Two for one
Student will write one thesis based on his work at Ryerson and a German university and receive two PhDs
By Tatjana Lazar
The thought of receiving two PhDs seems like a dream for some students, but not for German student Martin Hohmann, who will soon become the first student at Ryerson to work at two universities and earn two PhDs at the same time.
In late August, Hohmann arrived at Ryerson to begin a joint PhD program through Ryerson and Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) in Germany. In a year from now, Hohmann will return to FAU to study for approximately two more years, and when he completes his thesis, he will receive two PhDs- one in biomedical physics from Ryerson and one in engineering from FAU.
This joint program has been designed especially for Hohmann, who is currently a second-year candidate at the Chair of Photonic Technologies and School of Advanced Optical Technologies at FAU. Hohmann's work will be supervised by both Alexandre Sasha Douplik from Ryerson's Department of Physics, who recently joined Ryerson from FAU, and Michael Schmidt at FAU.
This collaboration first took shape in 2011, when the Department of Physics at Ryerson and the School of Advanced Optical Technologies in Germany signed an agreement of co-operation. The two schools had been interested in co-operating in the field of scientific research and higher education for some time. The signing of the agreement then led to the formation of a contract known as a cotutelle agreement, which enabled Hohmann's joint PhD program.
"We are delighted to engage in exchange opportunities that extend Ryerson's reach internationally and afford interactions that promote excellence and reciprocal benefits for the students, faculty members, and programs at the institutions involved," says Jennifer Mactavish, dean of the Yeates School of Graduate Studies.
The agreement is expected to help advance the educational and research experience of doctoral students. By working on a joint research project and writing his PhD thesis at two universities in two different countries, Hohmann will gain new insights, benefit from the different facilities available at both schools, and help create a stronger link between the two programs and universities.
Ana Pejović-Milić, interim chair of the department of Physics, believes that setting up joint research projects and exchanges of researchers and graduate students is very important for carrying out the research projects in the physics department. "We are very pleased to welcome Mr. Hohmann at our department," she says. Hohmann may be the first graduate student benefiting from this international agreement and collaboration, but Milić hopes he will not be the last.
For his part, Hohmann is looking forward to the work ahead, and counts himself lucky to have this unique opportunity. "You need a certain base level of knowledge and abilities, curiosity for the new things and possibilities. The rest is luck," he says.