BME hosts Politecnico di Milano faculty
Visiting faculty from Politecnico di Milano pose for a photo during their tour of the Learning Factory on April 15th. Pictured from left to right are Elena de Momi, Alberto Redaelli, Simone Vesentini, and Paola Petrini.
Future Collaborations Planned in Engineering
When Keefe Manning, associate professor of biomedical engineering, was planning his sabbatical he knew he was ready for a challenge that would take him outside of the University Park community.
“I have known Alberto Redaelli of Politecnico di Milano [a university in Milan, Italy] for many years and reconnected with him at a social event prior to my sabbatical,” Manning recalled. “We began a conversation which eventually led to an offer of a visiting professorship at the university. Of course I was eager to accept.”
During the fall semester of 2013, while on sabbatical from Penn State, Manning taught “Fluid Dynamic Approach for the Design of Cardiovascular Devices“ to approximately 50 master’s students at Politecnico di Milano. The experience opened his eyes to a number of trends that were taking place in the Italian education model and armed him with a number of ideas that could positively influence education at Penn State. One of the most noteworthy elements was an emphasis on global experience and education.
“I was impressed that a vast majority of Politecnico di Milano students had participated in a global learning experience to some capacity prior to graduation,” stated Manning.
When he returned, Manning began writing a global research and development
proposal which fostered collaborative study between Penn State and Politecnico di Milano. The Penn State College of Engineering supported the initiative, and in January 2015 a two-phase plan was set into motion.
The first phase of the plan was to send Manning, along with five other BME faculty members and one BME PhD student, to Milan to meet with Politecnico di Milano faculty. The group had the opportunity to interact with graduate students, tour the facilities and discuss opportunities in global education.
BME faculty members pose for a photo outside Milan, Italy. The group was invited to Politecnico di Milano this semester to tour the facilities and present research interests to faculty from several academic departments. Penn State and Politecnico di Milan plan to collaborate on several global initiatives in the future.
Pictured from left to right are: Keefe Manning, Jian Yang, Cheng Dong, William Hancock, Justin Brown and Peter Butler.
In April 2015, the second part of the plan was enacted when four Politecnico di Milano faculty members visited University Park. During their visit, faculty members participated in the Bioengineering Research Symposium and toured a number of facilities including the Learning Factory, The Millennium Science Complex and the High Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging Facility. They also had the opportunity to meet with faculty and administrators from a variety of academic departments.
At the conclusion of the faculty visits, representatives had a better understanding of one another and the research, learning and collaboration that is taking place at each institution. Currently, plans are being developed to forge collaborations, identify study abroad opportunities, and facilitate global capstone projects between the two universities.
The program will benefit students in engineering disciplines and should forge a lasting, global relationship between Penn State and Politecnico di Milano. Manning speculates the collaborations could begin as early as spring 2016.