VISIT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH BY THE ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT OF INSA LYON

Objectives : strengthen the double-degree and promote INSA courses in English

From February 18^th to February 21^st, Claudine Gehin, Lecturer in charge of academic exchanges in the Electrical Engineering Department of INSA Lyon, visited the University of Pittsburgh in order to meet key people from the Swanson School of Engineering.  Among others, she met with the Vice Provost for Global Affairs, the Executive Director of Academic Affairs, the Director of International Engineering Initiative and the Professor who took the initiative of the INSA Lyon double-degree with the Master of Science of the ECE Department (Electrical and Computer Engineering).

Aims of such a visit were multiple: strengthen the double-degree partnership (created in 2012), present to American students INSA new courses in English and the short programme INNOV@INSA.

It was also an opportunity to meet INSA students on the spot, 3 of whom are currently in the 1st year of the double-degree, 1 PhD and another working in Pittsburgh.

Outlooks : encourage INSA students to stay for a PhD and host Pitt undergraduates at INSA Lyon

Discussions between various interlocutors have allowed to identify areas of improvement, especially to encourage INSA students to follow the double-degree with a PhD at the University of Pittsburgh. Since 2012, only 2 students out of 10 enrolled in a PhD: a paradoxical statement when US wages are generally higher than in France. Moreover, INSA has to think about courses and projects in English that are suitable for undergraduates from Pitt because few Master students come for an exchange.

Pitt students are still fond of the INNOV@INSA short programme which has welcomed 22 of them since its launch in 2016. INSA Lyon Information and Science Technology semester (IST) is also a great mobility alternative for Pitt Master students: a new student enrolled for the next Fall Semester 2019-2020.

Reinforced partnership through the GE3 network and successful research collaborations

At an institutional level, INSA and the University of Pittsburgh are both part of the GE3 network and board, which aim is to promote engineering students exchanges between member universities.

Beside academic affairs, INSA and the University of Pittsburgh have strong research relations. A joint project (2016-2018) between the ECE Department, the LIRIS (Computing) and the INL (Nanotechnologies) INSA laboratories, funded by the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Region, generated several publications one of which was elected Best Student Paper from the BIODEVICES Conference in 2018.