Eva Anton

Darmstadt, Germany
Spring 2007

Research at Purdue University

Since I started my studies in materials science at the Technical University of Darmstadt I wanted to study abroad. I planned to do this after obtaining my preliminary diploma because my schedule would be more flexible then. In the fifth semester our Professor told us about the possibility to do research in another country. Usually, this is done after the 8th semester in Darmstadt. Some time later, one of my classes was taught by Professor Trumble from Purdue University. He was doing research in Germany at that time. He introduced Purdue University to us and from there I very much liked the idea of having the opportunity to study abroad. Professor Rödel gave me Professor Bowman`s contact information and he offered me the chance to work on an interesting project on piezoelectric ceramics. I began all the visa paperwork in December, which was definitely too late. It is better to start at least three months before the date of departure. I am glad everything still worked out well so that I could start my adventure in February.

My Living Arrangements

Although Indianapolis is closer to Purdue, I preferred to fly directly from Frankfurt to Chicago. I was picked up by Prof Bowman in Chicago. He showed me where I should take the bus to West Lafayette. That was very helpful because Chicago O'Hare is one of the biggest airports in the world. The picture at right is a shot of Chicago from the Sears Tower. There was a bus that took me to the Purdue Airport, where Cheryl Waller picked me up. She took me to the place that would be my home for the next 10 weeks. I would live with one of the grad students, her husband and her cousin, who is freshman at Purdue. I should not forget to mention the two nice dogs. First, I was not sure how this would work out. I was used to live in my own apartment and skeptical to live so close with people I have never met before, but very soon after I arrived, I saw it was a big advantage for me and that also made my visit unforgetable. The people I lived with helped me so much to feel like at home. They took me to Purdue every day, took me to buy groceries, helped me to cash my pay checks and made the evenings and weekends a lot more fun. I always had somebody to talk to and I learned a lot about American culture from them. The language was never a problem. Soon I had no problem understanding people. Only fast food restaurants were challenging for me -- until the end of my visit, but actually this was actually more fun than a problem.

My Research

My work at Purdue began with a project that allowed me to work together with another grad student in Materials Engineering. This gave me a lot of help and time to get settled before I started my own project. My project was to simulate the piezoelectric behavior of a PZT ceramic. The piezoelectric effect happens when an applied stress in a material causes an electric field and vice versa. Applications of the piezoelectric effect can be found in lighters and engines, for example. My task was to simulate experiments which where previously performed and explain the observed results with the additional information I obtained from the model. I worked in the same office with several other grad students working on similar topics. This was very supportive. It was a very nice atmosphere and I am very thankful for all the assistance that made my project a success.

There's More Than Research at Purdue

I was positively surprised at how open and friendly the grad students were. I was able to make many contacts in a very short time. They invited me to parties and other spare time activities, so I had a lot of experiences that were quite different from my work. I went to Indianapolis to visit the Motor Speedway, and I ate Italian food in downtown Indianapolis. The pictures below are from my visit to Indianapolis (left is the River Walk, downtown Indy; at right is me in an Indy 500 car - the Indianapolis 500 race is held end of May each year). I also went to the bars on St. Patrick's Day and of course I went bowling. I also got the chance to watch two college basketball games at Purdue University. I am now a Boilermaker. It was interesting to see how important sports events are in the US and that life at Purdue University is much more integrated than life I know in Germany. I also enjoyed the fact that there are many international students at Purdue - they even have an International Center. I met people from Mexico, China, Korea, India, Turkey, Iran and many more countries all over the world. I even had the chance to practice my Spanish too with some of the friends I made. I visited Evansville, a city in the southern edge of Indiana. I stayed there two days at a farm and visited the town, a very rural experience. The most impressive trips I made were the ones to Chicago. The first time I went to the planetarium and the Art Museum. My second visit to Chicago was on the day I left. I saw the impressive skyline and enjoyed the fantastic view from the Sears Tower. That day I also went to the aquarium and tried the famous Chicago pizza.

Friends for Life

I had the best time at Purdue. I saw so many things and met so many people. It was a good decision to leave home for a while and see what life is like in other parts of the world. I will stay in contact with my new friends there and maybe come back one day. I would highly recommend for others to partake in a student exchange program like I did; it is a great opportunity to learn from other cultures, you have fun with people from all over the world and you also learn a bit about yourself.