Attracting and promoting talent
- Institute for Theoretical Physics (ITP)
- Master-Studierende
- D-PHYS
- Physik MSc
ETH Zurich is a magnet for talented people from all over the world. It also thrives to attract the greatest talents for its Master’s programme. Five outstanding students started their Master's in Physics in September 2021 with a ETH Excellence Scholarship. This support enables them to concentrate fully on their studies – or to study at ETH Zurich at all.
The Excellence Scholarship Programme, is funded entirely by donors, and provides Master’s students with a mentor, covers their study and living costs, offers opportunities to build a network of peers, and to establish contacts with industry. The programme has been in existence since 2007. The recipients of the Excellence Scholarship at the Department of Physics are from Mexico, Italy, China, Austria, and Germany, and know what they want to put their energy into. Here, they share how they prepared themselves and their experience at the start of their Master’s programme.
Daniel Augusto Ortuño González – Monterrey, Mexico
“At the University of Monterrey, where I did my Bachelor's degree, the Bachelor's programme is longer than in Switzerland. In addition to the main subjects, culture and business administration are also taught,” explains Daniel Augusto Ortuño González. “Although there are many intelligent young people in Mexico, only about 15 percent of them are able to study and of these, only about eight percent go on to pursue a Master's degree or doctorate,” considers Ortuño González. To finance his Bachelor’s studies, he worked full-time in applied research as a statistician for an energy consulting company. As a Bachelor exchange student at EPFL, the ETH in Lausanne, Ortuño González observed that people in Europe are sometimes too little aware of the great opportunities they have.
Self-directed studies
At EPFL and as an exchange student in the USA, Ortuño González’ desire to pursue a Master's in Theoretical Physics at ETH Zurich grew. He likes the highly focused learning at ETH just as much as its didactic concept, which allows students to study in a self-directed way driven by their curiosity. In contrast, he notes, in Mexico assignments must be handed in within short deadlines. “Switzerland's open attitude to basic research excites me,” he says, “because in the USA I sometimes had the feeling that research was more specifically geared towards trends and well-publicised topics and took greater account of financial motives.”
A dream comes true
Ortuño González’ dream would have been unaffordable without an excellence grant. The joy after the acceptance into the programme was all the greater, because he is the first scholarship holder from Mexico to study Physics with an Excellence Scholarship. After completing his Master's degree, Ortuño González sees his future in research and teaching. He not only enjoys teaching himself, but also teaching others.
Carla Anais Ferradini – Rome, Italy
Carla Anais Ferradini does not see such a big difference between the University of Rome, where she obtained her Bachelor’s degree and ETH in terms of the system, but she definitely finds the environment at ETH Zurich more challenging. “From the beginning of my Bachelor’s studies, I knew that I wanted to go abroad for my Master's studies, and ETH Zurich was a very good option for that,” says Ferradini. This was her motivation to apply for the Excellence Scholarship Programme.
Getting the conversation going
“During my first week at ETH Zurich, I visited the Quantum Center's Flagship Forum. There, I talked to members of the Quantum Information Theory group, and they offered me a semester project in Quantum Foundations and Causality,” Ferradini says about her start. “I was lucky, because it is not so easy to find a suitable project for a term paper. More and more students at ETH Zurich are becoming interested in conducting their research in quantum physics, so there is a lot of competition for the few available places.”
Faculty of Theoretical Physics
Now Ferradini is particularly looking forward to working in the research group of ETH Professor Renato Renner, who has agreed to mentor her as part of the programme. “I find quantum information theory exciting, because we can gain unexpected insights by questioning and examining the theoretical foundations. And that is just with our thoughts and in exchange with other people.” She adds, “For me, theoretical and experimental physics form a greater whole because they complement each other.”
Making friends quickly
What Ferradini particularly appreciates about Zurich is the short travel times. “Unlike in Rome, in Zurich you can get anywhere quickly. This gives me more time for my studies and, of course, also for leisure,” she says. She also plans to pursue her doctorate in Zurich and continue her research at a university. Becoming a physics professor is a long-term goal she can imagine well. Ferradini is enthusiastic about her acceptance into the Excellence Scholarship Programme. “Only recently, we made a trip to the ETH spin-off “Planted”. There, we not only saw how an idea reaches market maturity but also met our peers from other semesters. This exchange is valuable, and it's also a great way to make friends quickly.”
Zhuotao Jin – Hefei, China
“Right now, my term paper is so exciting that I couldn't join the programme’s field trip,” says Zhuotao Jin. He started his Bachelor’s degree in Hefei two years earlier than usual. He chose the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) because of its strength in Physics. “Most of my fellow students go to the USA after that – also because of the system there offering combined Master’s and PhD programmes. This makes career planning more secure, because applying only for the Master’s scholarship can be a career risk,” Jin reflects. “I still chose ETH Zurich after comparing online lectures at different universities. The lectures and the wide range of courses convinced me, and in addition, Chinese ETH students recommended studying here.”
Recommendations are important
Jin's study advisors and lecturers also recommended ETH Zurich to him, in particular ETH Professor Manfred Sigrist. How did this come about? “I like to tackle advanced problems through direct interaction,” says Jin. “I read an exciting book by Tai-Kai Ng, a physics professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and talked to him afterwards about his book and my plans. Since Manfred Sigrist is also well-known in Hong Kong, Ng recommended that I contact him, because Sigrist's field of expertise, “Superconductivity and Condensed Matter Physics”, is what interests me the most. Professor Sigrist then agreed to being my mentor,” says Jin happily. “This is just one of many examples. I would like to mention all the people who have supported me by name here.”
