Summer students: Final presentation at a conference

On Thursday, 24. September 2015, the summerstudents have presented their projects in Wannsee in a science conference format: Three topics have been selected for oral presentation, the other projects were presented in a poster session, thus all students could demonstrate first results. 

Eight weeks long, 26 young students have been working in different research teams at HZB. Some of them have come from far away, like Colombia, Belorussia or USA, for many, it is the first stay at a research institute in a foreign country. Most students are in a Master’s programme in physics, chemistry or engineering. At HZB, they could work on a research project on their own, helped by experienced HZB scientists.

Final presentation in a conference format

The final presentation was modelled along a scientific conference. Three topics have been selected as oral presentations in front of the audience. The other topics were presented in form of big posters during a poster session. The best poster was chosen by a Jury of three experts and given an award.

Selection of topics

The students themselves did decide about the oral presentations. “This time, we offered a short training in communication“, Dr. Gabriele Lampert says. „The task was to present your own project in a very short, concise and possibly interesting form. So the students could get an overview about all topics and select those, which were most promising für an oral presentation.“

So, Damaris Maimone, University of Campinas, Brazil, talked about the big expectations related to thermoelectrical elements in energy research and how she learned at HZB to produce single crystals of these materials. Liudmilla Zhukas, Novosibirsk University, Russia, spoke about EPR-Methods and Matias Agustín Galizia, Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto, Argentina, showed his work on perovskite layers, which are candidates for solar cells. 

Poster Award

Ivona Kafedjiska, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg, presented the best poster and got the award. She has worked at PVcomB on the question, how the number and the distances of contact points on silicon cells are influencing their efficiency. 

The jury was impressed by the high quality of the presentations, especially since most oft he students did create such a big poster for the first time. Thus, the students did not only learn how to contribute to a research project, the did learn as well to present the results.

Thanks to the HZB Teams 

Also present at to the final presentation were some of the HZB scientists, who did coach the students and advised them during their scientific projects. "This summer students programme depends on engaged scientists, who identify interesting projects for young students and coach them intensely. We all could see now, that it is worth the effort", Gabriele Lampert says.