Index

Scientific skills – lab course

In the first semester, you will take lab courses that are selected for you based on your previous qualifications.

To pass the module, you must actively participate in the experiments and submit the lab reports to the supervisor in a timely manner. Late or insufficient lab reports will result in a fail.

The students must familiarize themselves with the relevant documentation before the start of the experiments. If they are insufficiently prepared, the students will be excluded from the experiments.

 

 

Learning German

Even if you do not need to know German for your studies, we know from experience that you will find it easier to find accommodation and deal with bureaucracy if you do know German, e.g. when extending your visa, and to find a job during and after your studies.

We therefore recommend that you use apps like Duolingo or Babbel to get started.

FAU offers German courses at the Language Center / Sprachenzentrum free of charge. These are great courses, however, the University’s German courses are limited. Therefore, apply early and repeatedly to get one of the places. Once you get one, take the opportunity and take the course.

Certain German courses offered by the Language Centre are not free of charge. In the case of very specific courses (intensive courses for German FIT), the MAP program can partially reimburse the costs in consultation with the MAP Office. Please get back to our MAP Office staff.

Studying online

For online seminars and courses that take place entirely online, you can find advice on studying online from student Jennifer Shurka on the FAU website.

UnivIS

UnivIS stands for University Information System. It provides information on:

  • Contact information of FAU staff and lecturers
  • Rooms

Identity Management (IdM)

IdM stands for identity management and is used for

  • Management of user ID
  • Overview of all personal user accounts
  • FAUCard
  • and many other additional sections

Miniproject

General information

The miniprojects should be carried out in one of the institutes of the Chemical and Biological Engineering or Materials Science and Engineering Departments. The miniproject can also be carried out at another department or faculty, or at an external institution (HIERN, Helmholtz), provided that a supervisor from the WW or CBI departments is willing to co-supervise. The suggested project should be concise, have a realistic goal that takes into account the short timescale and enables a certain degree of independent work from the student. The work includes a review of current literature on the chosen topic, the planning and execution of experiments and simulations to expand existing knowledge and the critical interpretation and discussion of the results of the study in a (graded) written project report (10 ECTS; workload of around 250-300 hours). No “splitting” of the miniproject is foreseen.
The grade will be based on your carrying out of the project and on the report.
A miniproject cannot be combined with a job as a student assistant (“Hiwi”).
Deadline for students to submit the miniproject report: at the latest 6 months after the starting date

If the student chooses to gain Additional Qualifications in research or industry, an additional miniproject of 10 ECTS is taken during the 3rd semester.

Step by step

    1. For registration of the MAP miniproject please use the registration from which you can find in the MAP StudOn templates section (login needed). The registration of your miniproject needs to be confirmed by your principal supervisor by signing the registration form as stipulated. At this stage, you don’t have to inform the MAP office.
      Once you have finished your miniproject, please hand in your report directly to your supervisor for grading, either an electronic version or the original paper version, depending what your supervisor prefers (please check beforehand!). At the same time, you need to upload your report as PDF file and insert some further information (such as final project title) in the on the MAP StudOn curriculum section (login needed, please choose the specific semester there).
      After your supervisor has graded your miniproject and has added the grade and his stamp (or that of his chair/institute) on the registration form, please hand in the original document to the MAP office.
      The last section on the miniproject registration sheet will then be filled in by the MAP office staff. We will also forward your grade to the examination office for registration.
      Another possibility is, to ask your supervisor to send your graded miniproject to the MAP office. For legal reasons, the scanned version can only be sent to the MAP Office by the supervisor in person.
    2. The number of working hours given (250 – 300) are to be understood as a guideline for a miniproject with 10 ECTS. The work load does not only refer to the time you do practical lab work but as well to the time you spend on preparing and studying at home or in the library.
      Thus, it depends a lot on the nature of your project, how much time you will actually spend with practical work in the lab. Your supervisor might be able to better judge this time frame, depending on the topic and the expected development.
    3. Before you can register for your Master’s thesis, you need to have successfully fulfilled all requirements of the MAP primary course, which is the case once you have achieved 90 ECTS.
      Any additional courses – either the full 30 ECTS block of the Additional Qualifications or individual courses – need to be graded and registered either on campo or with the MAP Office before you hand in your Master’s thesis. After this date, the Examinations Office cannot accept any further course achievements for your transcript.

      Especially if you plan to do an second miniproject within the Additional Qualifications, we strongly recommend to have it finished before you start with your Master’s thesis, as you need to consider some time for grading as well.

