The girls took part in two interactive workshops organized by the JKU’s Department of Gender & Diversity Management. After a tour of the main campus library and brief campus tour, Univ. Prof. Sabine Hild (Institute of Polymer Technologies) and Univ. Prof. Armando Rastelli (Institute for Semiconductor and Solid State Physics) once again organized exciting, hands-on workshops.

Students at the Institute of Polymer Technologies dove into the world of chemistry by conducting nitrogen experiments on yogurt cups, making a small rubber ball, and using an injection moulding machine to make their own shopping cart chip.

Students at the physics institute learned how to put on special protective lab suits, hoods, gloves and shoes in order to enter an Iso Class 5 clean room. Each student was then allowed to independently conduct science experiments such as apply photoresist on to a small silicon sample and expose and develop it under UV light. It was a very special look at research currently being conducted at the JKU‘s Institute for Semiconductor and Solid State Physics.

The feedback was positive and five girls at the Girls’ Day event expressed a strong interest in perhaps one day pursuing a degree in engineering or natural sciences.