On the 12th of July 2021 we Aryaanites, were privileged to meet yet another maestro of science, Prof. Cameron Tropea.
Prof. Cameron Tropea is a part of many leading universities of Germany. He is a Google scholar with over 17000 citations and has guided over 100 PhDs through his tenure. He has mentored innumerable students throughout his tenure. Prof. Tropea has held many important positions in the various governmental departments of Europe as well as Germany.
He started off with the various places where the research projects are performed in Germany. The lecture was mainly focussed on making us young aspirants aware of the many possibilities that prevail for achievement of scientific potential in Germany. We were acquainted with the many modes and entities that conduct the research in Germany, which, is divided into basic research, applied research and application-oriented research. Further on we were educated about the prioritisation pattern of these research activities by the German Government. The German government allocates the largest bulk of its R&D funds to the healthcare research followed by aerospace and energy research sectors. The German government distributes the funds for research amongst the potential Universities of Germany.He laid special emphasis on the fact that the hallmark for German funding was collaborative research. Another noteworthy fact is that the research in the well- known universities is also funded by the European Union and the respective state ministries of Germany.
Subsequently Professor told us about the leading universities of Germany in STEM research specifically in aerospace and mechanical engineering which are collectively call the TU9. He especially highlighted the similarities and differences between the Indian IITs and the German TU9, the German TU9 unlike the Indian IITs do not have an entrance test as rigorous and difficult as the IIT JEE main and Advance, while in the German universities he said there was open competition and the students achieved it on their own. To get into the TU9 Universities is relatively easy for the students but the pressure and the vastness of the later college life is, what becomes one of the limiting factors, many students even drop out of the first year in response to the much-advanced syllabus that follows.
Professor, then briefly explained the various ways through which we could get into the TU9 and other German Universities through the special programmes that these Universities offer specifically to Indians like the scholarship for extraordinary students from IITs, that include programmes like the DLR-DAAD research fellowship programmes, working internships in science and engineering (WISE) and many more. Professor Tropea also spoke about the growing proximity amongst Indian and German scientists, engineers and researchers in the various bilateral and joint ventures by the governments.
Then, what followed was an extremely fruitful question answer session and all our questions were answered effectively by Professor.
I would like to thank VPD sir for giving us young minds the opportunity to interact with such accomplished personalities that the world is proud of.
The privilege of proposing the vote of thanks was given to me. And a beautiful group photo concluded the wonderful interactive session.
Nandini Rangnekar
11 Reg.