Mechanical Engineering

In the last two semesters Gudrun has taught the courses Advanced
Mathematics I and II for Mechanical Engineers. This is a
mandatory lecture for the International mechanical engineering
students at KIT in their first year of the Bachelor program. This
program is organized by the Carl Benz School of Engineering.
Beside the study courses, the school also provides common housing
for students coming to Karlsruhe from all over the world.


The general structure and topics of the first year in Advanced
Mathematics were already discussed in our episode 146 Advanced
Mathematics with Jonathan Rollin.


This time Gudrun invited two students from her course to have the
student's perspective, talking about mathematics, life, and
everything.
Yueyang Cai grew up mostly in China. In 2015, the work of her
mother led Yueyang to Stuttgart. While looking for opportunities
to study a technical subject in Germany the English speaking
program in Karlsruhe somehow suggested itself. After one year she
is sure to have made the right decision.


The second student in the conversation is Siddhant Dhanrajani.
His family is Indian but lives in Dubai. For that he got his
education in Dubai in an Indian community follwowing the Indian
educational system (CBSE). He had never heard of the Engineering
program in Karlsruhe but found it through thourough research. He
is really amazed at how such an excellent study program and such
an excellent university as the KIT are not better known for their
value in the world.


In the conversation both students talk about their education in
their respective countries, their hopes and plans for the study
course mechanical engineering and their experiences in the first
year here in Karlsruhe. It is very interesting to see how the
different ways to teach mathematics, namely, either as a toolbox
full of recipes (which the students get well-trained in) or
secondly as a way to approach problems in a context of a
mathematical education contribute to an experience to be
well-equipped to work creative and with a lot of potential as an
engineer.


Though the students finished only the first year in a three years
course they already work towards applications and necessary
certificates for their possible master program after finishing
the course in Karlsruhe.
Related Podcasts

G. Thäter, J. Rollin: Advanced Mathematics, Conversation in
the Modellansatz Podcast, Episode 146, Department of Mathematics,
Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT), 2017.

F. Hettlich, G. Thäter: Höhere Mathematik, Gespräch im
Modellansatz Podcast, Folge 34, Fakultät für Mathematik,
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), 2014.