(Reported by Novruz Gurbanov) A 3-day lecture entitled “Mechatronics Creative Decisions and Design”” was held in West 5th Building from March 18th to 20th. International and Chinese students attended lectures given by esteemed Professor Thomas Kurfess from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Professor Ling Ling from School of Mechanical Science and Engineering gave an introduction to students about this newly set up course. She welcomed leading professor Thomas Kurfess from U.S. who later lectured about what students must know about creative thinking and held an interesting competition. In each of 3 days, the main topic of the lecture focused on different parts of creative designing. Professor Kurfess clearly explained about tools for problem understanding, conceptual design and for project planning & technical communication. He also showed students many examples of House of Quality, Concept Evaluation Matrixes, and Safety Consideration Guidelines that will help students extend their knowledge to design a mechatronic prototype and to fulfill customers' needs.

Professor Kurfess spoke about project planning, team work and managing your time which are important in your career. Professor Kurfess also noted that by prioritizing needs and job responsibilities, students can achieve their needed goals faster and more accurate. He also clarified that writing reports, documenting sources and using modern communication tools like internet are helpful in your job and important to improve your working skills.

Chinese and international students were absorbed and attentive in listening to interesting speeches of professor Kurfess. Students also started to prepare for the competition to show their skills, teamwork and knowledge with big enthusiasm in order to challenge with each group and show their projects. Students later raised questions about the course that were answered by distinguished professor and thanked him warmly after the lecture.

(Notes: Reporter: Novruz Gurbanov, Nationality: Turkmenistan, Current Bachelor degree student in School of Mechanical Science and Engineering; Translated by Yang Minghui, Nationality: China, Current Master degree student in School of Mechanical Science and Engineering)

            走进国际课堂系列之二：国际学生参加国际化课程《机电创新决策与设计》

(翻译 杨明辉) 3月18日至20日，机械学院本科生国际化课程《机电创新决策与设计》在西五教学楼进行。主讲人为乔治亚理工学院的著名教授Thomas Kurfess，我校国际学生和中国学生参加了课程学习。

机械工程系的凌玲老师首先介绍了这门新设立的课程，并对这位来自美国的主导讲师表示热烈欢迎，感谢Kurfess教授此次来我校进行关于学生须知的创新性思维方面的讲座以及举办了趣味性浓厚的竞赛。此次课程侧重于让学生了解不同结构的创新性设计。在为期三天的教学中，Kurfess教授清晰而简明地阐述了有关问题理解、概念设计以及项目规划和技术交流方面的常用方法。同时他也向学生展示了许多关于质量屋、概念评估矩阵和安全准则的例子，帮助学生扩展知识面，学习设计能满足客户需求的机电一体化模型。

Kurfess教授谈到在职业生涯中非常重要的三个方面：项目规划、团队合作以及时间管理。他指出通过根据需求和工作职责划分优先级，学生可以更迅速更准确地实现他们所需要的目标。同时他也明确指出学生要学会撰写报告、收集信息以及使用互联网等现代通信工具，这些对工作十分有帮助，对提高工作技能也很重要。

国际学生和中国学生非常投入地倾听Kurfess教授带来的讲座，并带着极大的热情开始着手准备接下来的竞赛，在竞赛中充分展现自身的技能，团队精神和积累的知识，以便与每个小组进行挑战并展示他们完成的项目。在讲座的最后，学生们纷纷举手提问， Kurfess教授一一做出了详细的解答，学生们再次对Kurfess教授表达了感激之情。