Status & Perspectives in Science & Education

29 28 Education Master‘s Degree Program Doctoral Program Education mentees establish a trusting relationship throughout the entire degree program period, helping to ensure the development of each student’s professional and social qualifications. In addition, Master’s degree students are assisted by ASP‘s coordination office personnel, who help them to get wellacclimated in Germany upon arrival. Further, ASP offers intercultural trainings to enhance the students’intercultural competence and enable them to become an active member of the German society. Professional job training is also provided by our partners in science and industry, as well as with chosen international partner universities. The mentoring program also includes regular participation in selected job fairs, and involves work with online media. Our ultimate goal is to achieve gradual professional and personal advancement for each student, developing students into full-scale, independently thinking and working researchers in optics and photonics. PHOTONICS EDUCATION WITH STRONG PARTNERS The ASP Master’s degree program in Photonics has its roots in the European educational system and has received considerable funding and stimuli from the Erasmus+ program of the European Union. Accordingly, the M.Sc. Photonics curriculum was jointly designed and is currently supported by some of the leading centers in German and international photonics education, including the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the University of ErlangenNuremberg, the Australian National University, the Politecnico di Milano, the Technical University Delft, the Université Paris-Saclay, the University of Eastern Finland, the Université Bordeaux, the University of Central Florida, the University of Rochester, the University of Limoges, University of Brescia, University of the Basque Country, the University of Toronto, or the Taiwan National University. These partnerships have led to long-term exchange agreements, enabling ASP students to be highly mobile. For our German students, ASP offers a large network of reputable partner universities under the jurisdiction of the Erasmus+ exchange program. Moreover, ASP Master’s degree students benefit from our German photonics industry partners and their dedicated involvement in our study programs. Our premium partners include, but are not limited to, Active Fiber Systems, AGILENT, ASML, Edmund Optics, JENOPTIK, Jenaoptronik, KARL STORZ, LEICA, OSRAM, SCHOTT, SICK, SONY, Thorlabs, TRUMPF, Vistec, and ZEISS. Every graduate student experiences at least one mandatory internship focused on practical training in optics laboratories of these and more than 80 other partner companies, or at ACP institutes. Moreover, the final Master’s degree thesis can be accomplished by successfully completing an industrial project. Creativity workshop for Master’s degree students during the Photonics Academy 2019 in Jena. Students from worldwide are enrolled in ASP’s international photonics studies. DOCTORAL PROGRAM The Abbe School of Photonics (ASP) is strongly committed to the advancement of highly qualified students and their promotion to early-stage researchers. Our doctoral program respects the principle of scientific freedeom, but selectively also supports the development of individual science careers, provides professional and practical course opportunities and contributes to individual soft skills development. In Jena, the roots for an exceptional scientific community specializing in optics and photonics were laid by the breakthrough work of Ernst Abbe in the late 19th century. Because of this unique historical background and throughout the decades, the numerous doctoral researchers who have graduated from Friedrich Schiller University were the inconspicuous but indispensable contributors to the advancement of knowledge in optics and photonics in Jena. Incorporating this rich tradition, the doctoral program of ASP (comparable with a PhD program in the USA) has become firmly institutionalized and sustainably structures the education and interconnection of young academics in optics. Since its start in 2009, ASP‘s doctoral program has been denoted by a constantly growing number of doctoral candidates pursuing research topics in optics and photonics at the University, reflecting the successful acquisition of numerous funding for light sciences research provided by scientists of the Abbe Center of Photonics (ACP) in recent years. In June 2023, 319 doctoral candidates (among them 97 women) have taken the opportunity to officially register in the ASP doctoral program. While a majority of those who join the ASP doctoral program have a physics background, also chemists, mathematicians and engineers perform their research projects at 11 different institutes under the umbrella of the ASP doctoral program, following both the core optical disciplines and adjacent fields, such as e.g. nanochemistry or material sciences. Funding of the ASP doctoral program is provided by many different sources. First, substantial financial support is given directly to ASP to cover doctoral scholarships, infrastructure, and the administration of ASP. This direct funding is provided by publicprivate partnerships through Jena’s established local photonics industry and through the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung by its„Jena Alliance Life in Focus“ program. Second, a significant amount of indirect support is obtained by the ACP scientists through various schemes of third-party funding programs on quite different scales. This indirect support comes mainly in the framework of research projects including substantial support of doctoral researchers. An example is the Collaborative Research Center (CRC/SFB) 1375 NOA - Nonlinear Optics down to Atomic scales, running since 2023 in its second funding phase by the German Research Foundation (DFG). ASP functions as the umbrella organization for a multitude of such projects to strengthen the aspects of doctoral education along with individual research and supported by industrial partners. M.Sc. in Phys. / Chem. / Eng. / Math. (or Diploma) Research projects at the forefront of applied and fundamental research in photonic science in state-of-the-art laboratories RESEARCH PROJECT Lectures on advanced topics of photonic science and supplementary subjects Teaching Lab classes and seminars by senior doctoral researchers to strengthen teaching skills SCIENTIFIC COURSES Courses on modern photonic technologies combined with intensive laboratory trainings TECHNICAL COURSES Working periods in laboratories of international partners Development of presentation and communication skills at international conferences Research thesis evaluated by an international referee board Dr. rer. nat. / Dr. Ing. awarded Σ 3 years SCHOOLS & CONFERENCES DOCTORAL THESIS Supervision Guiding and mentoring in research and development of transferable skills INTERNATIONALIZATION & NETWORKING ASP Trainings Block courses & guest lectures on photonics, intellectual property, scientific management

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