Imperial College London

We had a very loud thunderstorm last night. It was the first rain that we have seen since the students arrived on June 28. The weather has been hot and dry--not at all a typical London summer.

We held class for an hour in our regular classroom. However, I could tell the students were too hot in our stuffy room. So, we all moved to one of the few locations with A/C--the computer lab.  We finished our second hour of class in the lab and it felt really refreshing.

As a group we walked over to Imperial College of London to the Royal School of Mines building to meet with Dr. Andrew Horsfield, Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Materials. He gave us a brief talk about the similarities and differences between NC State and Imperial College of London. We were also joined by some Imperial College London graduate students. After a short slide show, we ate lunch provided by Dr. Horsfield. We enjoyed talking with him and the students about their work, research, and things to do in London.

After lunch we went on a tour of the campus. Imperial College London is located in South Kensington--not far from our apartments. We got to look into a number of labs and see how they adapted old buildings with modern improvements. Imperial College London also has a large tower on campus (like our Bell Tower)!

When we returned to the lecture hall, I gave a brief lecture about the importance of transferable skills that engineers need to be prepared for the global workplace. The Imperial College London students contributed to the discussion and I was pleased that the messages that they shared are the same things that we are covering in class (writing for your audience, clear and concise writing, documenting meetings and preparing agendas...).

NCSU students with Imperial College Students