The year 2022 – 2023 started with a banger. The new High-Tech Engineering students participated in the introduction week where they got to know eachother and the department.

Monday
The week started with a kick-off presentation by Just where he introduced the HTE track, PME department and Taylor. Following this presentation, the students could go into the GatherTown platform to collect information about the focus areas (each had their own room) by speaking to the staff and going through all of the digital stands that were put out. After a small break, the Taylor study association introduced themselves and got everyone hyped for the planned activitites. Everyone had some quick lunch, because the treasure hunt was waiting. In groups of ~12, the new HTE’ers explored the city of Delft and the TU campus by doing some challenges and other tasks. We got some pretty funny videos from people rolling off the library’s roof. We ended the day with a very successful and busy get-together with drinks and snacks. Luckily it could be held at the back of PME because the weather was great!

Tuesday
On the second day, there was the possibility of sleeping in. The walk-in at the Art Centre was only at 10:00. The day began with a panel discussion with the panel consisting of the professors at PME, hosted by Thijs Blad and Ad Huisjes. The profs explained what their focus areas have to offer and answered interesting questions. Afterwards, the focusses Optics for Technology (OPT) and Engineering Mechanics (EM) had their own pitch to stir up the fresh students’ interests. The EM department even had their own topology optimization experiment. The groups could draw their structure, let it be scanned in and simulated to see how it would perform, awesome! The remainder of the afternoon was spent playing a variety of ‘getting familiar games’ such as What am I, Piranha Panic, or miniature Curling and having some drinks to close it off.

Wednesday
Third day of the week and second day at the Art Centre. Hans started the day with a talk about the Way of study where he stressed the importance of leisure time and communication. Profs from the Micro Nano Engineering (MNE) and Mechatronic System Design (MSD) focusses held their pitch and once again reminded us of the cool things that HTE’ers can do. After another incredible lunch, ASML gave a presentation to show the breathtaking technology in their machines and the importance of their work. To experience what kinds of projects they have at ASML, there was an interesting case study requiring precise and fast motion. This case was a sneak-peak at the Precision Mechanism Design (PMD) course in Q3-4

Thursday
The final day at the Art Centre was kicked off by Farbod with his pitch of the Engineering Dynamics (ED) focus. Farbod always manages to grab everyone’s attention with his enthusiasm. Following a recap of the curriculum, the students worked hard on their study program. The focusses were chosen and the study guide never had this many website visits. The Art Centre once again provided delicious lunch. Barely having selected the courses, the students already got some hands-on experience with their next educational chapter. Experiments organised by the research groups gave a good impression of what they’re all about. We ended the day by getting together and having some final drinks.

Friday
For the last day of the introweek, we had planned a sports day. Unfortunately, the weather did not agree with our plans and neither did the Dutch Railways (NS). The sports day had to be cancelled. Don’t worry though, we’re planning a replacement activity for the first year HTE-students.