Topic outline

  • Welcome to Personal Research Assignments in Functional Materials

    This module is for 1st year spring of your masters studies and for the 2nd year.

    In this course student will choose an interesting research topic and perform the work with Functional Materials faculty. 


    Please contact by e-mail (first name.last name@aalto.fi) one of the following persons in your scientific area of interest (appr. 1-2 months before you plan to start the work):

    Prof. Mady Elbahri (nanochemistry and nanoengineering)
    Prof. Sami Franssila (micro- and nanofabrication)
    Prof. Jari Koskinen (advanced thin films)
    Prof. Jaana Vapaavuori (multifunctional materials design)
    Dr. Ville Jokinen (surfaces, nanobiotechnology, microfluidics)
    Dr. Girish Tewari (electrical and magnetic properties)
    Dr. Maria Sammalkorpi (soft materials modeling)*
    Dr. Kirsi Yliniemi (electrochemistry and functional materials)

    *For Soft Materials Modelling, see section "Assignment: molecular simulations of fracture mechanics in metals". Any student on the course can take this personal research assignment (see instructions for details).

    This course can be taken throughout the year.

    Timetable is agreed between student and supervisor.

    5 cr corresponds to 135 hours.

    NOTE also that in order to get the course credits for 2021-2022 academic year, the absolute final deadline for the project report  is

    June 30th, 2022

    The grade of a report submitted after this deadline will be automatically reduced by 1 grade (i.e. if your supervisor gives you grade 5 but you submitted the report to MyCourses after June 30th 2022, the final grade is 4, etc.. In the case of late return, if you are not enrolled for academic year 2022-2023, you do not get any credit at all. 


    To be able to pass this course, please

    1. Decide which scientific area interests you, and contact the person of that field, named in the list above. 
    2. Agree on the more detailed topic and timetable with the supervisor.
      Please note: this means you are committing to this topic and agreed timetable.
    3. Perform the research according to agreed timetable. 
    4. Attend one of the Manuscript Workshop (3 h) (ZOOM for Manuscript Workshops)
      • Friday 19th November 2021, 09:15-12:00
      • Friday 21st January 2022, 09:15-12:00
    5. After you have performed the research assignment, analyse your results and write a report using the provided Report Format (can be found from MyCourses / Report Format and Grading Criteria ). Remember, plagiarism is not allowed, you are NOT allowed to copy any text from any type of source (not even one sentence).
    6. Depending on your agreement with the supervisor, submit the report either to MyCourses (remember to inform about submission also by email) or directly by email to the supervisor. Your supervisor grades the work based on the grading matrix (can be found from MyCourses / Report Format and Grading Criteria )
    7. Any problems or questions, you can contact the responsible teacher, prof. Sami Franssila.

    You can also suggest your own research topic to the professor whose research field is closest to your topic.
    If the assignment is done somewhere else (e.g. in other departments at Aalto, at VTT or in industry),
     the student must present a short work plan for the professor in charge ( Prof. Sami Franssila) BEFORE starting the work.