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Marquis Scholar Laura Raibeck ’06 (Albrightsville, Pa.) will study this summer in Hamburg, Germany on a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) grant. The grant provides a stipend for living expenses and funds for a July meeting in Heidelberg for all Research Internships in Science and Engineering participants.
Raibeck, who is pursuing a B.S. mechanical engineering and A.B. with a major in German, will assist a Ph.D. candidate with his research on flight loads of lightweight aircraft structures using finite element analysis at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. They will conduct their research in the automotive and aeronautical engineering department’s lightweight design laboratory.
Raibeck studied at Technical University Munich two years ago. The month abroad experience for American engineering students was funded by a DAAD grant as well. There she took a German language class while learning about the country’s engineering industry.
“The program gave me a view into international engineering while allowing me to improve my speaking abilities and to learn technical German,” she says. “I encourage other students in engineering or the sciences to apply for these DAAD study-abroad programs. They are an excellent way to learn about international practices in a given field and to learn German.”
At Lafayette, Raibeck has found innovative classes and unique undergraduate research opportunities in both the mechanical engineering and German departments. It was Raibeck’s interest in engineering that led her to German language studies.
“I knew if I had the chance in college, I should learn another language,” she explains. “German seemed like a good choice because of Germany’s large engineering industry. I wanted to keep the option open of studying or working in Germany in the future.”
Currently, Raibeck is completing honors thesis research under the guidance of Karl Seeler, associate professor of mechanical engineering. She is designing and building a machine to demonstrate the effects of combined loading in junior-level design courses.
This past fall, she participated in a German theater class led by Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger, associate professor and head of foreign languages and literatures, that used videoconferencing and Internet chat rooms to connect Lafayette students with those at other institutions in the United States and Germany. Funded by a grant from the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education, students from Lafayette, Wheaton, Colgate, and Vassar studied playwright Friedrich Schiller’s 18th century play The Robbers with German teachers-in-training and actors in Freiburg.
“We had the unique opportunity to collaborate with other colleges and theater personnel in Freiburg,” says Raibeck. “The class allowed us to gain insight into the workings of German theater. We saw the evolution of Die Räuber [The Robbers] from reading the play to set construction to a performance by the Freiburg actors.”
Last spring, she took a course that explored the concepts of identity and home in contemporary German literature co-taught by Lamb-Faffelberger and Zafer Senocak, a Turkish-German writer who was Lafayette’s first Max Kade Distinguished Writer-in-Residence. Students read texts by Senocak, avant-garde Austrian author Elfriede Jelinek, and others. Senocak also gave poetry readings and participated in discussion sessions with students and faculty.
“I have had opportunities here in my German classes I would not have had anywhere else,” Raibeck says of her Lafayette experience. “In the class co-taught by Zafer Senocak, we were given valuable insight into the texts we were reading from the perspective of an author.”
Raibeck will pursue a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology in the fall. She plans to conduct research on environmentally benign design and manufacturing. She was also accepted at University of California-Davis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Washington, and University of Delaware. She believes Lafayette has prepared her well for the rigors of a Ph.D. program.
“In both departments, I have had very supportive professors who have encouraged me to apply myself and to strive to improve myself as a student.”
Raibeck is a past recipient of the Rexroth Prize in German and Carl G., Jr. ’67 and Deborah B. Anderson P’01 Mechanical Engineering Prize. She is a member of the German honor society Delta Phi Alpha, Pep Band, and German Club. She volunteers with the America Reads program through the Lafayette’s Landis Community Outreach Center. She also has traveled to Kenya and Tanzania for the special interim course Modern Sub-Saharan Africa: Kenya and Tanzania. She is a graduate of Jim Thorpe Area Senior High School.
Chosen from among Lafayette’s most promising applicants, Marquis Scholars like Raibeck receive a special academic scholarship and distinctive educational experiences and benefits. This includes a three-week, Lafayette-funded course abroad or in the United States during January’s interim session between semesters or the summer break. Marquis Scholars also participate in mentoring programs with Lafayette faculty and cultural activities in major cities and on campus.
Honors theses are among several major programs that have made Lafayette a national leader in undergraduate research. The College sends one of the largest contingents to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research each year; 40 students were accepted to present their research at this year’s conference.