Outside of Europe, different approaches to studying
Thanks to his scholarship, Jin can devote himself completely to his studies. He is the first Excellence Scholar from China to study Physics. “To be the first Excellence Scholar from China to study Physics makes me proud,” he says. “Because in our country hardly anyone is accepted for this scholarship programme, probably because this form of application is unfamiliar to many non-European students: it requires the applicant to write the application independently and use standard scientific citation. In contrast, in China students are used to working exclusively with a given problem.”
Living in Switzerland
In his free time, Jin plays table tennis and tennis, he loves long-distance running and getting to know Switzerland through hiking. He says that he was looking forward to that and has everything else he needs in Switzerland. But sometimes he longs for really good Chinese food. “That's hard to find in Zurich – especially on the ETH Hönggerberg campus, where everything is closed after I finish work late. Then, I sometimes think of my student friend from Hefei, who is now studying at the Max Planck Institute in Munich, and wants to visit me at ETH Zurich,” he remarks with anticipation.
Maximilian Hofer – Feldkirch, Austria
Like Jin, Maximilian Hofer also knew early on where his strengths lay: while still at secondary school in Feldkirch, he won the Austrian Mathematical Olympiad and thereby qualified for the International Mathematical Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro. Two years before he started his Bachelor's studies at ETH Zurich, he had already registered with the student residence in Zurich. Only three weeks before the start of the semester, he luckily received the acceptance letter. “In the physics programme at ETH, you don't just learn mathematics for physicists, but also for mathematicians. So I still had a year to decide which Bachelor's programme to choose,” Hofer recalls.
Master's degree in High Energy Physics
After obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Physics, Hofer has decided to pursue a Master’s degree in High Energy Physics, which is conducted in equal parts in Zurich and Paris. “This guarantees a change of perspective abroad, even in times of Corona, and at the same time meets my high expectations for my studies,” Hofer reflects. “Through the additional semester of this Master's programme, I hope to gain a broader view.” By choosing this programme, Hofer can turn to two ETH professors as mentors: Charalampos Anastasiou and Matthias Gaberdiel, whose lectures in general relativity and classical mechanics have inspired him.
The scholarship application process is helpful
Hofer found the topic for the required project pre-proposal in the Excellence Scholarship application by searching the internet for publications. He then contacted the authors of the publications that most corresponded to his research interests and prepared his project pre-proposal. Subsequently, the authors offered him a semester project in their research group in his chosen field. “So, the application for the excellence Scholarship supports the whole process, regardless of the acceptance for the scholarship,” Hofer reflects. After obtaining his Master's degree, Hofer would like to earn a doctorate and then pursue an academic career.
Max Schäfer – Freiberg am Neckar, Germany
“Even colleagues who were not awarded the scholarship found the project pre-proposal, which is required for the application for the Excellence Scholarship, helpful in defining their research interests more clearly,” Max Schäfer observes.” The application process for the Excellence Scholarship also helped Schäfer find the right topic for his term paper: He visited research group websites, decided on a rough direction, looked at current projects, and considered time management as well as lab resources. He is convinced: “It makes sense to plan for and deal with this early on.”
Master's in Physics plus mentorship
“The mentoring is particularly valuable,” agrees Schäfer, who, like Hofer, obtained his Bachelor's degree in Physics at ETH Zurich. While working on his semester thesis in the group of ETH professor Atac Imamoglu, he felt integrated and well supported. Schäfer then decided to pursue a regular Master's in Physics, which does not include dedicated mentoring. In the hope of obtaining mentorship during his Master’s studies, too, he applied for an Excellence Scholarship and was accepted into the programme.
Term paper in the field of quantum computing
Thanks to the excellence scholarship programme, Schäfer was quickly accepted by a suitable research group in the field of Quantum Physics, despite the huge rush for places. “Supervising term papers is an additional effort for research groups”, says Schäfer. “Nevertheless, Professor Ensslin enables many students to gain valuable insights into his group’s research, and I learned a lot. I also receive a lot of support from my current mentor, Professor Wallraff.” Schäfer finds: “It is really important how you feel in a group, because if you want to pursue a doctorate, you commit yourself for some time. He could imagine his future in basic research, perhaps at PSI, IBM, or ETH Zurich.
Establishing worldwide networks
Worldwide networks are valuable for all ETH graduates. After earning their Master’s or PhD degrees, they will not only apply their ideas and know-how in other research centres, but also in industry, in consulting and management, insurance companies or banks, research and teaching, and as secondary school teachers – or in their own spin-offs companies. They will work in Switzerland or elsewhere in their worldwide network – and may one day themselves be recommended to students by a professor in Hong Kong. The Department wishes them all much success and joy in their studies.
Around 500 people currently work in research and support at the Department of Physics at ETH Zurich. 40 research groups conduct research and teach at the department. Around 50 apprentices are doing their vocational training, 1500 people are studying Physics at ETH Zurich, including over 400 in the various Master’s programmes – almost twice as many as 10 years ago.
Facts and Figures ETH Zurich