It was great! Follow-up report MINT-EC-Camp 2023
This year, interested students again took part in the four-day MINT-EC Camp organized by the Mineral Resources and Raw Materials Engineering (FRE) and Materials Science and Engineering (MuW) Divisions.
The first day of the MINT-EC camp started for the participants with a get-to-know-you session in the SuperC. This was followed by a campus tour by the Central Student Advisory Service. After an initial orientation, Johannes Emontsbotz and Maximilian Weber from the Institute of Mineral Resources Engineering (MRE) gave a short lecture explaining how to find and mine raw materials using a cell phone as an example. After the lecture, the students had the opportunity to drive wheel loaders and excavators on simulators and got a little feel for the construction machines. At the end of the day, Dr. Frank Charlier from the Chair of Repository Safety (ELS) answered all the questions about the electricity market, energy sources and final disposal.
On the second day of the MINT-EC camp, the participants were introduced in the morning to the use of modern technologies in raw material extraction by Max Getz and Marius Theißen from the Institute for Advanced Mining Technologies (AMT). In addition, they were able to learn a lot about the extraction of raw materials on other planets and the demand for raw materials in the future in a lively exchange.
Afterwards, Tabea Scherling and Hannah Köhler from the Chair of Anthropogenic Material Cycles (ANTS) devoted themselves to mechanical processing and sensor-based sorting. In the pilot plant and sensor lab, the students had the opportunity to see some aggregates for sorting in action.
After the lunch break, they went to the last stop at FRE. At the Unit of Technology of Fuels (TEER), Alexandra Brautlacht and Isabel Kaphahn introduced participants to the processes of pyrolysis and combustion. With an experiment in which electronic scrap was pyrolyzed, the students were able to directly apply the knowledge gained from the lecture.
During a presentation by Wiebke Hagedorn and Berfin Bayram from ANTS on the topic of sustainability assessment, the participants learned about the general procedure for a life cycle analysis on the third day and were able to test their knowledge of CO2 emissions in the areas of mobility and technology.
On the fourth and final day, Lena Klein from the RWTH's Central Student Advisory Service reported on many interesting facts about studying in Aachen. This was followed by an overview of the degree programs at the Mineral Resources and Raw Materials Engineering (FRE) and Materials Science and Engineering (MuW) Divisions by the student advisors from our Divisions, Michael Selzner and Johannes Schüssler.
At the end, the participants gave short and really great presentations about the topics and research foci they learned about during the last days. We were impressed!
We hope that all participants enjoyed the last days, that they learned a lot of new things and also made new friends.
We would be happy if we could welcome one or the other in our lecture halls soon!