Renske chose the University of Twente to do her bachelor's programme in Mechanical Engineering. She made many decisions after starting her bachelor's programme: Whether or not to participate in the Ladies Kick-In? Which association do I join, a sport, a society or a study association? Or just all of them? And can I take an intermediate year to work on a new, even better, hydrogen car?
Why did you choose the University of Twente?
Renske: "Of course I looked around the various technical universities to decide where I wanted to study. The Student for a Day Visit at the University of Twente was the deciding factor. It was a very nice and interesting day, the small-scale atmosphere on campus really appealed to me and I immediately felt included. In addition, you have a fixed programme here in your first and second year, which I liked because I didn't really know what I wanted yet. At the end of your bachelor's, you do a minor where you have free choices in your subjects and then a bachelor's assignment. With this UT earned the most points and I decided to enrol for the bachelor Mechanical Engineering at UT".
Mechanical Engineering? Don't you end up in a man's world?
Renske: "Yes, there are a lot of guys who study this programme, but I didn't let that stop me. It's a great programme and I would recommend many more girls to consider it. And honestly, the number of ladies in this course is growing!" Renske smiles, and she continues: "You really don't have to worry that you're the only girl, I've made a few girlfriends inside the programme, and you can look for girlfriends outside your study. For example, I have also become a member of the girls' society of Mechanical Engineering - a society of girls who do fun things and all study Mechanical Engineering. You could say you have a connection right away. I'm not really a super active member myself anymore, because I'm very busy with other things now, but it's always very sociable! Before you start studying you can also participate in the Ladies Kick-In to meet girls (the Kick-In is highly recommended anyway, you should definitely participate if you're going to study at UT!). Before the Kick-In starts for all new students, this Ladies Kick-In takes place. Now you can think "hey, is that really necessary?” For some girls maybe not, but I did participate and it was a really great experience. There are a lot of girls who have signed up for a programme that not so many girls (yet) register for. So you get to know not only the girls from your own programme but many others who have also chosen a technical study. During my Ladies Kick-In I heard that a girl who was going to study Technical Physics didn't have a place to sleep during the Kick-In, I offered my room and we are still friends. That's the way it can go."
What makes Mechanical Engineering at the UT so interesting?
"During lectures, you can easily approach lecturers and even after the lectures you can send an email with a question or visit the lecturer. It's really very accessible here. There is always help to be found if you are stuck with something, the doors of the lecturers are usually open, so it's easy to walk in. There is even a lecturer who tries to learn the name of all the new first-year Mechanical Engineering students! Because of the small scale, you're not a number, and that makes it really nice", explains Renske.
"My favourite subjects are Fluid Dynamics, Mathematics and Dynamics. Dynamics was explained very well by my teacher and the subject matter is very interesting. You understand it and you have the idea of 'oh, that's why it works like this!’ You learn things about the bending of objects, and, for example, calculate own frequencies. This has to do with vibrations, and also whether something is going to fall apart or not. Of course, that can be quite important in certain cases!" Renske says. "Fluid Dynamics deals with fluid mechanics. For example, water flows through a tube and with the parameters you see what the pressure is at the beginning of the tube and at the end. With this you can, for example, develop a cooling system for a rocket (that was my project). You also want to see how thick such a tube must be to prevent the cooling system from exploding. I find this very interesting."
What about the challenges besides your programme?
Renske: "I finished my second year and had decided to quit my bachelor's temporarily and plan an intermediate year to become a member of the Green Team Twente (GTT). This is a student team that is working on making the most efficient hydrogen car and promoting a sustainable future. We are a multidisciplinary team consisting of students from Saxion University of Applied Sciences and the University of Twente. Every year, a new team is formed to meet these challenges".
