvania as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) spend the summer months in the Ruhr Area. After RUB was responsible for organizing the Ruhr Fellowship Program last year, the 14 students of natural and engineering sciences visited Ruhr-Universität Bochum just one day, as the programme is coordinated by the University of Duisburg-Essen this year.
At first, the ten female and four male students were welcomed by the International Office. They were introduced to the university and guided over the campus. Afterwards, the group had lunch in the mensa and enjoyed the unique view from the terrace into the Ruhr valley. The students were fascinated by the beauty of the landscape in the south of Bochum. They were wondering how students could concentrate on their studies with this beautiful view ahead of them.
Next the engineering faculties of RUB took over. The project ELLI had prepared interesting tours together with representatives of the Faculties of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Information Technology and Mechanical Engineering. A guided tour led the Fellows to the Plasma‐Labs of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, where the Transregional Collaborative Research Centre SFB TR 87 deals with pulsed high power plasmas for the synthesis of nanostructured functional layers. The students not only got a glimpse of the plasma’s glow, but also discussed its medical‐technical application with the research associates of the faculty. Then, the students visited the huge experimental hall of the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Here, they were introduced to structural engineering and could witness tests of structural soundness under high loads and multiple load cycles. A special treat was finally offered by the Chair of Solids Process Engineering at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering: During the preparation of ice cream with liquid nitrogen and droplets of fruit‐smoothies, everybody was invited to try.
Finally, the students left the I-buildings and spend the rest of the day at the Uni Summer Festival where some of them tried out their mechanical bullriding skills.