What Inga did Last Summer
I have wanted to live/work abroad in Germany for quite a while before I applied to DAAD RISE. As soon as I submitted my application I had a good feeling, then a few months later on a Wednesday morning, I got the confirmation! I was going to Jena, Germany to work on a Photocatlytic water-splitting research project for 3 months.
Once I arrived I was immediately signed in as an Intern at Leibniz-IPHT, as well as a guest researcher at Friedrich-Schiller Universitat. I worked with an amazing group of masters and PhD Students from all different countries and cultures. From Russia to Ethiopia, I experienced so much cultural diversity with my coworkers. It's interesting to realize just how different of a childhood everyone had, but all of our work led us to intersect in this small German city
While working at the lab, I learned many new interesting photochemistry and electrochemistry techniques. Nearly every day I worked on a Langmuir Blodgett trough, spreading and condensing different molecules and solutions on top of deionized water to see their isotherms. Once isotherms were recording, I would use a laser we called BAM for laser imaging. A perfect molecule wouldn’t collapse at the molecular level and the BAM images wouldn’t see any ‘slices’ or ‘holes’ in the molecule. We also worked with a lot of DCM (a molecule that is about to be banned in the States), and while it was dangerous, Germany is a lot stricter about PPE and general lab safety. I never felt unsafe in the lab even though I was exposed to more dangerous molecules and equipment than I have been in US labs.
During my internship, I was able to go down to Grenoble, France to use the Neutron Scatterer. We made samples on Teflon plates by dipping them into the compressed Langmuir Trough molecules (previously mentioned). Then they were brought into the instrument to have millions of neutrons shot at them to see how they scattered off of the plates. Each test with the instrument took about 8 hours. Of course, I also took this wonderful opportunity to travel around Germany and other countries. I made friends with many other interns and other people my age in the city, these people all changed my life and will be forever my friends. I immersed myself in the culture and experienced all the things any person studying or working abroad should experience. I additionally learned the language much more than I expected, from listening to music to intently watching my friends and colleagues interacting with each other.
This was easily the most fun and informative summer I’ve ever had, I’m infinitely grateful for all the people who helped me achieve this goal. Because of this, I’m planning on going back to Jena and studying for my master's in Biochemistry at Friedrich Schiller University.
A proper thank you to Kylla Benes for helping me write all my statements. Professor Don McDonald from the University of Arizona for writing my letter of recommendation. Finally Jasmin Finkelmeyer for being a wonderful supervisor and making me feel included during my time in Jena, Germany.