"What made the challenge a little bigger," Renske smiles, "is that I also picked up a minor in Bio-Robotics during the first few weeks of Green Team. That was tough, but I managed to do it! In Module 8 (last module of the 2nd year), I'd already been working on Systems & Control, performing some programming and designing controllers. This was hard for me because I don't understand the subject that well, but it's certainly interesting. During the minor in Bio-Robotics, you will be working on this again and as I wanted to learn more about it I signed up for this minor. As a project for this module, we had to make a robot for people with Duchenne. Duchenne is a disease in which the muscles are getting weaker and weaker, but the signals from the brain to the muscles still work, and we had to make use of that. we had made a robot ourselves that cleans tables using these signals. They would now be very useful during the Corona measures 😊 It was quite hard to do this besides my work at the Green Team Twente, but I'm glad I did it anyway. And by the way, you shouldn't shy away from an extra challenge, right?"
"In module 9 (at the beginning of the 3rd year) I will start with my second minor 'learning to teach'. With this minor, you can stand in front of the class at a secondary school and explain mathematics or physics. I think it would be nice to pass on my knowledge to these students", she says.
Renske: "And of course it's also important to stay fit. On-campus you can do all the sports you can think of. I have been a member of the High Tech Hitters (the baseball team at UT), Linearecta (the gymnastics association) and now I take dance classes in the centre of Enschede in Lindy Hop. Besides sports, I also became a member of another student society besides the girl society of Mechanical Engineering which I told about earlier. This society I had met during the Kick-In and then became a member. Once every 2 weeks, we have something fun such as happy hours. We also have other activities throughout the year such as a brothers and sisters day or an Easter breakfast... Really super fun such a society, because relaxing is also important! I am also a member of our study association Isaac Newton. During my first year, I did committee work and organised a first-year weekend. That was quite some work, but definitely super fun to do. And within your programme itself, you can also be active in another way. I helped during the Open Days of Mechanical Engineering, was a Student for a Day mentor and now even coordinator to manage all the mentors and make sure all the applications for a Student for a Day visit of Skype sessions will be organised well. So as you can see, you can still do enough besides studying, as long as you keep it under control. Because your first priority, of course, is your study".
What is your job at Green Team Twente?
"Everyone has their own tasks and functions, mine was Chief Structural Engineer. With the five of us, we take care of the 'shell' (body) of the car and the internal structure, you could say the frame construction. When designing the body we have to choose very light materials like carbon, because the heavier the shell, the more inefficient your car will drive, and, of course, you don't want that. Especially if you are going to participate in the Shell Eco-Marathon. Last year's team even became world champion, so that's what we wanted this year too! But unfortunately, the race was cancelled because of Covid-19. That was a pity. But during the development of our shell, we didn't know this yet as it was earlier in the year. So the body has to be very light, but also very strong. That's why we opted for carbon: loose fibres and glue ensure a good construction. But this had to harden in a furnace, so that's why we worked at NLR (Dutch Aerospace Centre) on it. The body was given an 'upper surface finish' in order to toughen it under even more extra pressure and thus become stronger and less heavy. Fortunately, the coronavirus didn't stop us from finishing the car. With some extra corona measures we succeeded and we are waiting for the unveiling date: 29 June 2020. Unfortunately because of the coronavirus measures we cannot do this life, that would have a much bigger impact. But it makes no difference. The unveiling of our new car won't be any less exciting". according to Renske.
Would you recommend other students to join Green Team Twente for a year?
Renske: "I would definitely recommend this to anyone with an interest in sustainability, promoting hydrogen or hoping to become a new winner of the Shell Eco-Marathon 😊. In addition, we're trying to get the car "road legal", so that's quite a task! You work on many projects and have contact with various companies, and you experience what it's like to work together with students from other disciplines and how you can best use your own abilities. In order to achieve good results, you often ask yourself ‘Will this work? How can we analyse the risks and fix mistakes? If we can't, can we choose another option? And which one? What are actually the right choices?’ Really a super challenge, it is not only fun and sociable but also very instructive. So I would say: GO FOR IT!"