More than 350 students from the Hamburg metropolitan region visited TU Hamburg to experience research, technology, and industry up close at this year's MINT Experience Day. The event was once again organized as part of the NachwuchsCampus project and was aimed at school classes interested in STEM, individual participants in grades 8 to 13, and anyone in the metropolitan region interested in STEM.
At around 20 hands-on and information stands, TU institutes, initiatives, and companies from the region offered a wide range of insights into the world of engineering and natural sciences. Partners included Airbus, DESY, Merck, Shell, Stadtreinigung Hamburg, the Mercedes-Benz plant in Hamburg, and other well-known companies from industry, technology, energy, and digitalization. Internal TU offerings such as Robotik@TUHH, the orientation program, and the special research area “Smart Reactors” were also represented. Several TUHH institutes took the opportunity to present themselves and their diverse degree programs through selected exhibits and activities, while also advising young people on choosing the right degree program. The DLR_School_Lab once again organized workshops and lab tours for registered high school groups.
The hands-on stations with small STEM activities such as rivet squeezing, pH value analyses, electronic circuits, and titration experiments, as well as exhibits from current research at the TUHH, generated particular enthusiasm for STEM subjects. The visit was accompanied by a rally format that motivated the young people to actively ask questions, try out experiments, and exchange ideas with trainees, students, and experts. In this way, the foundation for future internships and training positions was laid on the day of the event, and young people were able to find their dream degree program.
The MINT Experience Day is part of the TU Hamburg's NachwuchsCampus project, which has been running for 12 years. The project aims to inspire young people to take an interest in science and technology. Through cooperation between schools, universities, and industry, the project aims to promote interest in STEM training and degree programs, with an emphasis on the importance of engineering. To this end, the “NachwuchsCampus” team develops online offerings, experiment kits, and projects that can be tested in school classes, particularly in grades 8-13. The project is a cooperation model between TU Hamburg, the Economic Association for the South of Hamburg, the “KinderForscher an der TUHH” working group at the Institute of Technical Biocatalysis at TUHH, and the Hamburg Authority for Economy and Innovation.
For more information about the project and how companies and schools can participate, visit www.nachwuchscampus.de.
