In mid-August 2017, TUM celebrated the successful conclusion of its first edition of the new summer research internship program, the Practical Research Experience Program (PREP).
The visiting students from renowned US and Canadian universities and the supervising TUM scientists from ten faculties agree: the first PREP edition was a complete success. Sabrina Czechofsky spoke with Yale student Sarah Barreto Ornellas (Bachelor in Biomedical Engineering at Yale University) and her TUM supervisor, Dr. Christian Stockinger of the Professorship for Neuromuscular Diagnostics (Head: Prof. David Franklin), about the successful cooperation.
Sarah, what was your main incentive to participate in PREP?
Sarah: I wanted to participate in a comprehensive research project, and PREP offers students the wonderful opportunity to complete an internship during the entire summer holidays. The opportunity to get to know Germany at the same time encouraged me to apply for PREP.
Dr. Stockinger, could you briefly explain the content of your project and Sarah’s main tasks in it?
Christian Stockinger: We are investigating the principles of human movement control – for example, how humans respond to changes in the environmental conditions, and how they adapt their movement to such changes. Our research group has specialized in arm movements. Sarah helped us to design an experiment with which we can examine how the central nervous system represents movements. Subsequently, she carried out the experiment with several subjects, and evaluated the data obtained.
Which are the most important benefits of the PREP program for you?
Sarah: My time in Munich was great and it is a wonderful experience to participate in PREP. Thanks to this program, I had the opportunity to take part in a research project over a longer period of time, to concentrate fully on the project and to get insight into the different steps of a research project. In Yale, we also do research during the semester – but, as we have courses at the same time, it can become difficult to manage both. Also, the International Office at TUM offers a very diverse program for the participants often during the weekends. This helps to get to know each other better and is really great. I am also very fond of the city of Munich and the way of life here, because there’s so much to do.
Christian Stockinger: PREP is aimed at well-qualified and, above all, highly motivated students who can work their way into a specific topic quickly. As the International Center takes care of all bureaucratic matters, the students are relieved of a major burden and can thus fully concentrate on working on their research projects. Ten weeks aren’t exactly a very long timeframe for a research project and we made plans in advance to ensure that Sarah’s time with us would be as fruitful as possible. But, I think, we managed very well and thus, taking part in PREP was an enrichment for both sides.
What would you like to tell future supervisors and PREP participants?
Sarah: Look out for a project that you feel really interested in. It’s a great thing to make use of the whole range of possibilities offered by PREP. And use this great opportunity to get to know TUM and Munich more closely!
Christian Stockinger: I recommend every chair to take part in the PREP program. Obviously, there is some effort involved at first, when you develop a project idea that can be completed within ten weeks. But it’s worth it! In our pilot study, Sarah took care of ten volunteers independently and contributed to the entire project and to the scientific work – from getting an idea of the current state of research to setting up the experiments and measurements in the laboratory, as well as analyzing the data – in a concentrated form. Without her, we would not have managed it all in such short time. Sarah really was a great help!