On Thursday, January 21, exchange students from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands presented their results from their stay in SDM. On stage were three students from the University's Faculty of Technology and Policy Management with which the SDM graduate school has signed a comprehensive partnership agreement, Annemarijn Jelsma (Anna), Frank Pijnenborg and Derk Busser. Their half-year stay in Japan began in the summer of 2009. They pursued their own research while here, developing their own perspectives on the country, which they related to the audience, complete with humorous photographs.
Annemarijn Jelsmanna
Anna took the Introduction to Systems Engineering course while at the SDM. She talked about her experience being appointed the project manager for a product development project that was undertaken as part of the class and how she was able to lead a multinational team to success. Like Anna, Frank joined Professor Masaru Nakano's Business Engineering Research Center. He focused on the government of Japan's strategy for solar cells, applying system dynamics to analyze projections for indium resources as CIGS thin-film solar cells spread.
Frank Pijnenborg
The final presenter, Derk, was a member of the Aerospace & Intelligent Systems Laboratory. He talked about his experiences contributing to the development of an indoor/outdoor seamless positioning information system. The system was demonstrated to the Minister of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands when he visited.
Derk Busser
Particularly interesting were the students' impressions of the "laboratory" system employed by the SDM graduate school for student guidance. Direct, careful guidance from professors was very attractive to them and not something available in Dutch universities. We wish them all the best on their return to the Netherlands and hope that they will remain in contact with the students and faculty staff of the SDM graduate school.