The next university our delegation visited was the Colorado School of Mines (CSM).
We did not choose the CSM by accident - it is a state institution established in 1874, and in the QS World University Ranking, it holds the first place in mining.
We have been partnering with the CSM since 2015 in the area of research in geology and mining, and now, we are visiting this institution with the aim to expand our collaboration.
The School is located in Golden, Denver, on the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The scenery is very similar to East Kazakhstan, which warmed our hearts.
The visit turned out to be even friendlier after Mark Cramer, Director of International Student and Scholar Services, greeted us with the words "Salem, qalaisyn?" ("Hello! How are you?" in Kazakh)
The meeting was attended by John Bradford, Vice Provost for External Initiatives, Marc Cramer, Director of International Student and Scholar Services and Craig Brice, Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Program.
During the university presentation, Craig Brice noticed the porous structure of the 3D printing samples - and it turned out that he was working on a similar project with application of the 3D printing in medicine. We presented him a copy of an artifact - a figure of a deer, found in our region, in Eleke Sasy. We did not plan to bring the copy, but to our surprise and convenience, it was with us. It was made on a 3D printer at our university laboratory.
As a result of discussions, it was proposed to work on joint research projects in 3D printing - for example, in such fields as application of machine learning for optimization of constructions and properties of obtained materials and comparison of results obtained on equipment of different brands.
As a result of the meeting, several cooperation areas were identified, as follows: creating international research groups in material science and mining, inviting the CSM researchers for teaching at the EKSTU and training of our graduates in doctoral programs at the CSM. For the future, it is planned to launch a joint educational program.
The delegation visited the Mining Museum. The idea of creating a similar museum at the EKSTU was brought to us from the CSM by the Vice Rector for Research and Innovation Oleg Gavrilenko in 2015. We involuntarily compared the two museums and decided that we made it better.
Throughout the entire meeting, we were accompanied by Kanat, Meruert, Arkhat and Bogembay from Kazakhstan - PhD students at the Colorado School of Mines.
The folks shared their impressions and promised to provide every possible support to our students visiting the CSM on academic exchange.
In the framework of the Memorandum of Cooperation signed in 2015, a protocol with specific steps for the future collaboration was developed. The protocol was signed at the end of the meeting.
There is a lot of systemic work ahead and we are sure that our team will complete it successfully.
