While many engineering students have opportunities to help design or test products for companies during their undergraduate education, three Valparaiso University students are adding another level of complexity by doing so while communicating in a foreign language, reports the Valparaiso University media center.
The engineering students are preparing to enter a workplace that is becoming more international each year by working for German companies through the Valparaiso International Engineering Program (VIEP-German). The students, all seniors, are the second group of Valparaiso engineering students to be placed with German companies for their co-operative learning experiences.
Peter Krenzke, a mechanical engineering and German major from Plainfield, Ind., has been working since January with a group at DLR, Germany’s national center for aeronautics and space research. Krenzke is studying the combustion of different fuels to better understand and model the chemical reactions that take place at a research center in Stuttgart.
“The end goal of the research is to find fuel compositions that lead to optimal efficiency and exhaust emission levels,” Krenzke said. “Toward that end, I am doing experiments with a shock tube to examine some of the characteristics of combustion.”
Students also are working this spring for the automobile company Rolls Royce and Hansgrohe, which designs and manufacturers showers, faucets and other bathroom accessories.
To prepare for their co-ops, students spent the fall at Valpo’s Reutlingen Study Center studying German language, industry and culture, and took an engineering course taught in German. Earlier in the VIEP-German program, students lived for two semesters in the Kade-Duesenberg German House and Cultural Center – a facility on Valpo’s campus where residents speak only in German.
Krenzke said speaking in German during his engineering co-op with DLR has strengthened his fluency, particularly in a technical setting.
“My language skills have developed much faster here due to the effects of immersion,” Krenzke said. “I also have gained a broader perspective that will allow me to better understand other cultures and better appreciate my own culture during my time in Gemany.”
Dr. Eric Johnson, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering who is serving as resident director of the Reutlingen Study Center, said Krenzke’s experience is what VIEP-German aims to accomplish.
“Many engineering companies both inside and outside the U.S. are looking for graduates who have demonstrated they understand and can thrive in a global environment,” Dr. Johnson said. “Engineering students with international work experiences are in high demand as more companies conduct business around the world and hire workers of various nationalities. Our students in Germany are able to gain experience communicating in another language, working with new engineering techniques and experiencing different business practices.”
Nate Leonard, a mechanical engineering and German major from Dexter, Mich., is involved in the design and testing new products in Hansgrohe’s spray research department. He said the VIEP-German program enabled him to join his desire to become an engineer with his enjoyment of German language and culture.
“The ability to make connections between people, firms and countries adds another dimension to what you can do with technology,” Leonard said.
Since traveling to Germany in the fall, Leonard has had the opportunity to travel throughout much of Europe and meet people from many countries
“It has been more than a German experience, it has been an international experience,” he said.
The five-year VIEP-German program allows Valparaiso students to earn both a major in engineering and a minor or major in German. The program is jointly coordinated by Valpo’s College of Engineering and Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.
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