School of Engineering – International Blog | Tag Archive

Cincinnati calling – Winter time! Snow men, icy roads and government shutdown…

Posted on 25. January 2019 by obst

Hello folks,

Happy new year! I hope you had a good relaxing time over Christmas. Semester has started here at UC last week and everything is back to normal… well almost everything!

As you probably know the country is experiencing the longest “shutdown” of its history. To be honest, we have not noticed anything special here in Cincinnati except that this is the major news on television. Apparently, even the FBI is running short on budget and this might affect the national security… Let’s hope that a solution will be found soon and that everything will go back to normal.

Winter has also arrived here with the first “real” snow falls. 20 to 25 cm of fresh snow. This makes the city more beautiful and also way more dangerous because nobody has winter tires here! Incredible!

The snow makes the city even more beautiful.

I was even told you could ski in Ohio (but more north east from Cleveland which is a bit far away – Ohio alone is almost 3 times Switzerland!).

We had to relocate to another area closer to campus. It is called “Clifton Gaslight” and the street lights actually still run on gas! Let’s hope that there will be enough gas and that the new house furnace will not break down: temperature will drop up to -22 °C in the coming nights…

What else? UC officially turned 200 years last week. There was a small ceremony with a huge cake and UC president Pinto gave a small talk about the university history. Was nice but to be honest I was more impressed by the 10 years of ZHAW! 🙂

Research is doing fine (I realized this is the first time I talk about my research here in the US). Two papers were recently accepted (but more related to my activities back in Switzerland) and several others are in the pipeline including joined publications Switzerland – USA.

New: I am also co-supervising a visiting student from China on a very interesting topic, but I cannot tell anything: top secret! My host lab has over 100 patents granted, published, or submitted, and has generated the most invention disclosures (more than 150) and patent licenses in UC’s history! IP is a serious business here.

In my opinion, we should take more care about IP at ZHAW and develop a “transfer office” to help ZHAW researchers commercializing their research findings wherever it is in the form of a startup, license, or partnership.

A more personal note: I can’t believe I already reached the middle of my stay in the US. It went so fast! I wish I could stay more. A very unique experience.

See you next time!

Mathias*

*) Mathias Bonmarin is a senior lecturer at the ZHAW School of Engineering. Recently, he was honoured to get a prestigious Fulbright scholarship and therefore he’s at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio for one year as a visiting Professor.

Cincinnati calling – California dreaming…

Posted on 7. December 2018 by obst

Hi everyone,

I hope you recognized the song from “The Mamas & The Papas”?

Yes indeed, this time I am bringing you to sunny California!

[Show thumbnails]

Last week I had the honor and pleasure to participate the “Fulbright Enrichment Seminar” in San Diego. The 4 days conference was about “Leveraging Strategic Innovation & Entrepreneurship for Long Term Success” and gathered more than 90 Fulbrightees from 47 different countries. In addition to the fantastic South California weather (around 78° F all year long) it was a unique opportunity to meet exceptional people with different background and culture: from an anticorruption judge in central Europe, to a journalist in Africa or a nephrologist specialized in kidney transplantation.

Various events and workshops were held on the University of San Diego campus (UCSD) and all participants were staying at a beautiful hotel resort in front of the beach (I attached a pic from the view from my room to make you jealous).

The meetings and workshops were very interesting. We could meet successful local entrepreneurs, business angels and UCSD professors, and discussed how entrepreneurship could be supported at the university level. One possibility is the organization of so-called “challenges” where teams of students compete for an award (non-dilutive money + coaching and eventually incubation). Actually, the ZHAW does have something very similar: the Startup Challenge! This is an exciting event where you might have the opportunity to go the US! So, if you are a student: be bold and apply!

If you want to know more about entrepreneurship at ZHAW (and in Winterthur), here are few links:

www.zhaw.ch/en/research/entrepreneurship-at-the-zhaw/entrepreneurshipzhaw/

www.startup-night.ch

tpw.ch/en/

I wish all of you a wonderful Christmas time and see you next year!

Mathias*
*) Mathias Bonmarin is a senior lecturer at the ZHAW School of Engineering. Recently, he was honoured to get a prestigious Fulbright scholarship and therefore he’s at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio for one year as a visiting Professor.

Cincinnati calling – Fall, pumpkins, and politics

Posted on 6. November 2018 by obst

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all doing fine and could enjoy some nice weather in the last months. Fall definitely arrived in Cincinnati. At some point I thought it would never come: temperature still reached 90°F (= 32°C) in October! I am looking forward to winter time where it is supposed to drop below zero Fahrenheit…

Fall time is beautiful in Ohio, especially the landscape with fantastic reddish colors. Summer was so warm and humid that we are now enjoying long walks in the parks (Cincinnati has many beautiful urban parks).

