Celebrating Our First Student’s Success

We are thrilled to announce that our first student, Samantha Weindel, has successfully completed her project. This is a significant milestone for our lab as Samantha is the first student to graduate from our group.

Samantha has learned remarkable independence throughout her project, which is very unusual at her educational level as a Bachelor’s student. She quickly learned how to plan her experiments and made significant improvements during her time in the lab. Her positive attitude and genuine interest in the topic have greatly contributed to a positive group climate.

As her supervisor, I had the pleasure of witnessing her growth firsthand. Providing her with feedback was an enjoyable process, and I am proud to have been part of her journey.

Recently, Samantha defended her thesis, marking the end of her time as a bachelor's student. In a LinkedIn post, she expressed her gratitude:

“I am thrilled to say that my thesis has successfully been defended. With this, my time as a bachelor student has come to an end. I want to thank Verena Kohler for her patience, guidance and for putting her trust in me. This time has taught me a lot about science and myself, and I consider myself lucky for having such a positive experience. Major thanks also to Zhwan Karim and Mostafa Basiony for being amazing Lab mates.”

This might not be the main reason why I love to supervise young talents, but it definitely is the cherry on top and this post made my day.

As we celebrate Samantha’s achievement, we also feel a sense of sadness that this chapter has ended. However, we are excited to follow her future journey and are confident that she will continue to excel in her endeavours.

Congratulations, Samantha!