Call for applications for 2015 Aalto Science Institute (AScI) Internships

The AScI internship program offers undergraduate students (BSc level) the opportunity to participate in topical research at Aalto University and to establish their international academic network. Students who are not yet connected with Aalto University are especially encouraged to apply. For more information on the program, see the official web page

You can apply using the online Application Form

Key dates:

Applications open
05.12.2014 00:01:00 EET
Applications close
02.02.2015 23:59:00 EET
Decisions
15.3.2015

Overview

These four independent projects all relate to the theme of meta-materials, which will be explored from the perspectives of physics and math. The idea is that the projects will mix theoretical investigation with practical experimentation.

The projects will be hosted at AScI and supervised jointly by:

Departments involved are:

With additional support from

  • The AScI Thematic Program “Challenges in Large Geometric Structures and Big Data” (financial support)
  • Aalto Media Factory’s Fab Lab (time on laser cutters, 3-d printers, and CNC machines)

About AScI Internships

AScI interns will work with mentors at the Aalto Science Institute (AScI) in Otaniemi.

Dates: The internships run from June 1–August 31 (can be flexible)

Salary: About €1600/month, depending on experience (e.g., credits earned).

Additional perks: In addition, AScI interns receive

  • Reimbursement for an economy class round-trip ticket to the country where they study
  • Finnish language and culture classes in June and July
  • The possibility to rent housing from the Aalto Student’s Union at below-market rates

EU or Finnish residency is not required to take up the internship. (Citizens of Annex II countries do not need to apply in advance for an entry visa of any type. Aalto Human Resources will give specific instructions to selected students.)

Project descriptions

Design of mechanical meta-materials

Field of study: Structural mechanics, Physics, Applied Mathematics

Contact person(s): Marcelo, Daniel, Louis

Professor: Olli Ikkala

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Mechanical structures (including 2-d and 3-d lattices, polyhedral surfaces, etc.) have recently been shown to display a wide variety of interesting behaviour including:

  • negative Poisson’s ratio
  • negative coefficient of thermal expansion
  • symmetric collapses.

In this project, we will try to understand the kinematics and mechanics of of these kinds of materials via simple modelling and table-top experiments, using 3-d printing.

You will learn how to create mechanical meta-materials in the lab and gain intuition through interacting with them experimentally. Then you’ll see how to formalise your hypotheses in terms of equilibrium analysis of elastic and stiff materials.

Students in physics or mechanical engineering are especially encouraged to apply. Some experience with lab work or 3-d printing will be helpful, but is not required.

Physics and geometry of structural mechanics

Field of study: Structural mechanics, Physics, (Applied) Mathematics

Contact persons: Daniel, Marcelo, Louis

Professor: Mikko Alava

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The mechanics of soft materials allows structures to be designed that undergo large elastic deformations. Understanding these theoretically is challenging, because these deformations tend to exhibit geometric non-linearity, even for structures designed from simple, repeating motifs.

In this project we will explore how elastic instability can be utilised to bring about novel, global mechanical properties. Following theoretical analysis, the possibility of fabrication of such geometries will be explored.

You will learn the geometrical tools to understand the kinematics and degrees of freedom in a structure; how to derive constitutive laws; and how to derive the mechanical equilibrium equations for the structure, perform instability analysis and perturbation theory.

Students in physics or applied mathematics are especially encouraged to apply. Some experience with numerical simulations, and finite element methods will be helpful but not required. Some programming skill (e.g., Mathematica, MATLAB, Python, Java) is necessary.

Boundary effects in isostatic systems

Field of study: Math, Physics

Contact persons: Louis, Daniel, Marcelo

Professor: Petteri Kaski

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Networks of stiff bars connected by rotational joints have recently been shown to exhibit behaviors associated with soft matter and quantum systems. Because these kinds of networks (and also ones arising in jamming) are either flexible or isostatic, boundary conditions used either in theoretical analysis or simulations take on an extra significance.

In this project, we will explore how different kinds of boundary conditions affect what can be seen about the geometry of bulk motions.

You will learn the mathematical and computational tools for analyzing linkages. Then you will apply them for making theoretical predictions about how boundary conditions on finite patches of large systems affect what can be seen. To get intuition, you will create models using 3-d printing and laser cutter.

Configuration space design for origami sheets and lattice-linkages

Field of study: Math, Physics, Computer Science

Contact persons: Louis, Marcelo, Daniel

Professor: Petteri Kaski

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For finite linkages, Kempe’s Universality Theorem states, roughly, that any algebraic curve can be traced out by a mechanical linkage. Recently, linkages made by repeating small units have gotten a lot of attention because they can be adapted to exhibit a wide variety of interesting behaviors.

In this project, we will look at these stiff systems from the algebraic perspective, and try to understand how the topology of the unit cell or crease pattern can affect the geometric behavior.

You will learn the mathematical and computational background for explicitly computing configuration spaces of small examples and how to express interesting physical properties algebraic-geometrically. After analyzing existing examples, you will try to derive a set of gadgets that can be used to generate pre-specified motions. Along they way, you’ll build models to test out new idea and get a feel for the problem.

Experience with computer algebra systems such as Macaulay 2 is helpful, but not required.