Topic outline

  • About the course

    In maximum 80 students will be taken on the course. The following prioritization principles will be followed in accepting the students: (1) the course is part of student's compulsory studies, (2) the course is part of student's CHEMARTS minor, (3) balanced student distribution between schools, (4) enrollment order.

    The Friday afternoon lectures of the first two weeks (4.3 and 11.3) will be in Zoom and they cover introductions to the course, bio-based materials, design and sustainability. The zoom link can be found under the Zoom links section. On the third week (18.3), the Friday afternoon timeslot will be used for joint project planning on campus. The final seminar will be held on campus on May 13.

    The laboratory works are scheduled on several weekdays and students will attend only one of the alternative timeslots. The alternative weekly times are: Tuesday morning (9-12), Tuesday afternoon (13-16), Thursday morning (9-12), Thursday afternoon (13-16), Friday morning (9-12) and Friday afternoon (14-17). The laboratory works will begin on week 11 and continue until week 17 (During week 15 there will be no scheduled lab work). However, on week 11 the timeslots will be shorter and different to introduce the laboratories. More information on the laboratory works will be given during the first lecture on 4.3.

    NOTE: CHEM does not allow anyone to work in its laboratory spaces without first passing CHEM's laboratory safety exam. If you have not passed the exam earlier, you need to enroll on virtual CHEM-E0140 Laboratory Safety course and pass the online exam before entering the laboratories.

    Design Meets Biomaterials course takes part in the international BioDesign Challenge competition (https://biodesignchallenge.org), and the best team project from the course will be selected to represent Aalto University in the final in June.


    Course textbook description

    CHEM-A1610 Design Meets Biomaterials (3-5 cr) is part of Aalto University’s CHEMARTS teaching offering (http://chemarts.aalto.fi/, https://www.facebook.com/chemarts.aalto/). The main objective of CHEMARTS is to inspire students and researchers to explore biomaterials together and to create new concepts for the future use of cellulose and other biomaterials. CHEMARTS consists of various actions, such as multidisciplinary study courses, summer projects and externally funded research projects.

    CHEM-A1610 Design Meets Biomaterials is an introductory course to CHEMARTS and open to any Aalto student to participate. There are no prerequisites, only open mindset, curiosity to biomaterials and design, and commitment to work in multidisciplinary groups is required. In CHEMARTS students have freedom to create and fail – and to succeed. In addition to the learning experience, CHEMARTS students prepare biomaterial samples that have got great visibility. In 2022, the best student project of Design Meets Biomaterials course will be selected to represent Aalto University in the international BioDesign Challenge competition (https://biodesignchallenge.org).

    After completing CHEM-A1610 Design Meets Biomaterials you can continue with the other CHEMARTS courses, MUO-E0101 CHEMARTS Summer School 2.0 (5 cr), CHEM-E0180 CHEMARTS Project (5-10 cr) and CHEM-E1100 Plant Biomass (5 cr). These courses can also make part of CHEMARTS minor in your degree.