Topic outline

  • General

    Content: Students work individually or in small groups with an aim of developing a material or product of renewable carbon sources. The course is student-driven, and the role of the tutors is to support students’ working process.

    Learning goals:

    • In depth knowledge on selected biobased materials and technologies
    • Knowledge on planning, executing, documenting, communicating and presenting experimental working processes and results in a professional way
    • Ability to develop innovative ideas through interdisciplinary collaboration, experimenting with materials and hands-on prototyping

    Evaluation criteria:  Idea development and working process (50%), documentation of the working process and results (project report) (25%), outcome and seminar presentation (25%).

    Schedule for laboratory work: Send your laboratory work schedule, indicating the days and times that you are planning to work in the CHEMARTS lab to janika.lehtonen@aalto.fi before you begin the laboratory work for this course. Below are listed the times that it is possible to work in the lab, so please plan your schedule accordingly.

    CHEMARTS laboratory working times July-August (please note that especially during 7.8-18.8 the use of the laboratory is quite restricted due to the Nordic biomaterials with CHEMARTS course):

    Week 27: Tue 4.7 9-12, Wed 5.7 – Fri 7.7 9-15

    Week 28: Mon 10.7 - Thu 13.7 9-15

    Week 29: Mon 17.7 - Thu 20.7 9-15

    Week 30: Mon 24.7 - Thu 27.7 9-15

    Week 31: Mon 31.7-Fri 4.8 9-15

    Week 32: Mon 7.8 9-14, Wed 9.8 9-15

    Week 33: Thu 17.8 12-15, Fri 18.8 9-15

    Final report: A final report, presenting the results of the project, should be submitted at the end of the course (DL 4.9.23). The format is free, but here is a sample structure that can be used:

    Introduction: Introduce your project topic and the goals of the project.

    Materials and methods: Introduce the materials that you have used and why you chose to use them. Present documentation of your experiments in the laboratory (for example in the form of photos you have taken and also describe shortly how your samples were produced). 

    Results and conclusions: Describe what you achieved in your project. Describe how the goals were achieved and you can also discuss challenges that you had during the process. Suggestions for future research can be included (for example, what would still need to be improved in the material/production process for the application of the material). Here are examples of other aspects that you can cover:

    • How could the envisioned product be manufactured?
    • Who would use the product, how would it benefit the society or solve a problem?
    • How could the product be reused or disposed of after its lifetime?

    References: Include a reference list in the end and remember to also mark the references in the text and under images/figures.

    Please also include a daily work log as an attachment to your final report, indicating the total hours you have spent working on the project. 

    Final presentation: Prepare a 10-15 min presentation for the final seminar. The seminar will take place at the end of the course (date and time will be announced in August). The presentation should include an introduction to your project and a summary of the main results. 

    Contact information: 

    Pirjo Kääriäinen, pirjo.kaariainen@aalto.fi, on holiday 29.6-1.8

    Tapani Vuorinen, tapani.vuorinen@aalto.fi, on holiday 1.7-1.8

    Janika Lehtonen, janika.lehtonen@aalto.fi, on holiday 8.7-31.7

    Pia Johansson, pia.s.johansson@aalto.fi


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