We discovered Halloween. Of course, we somehow do celebrate Halloween in Switzerland, especially in the suburbs area where you might see kids walking around on that evening. But here it is definitely different: It is a big party! The kids dressed up – and usually accompanied by their parents as it is not so safe – are basically going from door to door with the famous “treat or trick” to get sweets. The neighbors are most of the time on their porch where they arranged a “cosy” place with lots of skeleton, graves, and of course pumpkins, and do offer the parents some beer or punch, sometime even something to eat like cakes or cookie. I was even told that some parents do not hesitate to drive their child to wealthy neighborhoods like Hyde Park or Mason to get nice food! 🙂 If your child is still small, this is also the opportunity to dress him or her up with the most ridiculous gear you can find – they do not complain at this age. Pumpkins rank number one according to my friends from the lab.

[Show thumbnails]

This is also a very political fall with the mid-term election happening on November the 6th (always a Tuesday) where it seems that many people are elected (governors, judges, prosecutors, etc.). Our mailbox is basically full every single day, and it is hard to find anything else in television. Everywhere on the road you will find signboards for one candidate or the other. Interestingly, it is not forbidden to denigrate the opposite candidate here in the US so that you will see many ads recapitulating all the failures, mistakes, or questionable connections. Very vivid but on the other hand, difficult to get the program of the candidate!

That’s it for today folks. Write to you soon – I do have a small surprise for you for next post.

Mathias*
*) Mathias Bonmarin is a senior lecturer at the ZHAW School of Engineering. Recently, he was honoured to get a prestigious Fulbright scholarship and therefore he’s at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio for one year as a visiting professor.

Cincinnati calling – New York: The city that never sleeps

Posted on 18. October 2018 by obst

Hi folks! You are not mistaken: this does not look like Cincinnati. 🙂

Last week I was in New York city for a short stay to support the ZHAW spin-off opus néoi GmbH.

The startup had been selected to participate to the SHIELD pitch event. SHIELD is an acronym for Skin Health Investigation, Education, Longevity Development and has been established by Nestlé Skin Health to bring bold disruptive ideas and maintain skin health in the digital era.

The event was really great and inspiring with startups coming from everywhere around the world presenting different ideas around skin health. Though opus néoi unfortunately did not win the 25’000 $ cash prize, we ended up on the podium and will keep in touch with SHIELD for further support once back home in Switzerland.

On Friday, we had a quick stay at the NYC offices of Swissnex Boston. Big thanks to Estelle and Oliver who put us in contact with US investors! Their office is located in the south of Manhattan in the WeWork working space: best view of New York and startup atmosphere guaranteed.

[Show thumbnails]

See you next time!
Mathias*
*) Mathias Bonmarin is a senior lecturer at the ZHAW School of Engineering. Recently, he was honoured to get a prestigious Fulbright scholarship and therefore he’s at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio for one year as a visiting professor.

Cincinnati calling – UC Bearcats vs. A&M Alabama Bulldogs

Posted on 28. September 2018 by obst

Hi folks!

Last Saturday, UC was playing against A&M Alabama at the Nippert stadium on campus. What a day!

The match was planned at 7 pm but already at 2, people started gathering on the campus lawn, listening to music and preparing BBQs. The UC marching band together with the cheerleaders took care of the mood! Everybody was wearing the full Bearcats gear from head-to-toe. And it was not only students but people from all age and even families having a good time all together and supporting the university team.
Even the President of UC was there and took a picture with us! 🙂 Representing ZHAW @ UC!

Mathias and his family met Neville G. Pinto, President of the University of Cincinnati.

Very nice unique experience. This is something that is really missing in Switzerland, this vibrant community feeling around their university. I remember being at the ZHAW tenth years anniversary party in Zurich in 2017. It was definitely a great party, but I realized that the integration of the different schools is still not fully completed. And I believe, but that is my opinion, we can do better. Let’s remember UC’s motto “Juncta Juvant”! And who knows, we can maybe organize some ZHAW cheerleaders who looks as great as UCs? 🙂

By the way, UC blasted A&M Alabama 63 to 7 (and yes, we are talking about American football)!

[Show thumbnails]

Enjoy the pictures and have a look on my YouTube-channel.

See you next time!
Mathias*
*) Mathias Bonmarin is a senior lecturer at the ZHAW School of Engineering. Recently, he was honoured to get a prestigious Fulbright scholarship and therefore he’s at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio for one year as a visiting professor.

Cincinnati calling – “We engineer better”

Posted on 14. September 2018 by obst

I am currently hosted by the Novel Device Laboratory headed by Prof. Jason Heikenfeld who is not only a talented scientist but also a successful entrepreneur founder of Eccrine Systems. His lab is located on the 9th floor the Rhodes building and is part of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences or short CEAS.

The NDL has been very welcoming. The team is extremely nice, and you can feel a real “lab culture” here – and I am not only talking about the numerous beer-related events! 🙂 The laboratory benefits from state-of-the-art infrastructure but I realized that regarding many points, like office space and infrastructure for example, we do have luxury problems at ZHAW! And the students (PhDs included) are cleaning the labs and offices regularly! Hummm… I might finally bring few things back home 🙂

The CEAS is well known at UC and engineering is highly valuated. They have an appealing motto “We engineer better (TM)” that is reminding me the “Es braucht fähige Ingenieure. Wir bilden sie aus” from another famous institution!

