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Rubrik: Tagesberichte |
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SiROP - a team of ETH students wants to boost students' involvement in research SIROP -Students for research | |
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Could there be students already involved in research at various institutes during their early semesters? - This has been common at MIT since 1960. What is called UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program) has a long tradition at MIT and is used by 80% of all students. A similar program may be initiated at ETH. This is the aim of five motivated ETH students. By Norbert Staub Could you imagine students not strolling along the shopping miles of Zurich West or hanging out in the nearby Niederdorf after a day of lectures but continuing work in an ETH laboratory? These students choose to take part in research projects in order to acquire early experience in "real" research. At Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) this concept has a long tradition fostered by UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program) (1). Following the American examples five motivated ETH students intend to introduce a similar concept at ETH. Thus SiROP was launched.
Win-Win SiROP stands for "Student Research Opportunities Program" (2) and should not be misunderstood. The three SiROP coordinators, Simon Baumann, Pascal Kaufmann und Nicolas Stalder, point out the "win-win" situation: On one hand, research at ETH would profit from active students eager for knowledge and experience. At present, they constitute an unused resource at ETH. On the other hand, students would benefit from the opportunity to acquire experience in real research, obtaining credit points and establishing a network of contacts at institutes. Education at the ETH is of high quality, states Baumann, who will soon receive his degree in Biochemistry. In order to promote enthusiasm for research at ETH comparable with that at top US universities, it is necessary to integrate students at research labs from the very beginning of their studies.
ETH: Too much chalk and talk Particularly during early semesters at ETH there is a strong inclination towards traditional chalk and talk teaching - too strong according to the SiROP founders. "The lecturer acts, while the student listen passively." Unfortunately, a major part of the early study period follows this scheme. Even exercises dedicated to hands-on experience sometimes follow a rigid scheme, thus not promoting independent research or the joy of discovery. A glance across the Atlantic Ocean reveals alternatives. "At several US universities, there is a strong focus on implementation and independent hands-on research", says Pascal Kaufmann. "Talking to peer students one realizes a substantial difference in the approach to science. Here one accumulates facts extracted from books and scientific papers, there one seeks to apply them directly in the lab."
Only the minimum of administration SiROP coordinator Nicolas Stalder claims that the goal is not simply to copy US universities. "There are many people who appreciate the 'Prussian' style of ETH education - and so do I," Stalder says. At ETH semester work represents an attempt at encouraging independent research. When a student approaches a professor asking him for semester work, the professor is usually very pleased. However, there are too few incentives - stemming from both sides. Students often hesitate to enter a lab without having already acquired solid theoretical knowledge. A SiROP evaluation shows that professors generally promote this kind of initiative yet expecting the student to do the first step.
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"We want to be the interface that helps to overcome these hurdles," Simon Baumann sets out the aim of SiROP. "We want to bring professors and students together interested in early scientific collaboration." The UROP program at MIT is staffed by several full-time employees and strongly integrated at the institutes. That is not the goal for SiROP at ETH, the SiROP coordinators emphasize. "At a first stage it is an attempt to test SiROP without much administration in order to see whether ETH is suited to it or not," Simon Baumann says. After all, the coordinators also have to complete their studies. Therefore the SiROP procedure has been streamlined as much as possible. However, Baumann adds that a complete integration at ETH could be attempted later if there is sufficient interest.
Enough leisure time Not all research takes place in the lab. The question arose whether a subject such as mathematics was suitable for a project for students in early semesters. At first Nicolas Stalder had his doubts until Eva Maria Feichtner, ETH assistant professor in mathematics, reassured him. In the US, the student research community publishes its results in papers, in particular in experimental mathematics. Do ETH students have enough time for supplementary work besides their already rather full time table? The SiROP team replies: "SiROP may be attractive to quick students who are doing well at their studies. But as SiROP projects vary greatly in their time demand, almost every interested student could deal with a project." Furthermore, the experience at MIT demonstrates that a project like SiROP is possible. "However, it is true that US students profit from campus life where life and study merge - a circumstance that is different at ETH."
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