The Hamburg group of 'summies' on their first day – 63 students in all.
The summer student programme, which this year runs from 18 July to 7 September, includes full-time work in established research groups, a lecture programme on DESY research topics, and visits to facilities operated by DESY. For the length of the programme, the students (affectionately called “summies” on the DESY campus) join one project in either solid-state physics and nanoscience, molecular sciences, soft-matter sciences, experiment technique development, lasers and optics, theory and computing, particle physics analysis, particle physics data processing, experimental equipment development, accelerator research, elementary particle theory, computing, astroparticle physics analysis and observations, astroparticle physics instrumentation, or theory of astroparticle physics. Some of the projects take place as well on the European XFEL campus in Schenefeld. Each of these projects give the students in-depth hands-on experience with real-world scientific investigations, analysis, theory, and experiment design, as well as contacts that can be essential to future careers in the field.
For this reason, the summies come from far and wide. “This year the largest number of students come from Italy at 19,” says summer student coordinator and DESY scientist Olaf Behnke. “Since we have a lot of senior scientists from Italy, the word gets out quite well there.” There are also many students coming from Germany, Spain, Poland, and Turkey, but some come from further out in the world: Cuba, Egypt, Israel, India, Canada, and the United States are all represented in the programme. In total, students of 27 different nationalities are taking part. Their excitement is palpable:
“We have the possibility to do difficult things, to work on actual research,” says Giuseppe Giorgio from Italy, who is working on attosecond science.
“I’m looking forward to satisfying my inner science child,” says Safa Osman from Sudan and New Zealand, who is working on molecular science.
“I’ve never been around so many nationalities,” says Sarah Waldych from the USA, who is working with the CMS group.
“I’m excited to get the ability to work on real quantum physics,” says Sachin Gupta from India, who is working with the ATLAS group. “I’ve already got my bike here and a new perspective on my working topic. I’m ready to get to work.”
