High school students dedicate their Easter break to the engineering sciences
The student internship in “Process Engineering and Technical Cybernetics” at the Max Planck Institute in Magdeburg starts on 30 March 2026
Sixteen high school students from Saxony-Anhalt, Baden-Württemberg, Hessen, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Poland will spend their Easter break from March 30 to April 2, 2026, in the lab and in the lecture hall. The internship, organized by the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems and the Faculty of Process and Systems Engineering at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, fosters a fundamental interest in and enjoyment of science and technical topics, and provides insight into how research institutions operate.
The STEM internship on “Process Engineering and Technical Cybernetics” for high school students aged 16 and older expands their understanding of fundamental concepts beyond what is taught in school and applies them in practical contexts - for example, exploring the concept of cybernetics.
Intense work in small groups
The internship program includes lectures and experiments in electrochemistry and fuel cells, the future of energy storage and conversion, technical processes for producing purified chemical products such as crystallization and chromatography—and methods for mathematically modeling scientific phenomena, all of which help students build on their prior knowledge. The experiments, which are scheduled to last two to two and a half hours, involve a significant amount of individual work in the labs and at the computer workstations.
The students will get a taste of how process and energy technology is applied in everyday practice during a joint excursion, which this time will take them to the biomass thermal power plant operated by Magdeburg's municipal energy company.
Open and direct exchange
Discussions with current students, doctoral candidates, and alumni - including, this year, the award-winning biosystems engineer and cyberneticist Dr.-Ing. Laura König-Mattern - highlight a wide variety of career paths and academic opportunities.
In an environment where the supervisors of the internship program interact with the pupils in an open, respectful, and collaborative manner, the young people integrate into the daily routines of the institute and the university for one week.
Participants appreciate the insights into current research projects and academic work, as well as the preview of university life, as valuable tools to help them decide on a degree program or career path.