One of my aims during this sabbatical year is to foster exchanges between our institutions and put in place a partnership agreement for students and staff exchange. I have been meeting lots of people at the international offices from the different colleges here, with SoE representatives. In addition, I am in contact with potential UC students who would love to come to ZHAW! I am convinced that UC could be an optimal partner for whole ZHAW (and not only the SoE). If you are a ZHAW student or a faculty interested in an exchange or if you would like to learn more about UC, do not hesitate to contact me!

[Show thumbnails]

I wish you all a good fall semester start!
Mathias*
*) Mathias Bonmarin is a senior lecturer at the ZHAW School of Engineering. Recently, he was honoured to get a prestigious Fulbright scholarship and therefore he’s at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio for one year as a visiting professor.

Cincinnati calling – The University (Go Bearcats!)

Posted on 7. September 2018 by obst

Hi everyone! Time has come to give you an insight about my new home: The University of Cincinnati or UC. Timing could not be better as the university will celebrate its 200 years in 2019!

The moto of this huge party “We are Boldly Bearcat” (if you have read my precedent posts, you should by now know what a bearcat is!):

Where to start… Humm… I think the first thing you notice here: this is HUGE! Almost 45’000 students. Although for American standards the campus is quite small and compact – it is an urban campus located in the city of Cincinnati – coming from Switzerland it is almost a city! Actually, the campus is split in two parts: a main campus and a medical campus, both lying next to each other. There are different free university bus shuttles that will drive you within, between and around the campuses. In the middle of the main campus the large Nippert stadium can handle more than 40’000 bearcats fans. A nice aerial video of the main campus can be found here:

The university is honorably ranked – I believe it would be good for ZHAW to think about ranking especially if one wants to attract exchange foreign students and faculty – with many programs in the top 50. Besides, it benefits from a very good reputation across the nation. UC has been called a “research heavyweight” and “one of America’s top public research universities”. UC scientists invented the world’s first electronic organ, antihistamine, heart-lung machine and oral polio vaccine and Neil Armstrong was even a professor here! Famous alumni have reached the supreme court, the stages of Broadway (the College-Conservatory of Music CCM is internationally renowned) or even designed and built the golden gate bridge in San Francisco. The Children hospital is one of the best in the nation, let’s hope though that we will not have to visit it.
Below you will find some pics from the main campus!

[Show thumbnails]

Next time more info about the College of Engineering and Applied Science CEAS and my host institute the Novel Device Laboratory who has been very welcoming and supportive.
Don’t forget: Let’s go UC!

See you soon!
Mathias*
*) Mathias Bonmarin is a senior lecturer at the ZHAW School of Engineering. Recently, he was honoured to get a prestigious Fulbright scholarship and therefore he’s at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio for one year as a visiting professor.

Cincinnati calling – The Queen City

Posted on 31. August 2018 by obst

After a few weeks in Cincinnati I can tell you a little bit more about the city. Cincinnati has many nicknames the probably most deserved being “The Queen City”. It is definitely a beautiful city with a long history (for the US of course).

The origins: The city was created in 1788 with the name “Losantiville”. In 1790, Arthur St. Clair, governor of the Northwest Territory, changed the name of the settlement to “Cincinnati” in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, made up of revolutionary war veterans, of which he was a member. The named “Cincinnati” itself comes from “Cincinnatus” – if like me you were sleeping during your Latin lectures in high school, check: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Quinctius_Cincinnatus. The name is actually not the only Latin reference, the city being built on seven hills – if you do not know what I am talking about then you probably missed all your Latin lecture and I can’t help you 🙂
Cincinnati expanded quickly and was the door to the west. Due to it’s location at the border between the north and the south – cross the Ohio river and you are in Kentucky, it also plaid an important role during the American civil war.

The German heritage: In Cincinnati, it is not uncommon after a hot summer day – and believe me it is very hot and humid – to enjoy a good local beer in a Biergarten with a Bretzel (they call it Pretzel) and eventually a Bratwurst. The German heritage is all around the city and not only in the family names of its inhabitants. Walk through the renovated “Over-the-Rhine” neighborhood and enjoy the fantastic architecture (see pics). For a good local beer stop at: http://www.rhinegeist.com/

View from mount Adam (one of the seven hills)

Pedestrian bridge over the Ohio river between Cincinnati and Newport Kentucky

[Show thumbnails]

If you are planning to come to the mid-west or visit Chicago. Make a short stop in Cincinnati. It is definitely worth it!

See you soon!
Mathias*
*) Mathias Bonmarin is a senior lecturer at the ZHAW School of Engineering. Recently, he was honoured to get a prestigious Fulbright scholarship and therefore he’s at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio for one year as a visiting professor.