Three International Students are Joining the Community of the Department of Electrical Engineering this Semester

October 4, 2019

Quentin and Xavier, coming from the Lanvéoc Naval Academy in France, will spend 12 weeks at our university developing their final degree project. Mohammed, coming from the Technical University of Munich, would start a PhD Program.

As part of the Global Engineers seal of the Faculty of Engineering, the Department of Electrical Engineering is receiving students from the exchange programs in order to boost the internationalization and the all-encompassing training processes of those who decide to stay at the Universidad de Santiago.

As a motivation for choosing the campus, French students said they have some Naval Academy colleagues that came to USACH before and developed their scientific projects to obtain their degrees; on the other hand, Mohammed, from Germany, had knowledge of the technological potential of the Department of Electrical Engineering.

"We made contact with the Universidad de Chile and were referred to Matías Díaz, professor of power electronic at USACH. Today, we have everything we need to do our job and all the support from our project supervisor. The professor gives us autonomy and helps us to understand the software we do not use in our school", Quentin says.

About the international experience obtained through this program, PhD Díaz considers this is a process where the work done inside the laboratory is globally valued. "For students who work with us, this is an enriching experience because they are able to interact with international peers and verify that what they are doing here is at the same level as abroad", he says.

For Mohammed, he chose the Universidad de Santiago due to his interest on working on sustainable energy which is related with his research topic on solid-state transformers based on modular multi-level converters (MMCs).  “I wanted to broaden my perspectives in the fields of MMCs and to have the experience of working with an intercultural multidisciplinary team. I was able to meet Professor Felix Rojas from the USACH Department of Electrical Engineering when we ran into each other at the Technical University of Munich.”

During the 12-week stay, Quentin and Xavier will be immersed in the research of electric car chargers by modeling one and then developing control strategies to provide additional services such as fast charging, new controls and safety systems, to finally perform a simulation in real time that will end up with the thesis project.

"Academically, I want to learn and share knowledge in my field of research Power Electronics and Drives; however, now I will focus on energy systems, learning basic Spanish and some Chilean culture", Mohammed states.

Written by Joaquín Martin

Translated by Alexandra Cabrera