The Media Computing Group: Thesis, Hiwi, and Internship Opportunities

We have the following openings. Please check back every other month or so, as new positions become available frequently. A good command of English is required for all positions. Experience with Mac OS X is a big plus. If you are interested in any of these positions please contact us.

PhD Candidates (Doktoranden)

Download our PhD Openings Info Sheet.

We have several openings for fully funded PhD students coming up in 2012. These positions generally have a mix of research and teaching duties. For more information about our work, download our PhD Openings Info Sheet and check out our research project pages on the left. If you wonder whether you should apply, please check this list of some characteristics of our successful PhD students, and contact us with your CV, recent projects and interests, to see if there is an open matching position.

Since starting out in 2003, we've become Germany's leading HCI research group in terms of archival CHI publications (see CHI Ranking Germany).

Bachelor's and Master's (including Diploma) Thesis Candidates

We always have interesting thesis topics to work on as part of our research projects. Just contact us with a short mini-CV including your grade transcript, activities, and interests (see below for more details on how to apply).

• Interacting with audio and video (contact Thorsten)
• Mobile guide systems and locative games (contact Gero)
• Multi-touch technology and interaction (contact Simon)
• Mobile and Nomadic Computing (contact Jonathan)
• Information Visualization, Zoomable Interfaces, Coding Support (contact Leonhard)
• Sustainability in HCI (contact Florian)
• Physical interaction with audio (contact Florian)
• User interfaces for software developers (contact Moritz)
• 3D and gesture interfaces (contact Max)
• Personal Fabrication, Wearable and Physical Computing (contact René)
• Accessibility (contact Chat)
• Other topics in HCI and Media Computing, e.g., HCI Design Patterns: contact us.

Student assistants (Hiwis)

• We are always looking for dedicated, self-reliant student assistants. Just talk to the PhD student of your choice, or contact us for more information.

UROP: Summer Research Internships for North American Undergrads

Are you an undergraduate student from the U.S. or Canada? Each summer, you can get involved in exciting research projects at our lab - and you get a stipend to cover your living expenses too! Check out the UROP pages, and contact us to apply and identify a project together. See below for some helpful information to include in your email to us.

How to apply for B.Sc./M.Sc./Diploma theses, Hiwi jobs or internships

Send a 2-page academic CV, along with a copy of your grade record from the university so far, as PDF to Clarissa de Gavarelli. If you have a B.Sc. or Vordiplom, include a copy as well. The CV should include a short listing of your academic and, if applicable, professional career, a list of your interests and skills, short details about any projects you've worked on at the university or outside, and a bit about yourself. In particular, point out anything you may have done that is related to HCI, or any publications you have already had.

Of course you should mention if you have any special topics or project ideas you're excited about, but note that "skills and interests" is not project-related ("I want to do something with haptics"), but orthogonal to that. For most projects in our group, we need students with a variety of skills and interests, e.g.,

• software development (especially Cocoa),
• hardware and electronics (e.g., Arduino),
• algorithms and mathematics (e.g., signal processing),
• interface and graphic design, or
• user study design and evaluation.

If you tell us your skills and interests, we can find those projects together that match your strengths best. The students that are most highly sought after are those that combine an excellent grade record with useful skills in the above areas, and who are willing to work with us within one of the larger projects and topics we are working on in our lab. If you have a specific "pet project" that you really want to do for your thesis, or if you want to do your thesis elsewhere, be aware that our group may be able to offer you less support. Look for synergies between your own interests and the interests of our researchers.

After you send us those materials, we'll contact you to get together for project ideas. You can also contact individual PhD students directly after sending those materials, if you think they might be a good match. If you don't hear from us within two weeks, please contact us.

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