Author: Francesco Di Pasquale – Milan PYMP
On September 27th, the Politecnico di Milano hosted the seventh edition of Speed Date with Research, a workshop that aims to connect students with the research environment. In its seventh edition, the workshop gave students a chance to learn about numerous research opportunities and hear about potential thesis projects.
Speed Date with Research is a yearly event of the Student Chapter of Politecnico di Milano, in collaboration with the Physics Department. The event is designed to give students a better idea of the research being conducted in the department and the kind of thesis projects offered. The approach is simple but effective: the students have short, timed meetings with researchers, in which they can hear about different research areas and ask questions about potential thesis projects.
This year’s session, Speed Date with Research 7.0 was a great success, allowing students to interact directly with researchers and feel the work going on in the Department of Physics.
It included 80 master students of the Engineering Physics course of study, who were all eager to get more information about research in their field. They were able to interact with 41 researchers, one from each of the Department of Physics laboratories. The session was held in eight 10-12 minute sessions, with students rotated through the different researchers. Each session had one of the researchers give a quick pitch of their research and thesis topics available, and then students could ask questions in order to learn more.
One of the major aims of the event was to spark the curiosity of the students. Through the experience of researchers and information about their work, students were encouraged to find out something that indeed interested them. The intention was to convey to them the driving force behind research itself, the passion of discovery and the motivation to pursue new ideas. The hope was that each student would have a clearer sense of direction for their course of academic pursuit when they left the event and perhaps a new spark of interest to carry them on.
In short, Speed Date with Research 7.0 provided the Politecnico di Milano physics students with an enriching experience. It provided them with a chance to learn more about the research undertaken in the Department of Physics and possible thesis subjects in a personal and interactive way.
