Rising energy consumption around the world and the threat of climate change are urgent issues. Innovative and sustainable energy technologies will be required to face the challenges and the needs of this generation and many to come.
And that is precisely what the students involved in the 3TU SET (Sustainable Energy Technology) Day aim to address through their studies, research and future careers.
3TU is a collaboration between the three leading universities of technology in the Netherlands – Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology and the University of Twente. According to the 3TU website, ‘This federation maximizes innovation by combining and concentrating the strengths of all three universities in research, education and knowledge transfer.’ A major part of this cooperative effort is the offering of five different joint master’s degree programs including one in SET.
The first ever 3TU SET Day was hosted by TU Delft on June 7th. Attendees came from all three participating universities, including 20 from Eindhoven, 20 from Twente and approximately 40 from TUD. Gireesh Nair, one of the TUD students responsible for organizing the event, said “Students from these three universities have never had such close interaction.” Jad Al Koussa, of TU Eindhoven, agreed. “We are part of this joint program and it is a good opportunity to come and meet other students from 3TU,” he said. Under the program, students can take courses from any of the three universities, so learning opportunities are much broader.
Eloisa Villegas, another TUD event organizer, said that 3TU SET Day was initiated to create “a platform to meet, interact, exchange knowledge and information.” She opened the program with a bit of trivia. Villegas said the earliest known windmills were in Persia, dating back to the 9th century, and looked like large paddle wheels. The presentations that followed confirmed that harnessing the power of the wind is still relevant, but technology of today is light years ahead. Students gave presentations about their master’s theses and subjects included wind energy, energy from biomass and solar energy. Villegas said that hearing about other people’s research will help many students to choose a path for their own theses.
Finding new and innovative ways to address the energy needs of the future will require a new generation of specially trained engineers. The 3TU SET program, innovative in its own right, is expanding the opportunities for students to learn beyond their physical location and preparing some of these engineers of the future.
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