Aidan on co-op in Berlin, Germany
Discovering undergraduate research in his sophomore year was a game changer for materials science and engineering senior Aidan Cotton. “Being in the lab completely changed my outlook and really got me into seeing academic research as a viable path,” Aidan said. “Since then, I’ve been getting my hands dirty as much as possible in the lab.”
After first exploring polymers, Aidan found his research home in the Drexel Nanomaterials Institute (DNI) working on MXene synthesis. MXene, discovered at Drexel in 2011, is a two-dimensional material with numerous exceptional properties. Its potential to bring advances in energy storage, electromagnetic shielding, water desalination, telecommunication and more have sparked investigations all around the world. In the DNI, Aidan has made many types of MXene for the group’s research and for other collaborators in industry and academia.
Aidan was able to leverage his work in the DNI to land a co-op abroad through the DAAD Research Internships in Science and Engineering (RISE) program in Germany. DAAD RISE provides undergraduate students studying in North America, Great Britain and Ireland a stipend and travel support to conduct research with universities and research institutions in Germany for a period of two to three months over the summer. Due to world-wide interest in MXene research, Aidan was selected for a DAAD RISE project exploring MXene synthesis, characterization and testing for energy storage applications at Technische Universität Berlin.
Since DAAD RISE doesn’t meet the minimum co-op duration, to be able to participate students need to find an additional short-term co-op experience, which can be a daunting task. Recognizing that this could prevent students from taking advantage of these valuable experiences, Drexel’s Research Fellowship Supplement Program (RFSP) offers students additional support to conduct research on-campus in combination with DAAD RISE. Aidan was able to use this fund to continue conducting research in the DNI before heading off to Germany for co-op abroad.
Although he had already worked with MXene at Drexel, the research he was involved in abroad provided an exciting new experience with the material. “The research I was involved in was something I had never done before,” said Aidan. “The type of synthesis was new, and I had a mentor who was very proactive, very creative, and energetic. He wanted nothing but the best for the project and he wanted me to have the best experience that I could possibly have over the three months I was in Berlin.”
As it turned out, Aidan’s participation in the program was a significant benefit to the researchers he worked with as well. Because the lab had just recently began exploring MXene’s potential to advance their ongoing research, Aidan's prior knowledge and experience was tremendously valuable to their investigation. “I was able to explain things to my advisor and walk them through things I know, and they were relying on me for input which was a real confidence boost,” he explained. Recognizing his proficiency with MXene, his advisor also gave him autonomy to develop MXene related research projects that he thought of on his own. Now in his senior year, Aidan notes, “I’m still exploring them back here at Drexel, and I hope that something good will come of it.”