News › ZEISS · Micro­sco­pes for Stu­dent Rese­arch Cen­ter Gera

Taking a clo­ser look at che­mis­try phe­no­mena in the Rese­ar­chers‹ Club

ZEISS is sup­port­ing the Gera Stu­dent Rese­arch Cen­ter (SFZ) with eight ZEISS Stemi 305 micro­sco­pes and a ZEISS Pri­mo­star 3 plus access­ories. The scope of deli­very also includes a digi­tal camera, which is now available for pro­jects and rese­arch work.

»We are plea­sed that we have been able to expand our range for young rese­ar­chers with the micro­sco­pes. They can now examine samples even more pre­cis­ely,« explai­ned Susanne Seu­pel, head of the Gera Stu­dent Rese­arch Cen­ter, at the offi­cial han­do­ver on April 24, 2023. She super­vi­ses the Che­mis­try Rese­ar­chers‹ Club every Tues­day bet­ween 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., where mainly expe­ri­ments from the world of che­mis­try are worked on. »Of course, this is now much more vivid and exci­ting with the micro­sco­pes. Ever­yone is thril­led,« Seu­pel said.

The micro­sco­pes are also used in the open rese­arch time that takes place every Wed­nes­day after­noon. Child­ren and young peo­ple bet­ween the ages of 10 and 18 can work on STEM topics and, for exam­ple, pro­jects for Jugend forscht, Germany’s best-known com­pe­ti­tion for young rese­ar­chers. The SFZ Gera pro­vi­des sup­port in brain­stor­ming, with mate­ri­als and equip­ment, and in imple­men­ta­tion. Accor­ding to Seu­pel, the modern micro­sco­pes are an excel­lent addi­tion to the range of ser­vices. Fur­ther­more, they will be available for free loan to coope­ra­ting schools in the MINT region of Eas­tern Thuringia.

»The easy-to-use ste­reo micro­sco­pes all have inte­gra­ted LED illu­mi­na­tion and a camera con­nec­tion option,« said ZEISS micro­scope spe­cia­list Man­fred Barth, who demons­tra­ted how the micro­sco­pes work. »This allows stu­dents to observe spe­ci­mens with up to 40x magni­fi­ca­tion. The ZEISS Pri­mo­star can even magnify 400 times and has a con­nec­ted digi­tal camera that can also be used to dis­play images of the spe­ci­mens for ever­yone via bea­mer, for example.«

Using ZEISS micro­sco­pes should open the door to the world of rese­arch for young peo­ple and awa­ken their enthu­si­asm for nature and tech­no­logy. For ZEISS as a tech­no­logy lea­der, the inte­rest of child­ren and young peo­ple in sci­ence and tech­no­logy is the dri­ving force and basis for suc­cess. The pro­mo­tion of edu­ca­tion and sci­ence has a long tra­di­tion at ZEISS and is an inte­gral part of the cor­po­rate philosophy.

The ZEISS Spon­sor­ship Fund was estab­lished in 2011. The focus of the fund is on edu­ca­tion. Initia­ti­ves and edu­ca­tio­nal pro­grams for child­ren and young peo­ple to awa­ken their curio­sity and enthu­si­asm for sci­ence and tech­no­logy are sup­ported, as are pro­jects at uni­ver­si­ties to deve­lop the skills of stu­dents of sci­ence and engi­nee­ring in the key tech­no­lo­gies of optics and pho­to­nics. Pro­jects in the areas of cul­ture, social affairs and popu­lar sports are also sup­ported at the ZEISS sites. To date, the ZEISS Spon­sor­ship Fund has sup­ported over 1,300 pro­jects with around 10 mil­lion euros.

The SFZ Gera is one of curr­ently ele­ven stu­dent rese­arch cen­ters in the Free State, which was estab­lished as a joint pro­ject of the Thu­rin­gian Minis­try of Edu­ca­tion, Youth and Sports (TMBJS), the Thu­rin­gian Minis­try of Eco­no­mics, Sci­ence and Digi­tal Society (TMWWDG), the Thu­rin­gian Foun­da­tion for Tech­no­logy, Inno­va­tion and Rese­arch (STIFT) and regio­nal part­ners in Thu­rin­gia. The extra­cur­ri­cu­lar acti­vi­ties in the stu­dent rese­arch cen­ters make STEM topics tan­gi­ble and tan­gi­ble for inte­res­ted and talen­ted child­ren and young peo­ple. Here, stu­dents can inde­pendently deve­lop their own rese­arch and pro­ject work under pro­fes­sio­nal supervision.

Foun­ded in 2016, the focus of the SFZ Gera is on the rese­ar­cher work­shop with 3D prin­ter, microelec­tro­nics, robo­tics and its own che­mis­try track. In addi­tion to the TMBJS, its sup­port­ers include the city of Gera, the Duale Hoch­schule Gera-Eisen­ach, the Fede­ral Minis­try of Edu­ca­tion and Rese­arch, the Stif­ter­ver­band für die deut­sche Wis­sen­schaft and the Kör­ber Foun­da­tion. In 2022, it was awarded 1st place in the newly awarded cate­gory »Inno­va­tive Stu­dent Rese­arch Cen­ter« at the annual con­fe­rence of Lern­ort­La­bor – Bun­des­ver­band der Schü­ler­la­bore e. V. for its con­cept on »hybrid tea­ching-lear­ning con­cepts to reach rural areas with extra­cur­ri­cu­lar STEM edu­ca­tion opportunities«.

Fur­ther information

www.jungforscher-thueringen.de