General recommendations

Based on our experience with MAP miniprojects we can give a few tips in order to ensure successful establishment and execution of the projects:
  1. Rather than approach professors about potential miniprojects, you might want to take a look at institute websites and see which doctoral/postdoctoral researchers are working on what topics. Ideally you should read some of the researchers’ relevant journal papers. Approach them regarding your interest (which should be as genuine as possible – don’t say you read a paper when you just read the title/abstract!) and ask if they can define a miniproject topic. Very often researchers have little “side projects” which they would like to carry out but do not have the time for themselves. These are good miniproject topics because you may get to do something completely new and you help out your supervisor at the same time.
  2. Be sure to tell your direct supervisor from the start what is expected of you. Make sure they know that you have to write a report by a certain deadline and preferably get their commitment “up-front” that they will check drafts of your report.
  3. Communicate well with your direct supervisor. That means you should make it clear from the outset what is and what is not expected and also when you will work on the miniproject. We do hear from supervisors that students agree to do a miniproject and then simply do not appear. This sets a very poor impression and is likely to count against you in the final grade.
  4. Conversely to the previous point, we also sometimes hear MAP students complain that their supervisor has vanished off the face of the earth. This is another case of poor communication, either on the part of the student, the supervisor or both. Since the miniproject might stretch over the summer months, be sure to check with your supervisor when they will be not there. If they are away for a long time then ask for a “fill-in” supervisor who you can turn to in case of questions/problems. This is especially critical if your direct supervisor has to do some characterization of your samples which you cannot do (SEM, TEM, XPS etc).
  5. Your direct supervisor will be a PhD or Postdoc researcher – these are often highly stressed people with many responsibilities. For the most part, the supervision of MAP miniprojects goes very smoothly. However, the direct supervisors are also people still undergoing their professional training and like all humans have their strengths and weaknesses. If you feel that your direct supervisor does not supervise your miniproject in a satisfactory way (be reasonable here, we are talking about things like if they communicate the problem unclearly, do not satisfactorily answer your questions or do not adequately train you in necessary techniques or safety measures) please make an appointment to discuss your concerns with the professor. Professors should deal with this appropriately and in a confidential way. Please do not leave any potential problems with your supervisor to simmer and just write up the report anyway. This can backfire on your grade and by that late stage a professor will always side with his or her PhD/Postdoc if you make a complaint because they will assume you just want to improve your grade. Any problems you bring up prior to submission of the report would be easier to negotiate. Of course, any issues can also be discussed with the MAP Chairs on a confidential basis.
  6. Remember that most professors will probably ask the direct supervisor to suggest a grade. Therefore, make sure you prepare the report in sufficient time that your direct supervisor can check it. If your direct supervisor requests changes to your report then once you have made those changes show him/her the report again. Do not assume that once you have made requested changes everything is fine. Scientific reports often take several iterations to get complete. Only go ahead and submit your report when your direct supervisor gives you a clear OK.

Forms and templates

All forms and templates are available at our MAP StudON section (login needed).

De-registration or prolongation of deadline

In line with the stipulations set by the Central Examinations Office, a prolongation is only possible under very specific circumstances and with the required proof documents (e.g. doctor’s certificate). A withdrawal is not permitted after topic allocation.

Failure/ late hand in

It is your responsibility to find a new miniproject with a new supervisor during the next semester.

Literature review

In a series of lectures, the students learn the basic principles of finding and managing scientific literature, scientific writing as well as effective scientific communication with posters. They then put these concepts into practice by writing a short literature review.
Features:
  • Coordination of the module: Prof. R. Klupp Taylor
  • Content: Review should be on the current state-of-the-art on a subject related to one of the MAP Focal Subjects.
  • Registration: Campo and StudOn
De-registration or prolongation of deadline:
In line with the stipulations set by the Central Examinations Office, a prolongation is only possible under very specific circumstances and with the required proof documents (e.g. doctor’s certificate). A withdrawal is not permitted after topic allocation.

Internship

General information

An internship of at least twelve weeks is a mandatory part of the (Additional Qualifications) curriculum. Internships that exceed this time period are explicitly supported by MAP.

Internship in research OR industry

This module aims to develop our students’ research- or industry-related knowledge and transferable work skills and capabilities. Students are required to organize the internship independently. However, the MAP office and professors involved in MAP are always happy to provide support and advice.

Crediting of relevant prior work experience

If you have prior MAP-relevant work experience, this can potentially be credited.
Please contact the MAP Office in written

  • stating that the respective experience did not already count towards your Bachelor’s degree and
  • attaching the related proof documents (most importantly: work certificate clearly stating your name, employment duration with dates, tasks performed)

Work permit

According to your student visa, you are allowed to do a mandatory internship. The internship required by MAP, due to being mandatory, does not even fall under the regulation of international students being allowed to work 140 days/year (https://www.fau.eu/international/international-applicants/important-information/employment-and-placements/)

Internship certificate

The internship certificate stating duration, tasks etc. needs to be handed in and approved by the MAP Office after internship completion.

Confirmation that internship is mandatory

A personal copy of a signed confirmation that the internship is mandatory (Bestätigung Pflichtpraktikum) can be received from the MAP Office. Please let us know by email.

Fundamentals

  • Each student has discussed / will discuss his/her individual timetable with one of the MAP Chairs or MAP lecturers
  • Changes in your fundamental subjects are only possible with written agreement of one of the MAP Chairs or the MAP lecturer who assigned one’s Fundamentals.
  • Written examinations (“Studienleistung”)
  • Pass/Fail subjects
  • Exam dates are scheduled by the lecturer

Focal Subjects

In the course of the first semester, you will be asked to choose two of the four focal subjects. Please note that once a choice has been made, it can only be changed in consultation with one of the MAP Chairs and the respective Focal Subject Head.
Focal Subject Heads:
  • Advanced Processes: Prof. Maro Haumann
  • Biomaterials and Bioprocessing: Prof. Aldo Boccaccini
  • Computational Materials Science and Process Simulation: Prof. Michael Engel
  • Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology: Prof. Mathias Göken

Each Focal Subject consists of three modules, each worth 5 ECTS. In some Focal Subjects, you can choose from several modules.

It is not possible to choose modules from other Focal Subjects in order to complete a specialization, but additional modules can be chosen voluntarily within the Focal Subject and will be added to your transcript of records.

If a Focal Subject offers a choice from several modules, there is no guarantee that all modules will be set up in such a way that there is no overlap and that all modules can be chosen.