New PhD students start at IST Austria

On September 15, 16 new students joined IST Austria to pursue their PhD. They are the second intake of students for the IST graduate school, and were selected from 638 applications for entry in 2011. The international outlook of IST Austria is reflected in the countries of origin of the new cohort of PhD students, coming from eleven different nations including China, the US and Mexico; four Austrians are also among the PhD students starting at IST Austria. Currently, 33 students are enrolled in the IST graduate school.

The interdisciplinary nature of research at the IST and of its graduate program attracted many of the new students. For Sebastian Novak, who previously studied Biomathematics at the University of Vienna, joining the IST “is a great opportunity to work with brilliant people from various fields and experience the emergence of a new research institute”. The excellent location of the institute and the possibility to do fundamental research were the main attractions of IST Austria for Ekaterina Puklyakova, who earned an MA in Biology at Lomonosov Moscow State University.

The PhD students are now in the first phase of the IST Austria graduate program, during which they complete three laboratory rotations and study an advanced interdisciplinary curriculum. Upon successfully passing the qualifying exam, students join research groups at IST Austria to pursue their doctoral research.