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News Archives - Study Abroad in Turkey
Two ME Students Spend Six Weeks in Turkey, Learn About Fuel Cells and Turkish Culture
September 17, 2009
Tyler Hoover (front left) with exchange
students from other North American
universities.
Two mechanical engineering students, Tyler Hoover and Kamiar Salehi Oskouei, spent part of their summer in Ankara, Turkey, as part of a unique study abroad program at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Turkey offered in cooperation with the International Center for Hydrogen Energy Technologies (ICHET).
Dr. Derek K. Baker, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at METU, organized the program, which focused on global engineering dealing with fuel cells.
During the course of the six-week program, students lived on campus with Turkish students and attended two courses: Professor Baker’s “Fuel Cell Fundamentals” and a course on Turkish history and culture. The course on fuel cells counts as a technical elective toward the Mechanical Engineering degree at Penn State.
The Fuel Cell Fundamentals course required each American student in the class to work with two Turkish students on a class project.
“The [Turkish] students’ English was impeccable, but there was still the difficulty of phrasing and conveying our thoughts in order to accomplish a common goal. It was difficult but very fulfilling, bringing us closer as students and friends,” Hoover said.
Learning to communicate better with people of other cultures is, Hoover said, one of the benefits of engaging in a study-abroad program. This program offered that and much more.
“This particular study abroad program also offers long term benefits such as global networking, group work skills, and insight into the engineering conditions in another country,” said Hoover. “I will take the professional connections I made with fellow engineering students into my future career, as well as the skills and knowledge I gained there.”
Outside of class, students were given plenty of opportunity to travel and see the sights. Students attended class only four days per week, leaving three-day weekends for excursions of their choice.
“We were able to organize a bus to anywhere in Turkey very easily. During our six weeks of classes, we were able to see Cappadocia, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean,” said Hoover. “By no means am I exaggerating when I say I saw hundreds of historical sites.”
Four Turkish students are now spending the semester here at Penn State as part of the exchange.
To learn more about the program or to express interest in participating next summer, contact Jean Pytel (jlp8@psu.edu) or Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Matthew Mench (mmench@psu.edu), or visit www.me.metu.edu.tr/exchange/.
Below are more pictures from the students' time in Turkey, contributed by Hoover.
