RISE: Getting a taste for the world of research

At the beginning of July, 281 RISE scholars turned up at the international youth hostel in Heidelberg and transformed the place into a beehive of activity. They were the latest students, selected to take part in a program that matches its participants with German doctoral students for a summer internship at some of Germany’s leading research facilities.

Anna Rumpf and Fatosh, photo: DAAD

At the beginning of July, 281 RISE scholars turned up at the international youth hostel in Heidelberg and transformed the place into a beehive of activity. They were the latest students, selected to take part in a program that matches its participants with German doctoral students for a summer internship at some of Germany’s leading research facilities.

The RISE – or Research Internships in Science and Engineering – program gives students from the US and Canada the chance to gain some hands on experience in their field of study and provides them with the opportunity to spend part of the summer in Germany.

For some of them the meeting in Heidelberg was just the last part of their summer adventure. Others have just started their internships gathering experiences in different parts of the country for six to 12 weeks.

From the 850 applicants, a total of 298 Americans and Canadians were matched with Ph.D. students at German universities in all 16 Federal States. “We have set a new record”, enthused Michaela Gottschling from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

Ich bin fast ein Berliner

Yung Li was placed in Berlin and immediately took a liking to Germany’s capital, “In New York City everybody does their own thing without looking left our right. In Berlin it is so much different.” She explains how she was picnicking with a few friends when suddenly a random guy came and asked if he could join them. “Something like that would never happen in New York. Let alone that they actually invited him to sit down!”

But it’s not all parks and picnics: 500 kilometers away at the University of Duisburg-Essen Fatosh Dalgakiran enjoys working in the lab with her Ph.D. student Anna Rumpf. Together they are trying to establish a method that proofs which impact electrical voltage has on the growth of bacteria. A big challenge for Fatosh as she was not used to working independently thus far: “I don’t know how Anna can be so active after eight hours of work, says Fatosh. “I am always tired while she goes jogging or does other sports. I start working at 8 a.m. which is far too early for me. But still, it is a lot of fun.”

The coin-eating shopping cart

Fatosh, a native Cypriot who studies at Grinnell College in Iowa, was surprised when she first met Anna: “I always thought of Ph.D.s as old, ugly and confused workaholics”, admits the 19-year-old laughing. Anna joins in and adds: “Well, I also didn’t know what to expect when I published my project on the RISE database searching for an intern. But Fatosh is very ambitious and we complement each other pretty well.”

The RISE scholar quickly got a taste for German culture too, as she quickly discovered the popular German chocolate spread “Nutella”. Yet things were not all sweet in the supermarket: “One day Fatosh stomped in going berserk about our supermarkets and these ‘coin-eating shopping carts’”, remembers Anna.

She did not understand what she was so upset about, until she realized: “Fatosh thought in Germany you have to pay one euro for using the cart!” Anna explained that she only watched people put the money in to take the cart, but never saw that you get your money back when you return it.

Weekend traveling is a must

Whilst in Germany, the RISE scholarship recipients make the most of the opportunity to see the country and set off on what they call “Blitz travelling” at the weekend. Grier Wilt, a junior biomedical engineer at Penn State, said “One weekend we did this crazy trip from Freiburg to Munich in the far south of Germany all the way up north to Berlin and back to Freiburg. We were exhausted but it was awesome.”

With almost all the RISE participants of 2008 gathered in Heidelberg at the youth hostel, the DAAD gave the students the chance to network and meet fellow scholars they had only known virtually from the forum on the social networking Website Facebook. Discussion rounds with German professors helped consolidate their knowledge and then field trips to big global players like BASF, Merck, or the car manufacturer Daimler in Stuttgart rounded off the program.

The students also had time in between to share a few stories and to reminisce about their experiences. And when they return, they know: it’s best to have a euro handy for those German shopping carts.

This article is published in cooperation with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) www.daad.de/rise