Engaging US Engineering Students in Fuel Cell Research at a Foreign Site

The department of mechanical engineering at Oakland University University was awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) a three year grant to support a group of US undergraduate and graduate engineering student to conduct fuel cell related research at Beijing Jiaotong University in China. The program has run successfully for three consecutive summers between 2010 and 2012. The program aimed to engage the engineering students in the fuel cell research at a foreign site as well as expose them to Chinese culture. A total of 17 students from 11 different universities have taken part in the program. More than a third of the participants were female engineering students. The student participants worked in teams with Chinese students on fuel cell related projects, and participated in other activities such as touring research lab and facilities at Chinese Universities, meeting with Chinese scholars and students, and attending conferences and seminars. Another important element of the program is culture exchange. The student participants took at least 24 hours Chinese language training for an 8-week program and explored many historical sites in Beijing. The purpose of this paper is to share the experience of organizing and running an international research program and to report the program outcomes and some assessments results. We believe that the results from this paper will benefit those who seek to run a similar international program. Introduction Increasing globalization of economy and technology demands more and more college graduates who can take the challenge of collaborating internationally or working abroad upon graduation. Therefore, an international studying and/or living experience will be critical to prepare them for this challenge. For engineers to be successful in an increasing global economy, they must have an understanding and appreciation of culture and technology in other countries. One particularly important country is China, which already graduates three times as many engineers as the United States on a yearly basis. In addition, China has become an international power in the area of manufacturing and alternative energy. It might eventually become center in the world. Fuel cells produce electricity through the electrochemical reaction of an oxidant (oxygen from air) and fuel (methanol, natural gas, pure hydrogen, etc.). They have recently attracted considerable research interest due to their high power density, light weight and low emissions. However, their wide use has been limited due to high capital cost, multiple issues related to poor performance, material durability and availability, manufacturing ability, and design flexibility. Vehicles powered by fuel cells will not be affordable, durable, or available to average consumers until 2010-2020. As an arising energy conversion system, fuel cells have attracted many students’ interest. However, not many universities in US offer fuel cell course or have fuel cell related projects. With combined faculty expertise in fuel cells from Oakland University(OU) and Beijing Jiaotong University(BJTU) in China, the department of mechanical engineering at OU was awarded by P ge 23494.2 2 the National Science Foundation a three year grant to engage US engineering students in fuel cell research at a foreign site in China. The program started on Oct 1, 2009. The objective of the proposed IRES site is to annually provide five U.S. engineering students (four undergraduates and one graduate) with the unique opportunity to work on fuel cell collaborative research between OU and BJTU in Beijing, China. In the past three summers, a total of 17 students (6 females) have taken part in the IRES program. These students stayed in BJTU for 8 weeks and worked on 7 different projects related to fuel cells. An international advising team including both US and China faculty advisors worked closely with each student for the duration of the program. Students are also exposed to Chinese culture through all kinds of arranged culture exchange activities. In this paper we will discuss some of the experience that we gained from organizing this international research program over the past 3 years. Some of the planning, logistics, procedures and outcomes will be described and analyzed based on the results from program survey. Some suggestions to keep the sustainability of the program will be also provided. This type of information will be useful for peers who seek to run a similar program. Application and Recruiting The program ran for eight weeks in each summer of 2010-2012, starting in middle of May and ending in early July. Nine months before the program started, the NSF IRES flyer was prepared and was advertised through different channels including the ASME ME departmental chair email list, the professional society advisors of SWE, SAE, ASME, SME and IHAE and individual faculty members at various institutions. The program was also promoted in the classroom by engineering professors at OU. The previous NSF IRSE fellows were good advocates for the program. A website was created to advertise this program and an on-line application system was created for the convenience of application. The application deadline was usually close to the end of January. This deadline is much earlier than most of other summer REU or internship programs. The reason is that extra time is needed to prepare documents for international travel and logistics and accommodation arrangement. We received more than 70 outstanding applications (the average GPA was 3.7) from more than 60 different universities across the US including top schools such as Princeton University and Northwestern University. Of all the recruiting efforts used, the most effective in the first year were the messages sent to the ASME ME departmental chair e-mail list and previous NSF IRES participants in the second and third years. We have received more than 10 applications from ZZ University. Three of them, i.e. one for each summer, were chosen as the IRES final participants. Each application was very carefully reviewed by faculty committee at OU. The top five were selected as IRES participants. Another five students were on the waiting list. The NSF grant provided funding for five students. However, given the success of the application request and the number of qualified applicants, additional funding was sought and obtained from Oakland University’s Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs to support one additional OU student, bringing the total number of student participants in the first and second year to six in each year. The program director made calls to each candidate to confirm their interest in the program. An official offer letter was sent out to the candidates, and all the students had to return the signed letter to confirm their participation in two weeks. An email was then sent Page 23494.3 3 to notify those applicants who were not selected for the program. A brief profile of the 20102012 NSF IRES Participants is shown in Tables 1. Table 1 – Gender, affiliation, major, class level and ethnicity of 2010-2013 NSF IRES participants Gender Class Ethnicity Major Affiliation 20 10 F Jr. Caucasian ME The George Washington Univ. M Jr. Caucasian ME Northwestern Univ. M Jr. Caucasian AE State Univ. of New York at Buffalo F Jr. Asian /American CE New York Univ. M* Grad. Caucasian ME Oakland Univ. M Grad. Caucasian ME Michigan Technological Univ. 20 11 F Jr. Asian/Hawaii ME Illinois Institute of Technology F Sr. Caucasian ME George Washington University M Grad. Caucasian ME Oakland University M Jr. Caucasian ME George Washington University M Jr Caucasian CE Lafayette College M* Sr. Asian/American ME Oakland University 20 12 M Grad. Caucasian ME Oakland University M Jr. Caucasian ME University of Maryland F Jr. Caucasian ME Oakland University F So. Asian/American CE Cornell University M Jr. Caucasian ME Washington University in St. Louise *This student was supported by Oakland University Provost Office, School of Engineering and Computer Science and the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The GPAs of the students varied between 3.3 and 3.94. Six out of the seventeen students funded through the NSF were female. Four were graduate students. Two students knew how to speak Mandarin, each in 2010 and 2012; none of the students knew how to speak mandarin in 2011. When selecting final participants, priority was given to those applicants who have no prior international research or travel experience. Among all the final participants, none of the students had prior research experience in China; only two students travelled to China for a short period of time with family member at their childhood. One third of student participants never had any research or internship experience, two students have the international experience of studying in Germany, and others either have an internship or REU experience. Program Structure and Activities The program runs for 8 weeks during the summer. Student participants receive $4000 stipend as well as meal allowance and a free Chinese language training course. International travel expense and lodging are covered by the program as well. Page 23494.4 4 We ran the program in two modes. In the first two years, instead of having an on-site orientation at Oakland University before departure, we met the students at BJTU directly. In the third year, we had students stay at BJTU for the first 3 weeks, then 3 weeks in China, and the last 2 weeks at OU again. From the program survey, students seem to like both modes of program. No matter which mode of the program, here are some things we have to keep in mind while arranging the program that Chinese Universities implement a different academic calendar from US Universities. The summer semester usually ends by the end of July at Chinese Universities. Therefore, our program has to finish before their final exam week (Middle July). The US schools, however,