Monday, February 13, 2017: Conference Formats as a Course Requirement

How do I present my own findings? This is a question students ask themselves—at the latest—once they enter the workforce, when they need to present project results at a project meeting or research findings at a conference. To ensure students are prepared for such situations, it makes sense to have them practice these scenarios while still in school. This is precisely the approach taken by the “Forum on Environmental and Energy Technology” and “Simulation Methods in Engineering” courses. With the participation of representatives from industry and research, students have the opportunity to present the results of their independent work. We were able to invite the organizers of these courses to present their concepts.

Prof. Otto Carlowitz and Dr. Sven Meyer won the Teaching Award in 2013 for their course “Forum on Environmental and Energy Engineering.” Since then, the Forum has been a course held each summer semester in which students work together with representatives from industry to develop innovative concepts for problems in environmental and energy engineering. The goal is to show students both the scientific and practical aspects of investigating a problem and to give them the opportunity to learn presentation techniques.

Prof. Gunther Brenner and Christian Henrik Walter were awarded the Teaching Prize in 2014 for their course “Simulation Methods in Engineering.” The goal of this course is, on the one hand, to teach students how to use simulation software to solve real-world problems and, on the other hand, to present their results. Through the targeted use of instructional videos, students are able to familiarize themselves independently with the software and then use it to work on a real-world project. As part of the course assessment, students are required to present their results at the so-called “SimDay.” The students’ presentations are complemented by lectures from industry experts on the topic of simulation.