"It's so green here!"

When Elyssa Kartchner discovered the call for Henrike Zacher’s project and read the 24-year-old’s profile, she quickly made up her mind. The Arizona State University student, who is pursuing a double major in Chemistry and Biophysics and is now entering her third year of undergraduate studies, wanted to experience research abroad – and visit Europe for the first time.

I was very interested in doing research abroad because I think that it allows you to expand your perspective a lot, not only within research but also culturally. Germany was an amazing opportunity for me.

That she eventually arrived in Ilmenau in May 2026 for three months was therefore anything but a coincidence: “It was a stroke of luck that I got here, however” says the undergraduate student. She looked up Ilmenau, saw the small university town – and thought: “Why not?”

A puzzle piece for Green Electronics

Elyssa’s mentor, Henrike Zacher, has been pursuing her PhD in the Ilmenau School of Green Electronics since January 2025, a research program funded by the Carl Zeiss Foundation. Her goal is to further develop electrically conductive polymers so that they can repair oxidative damage themselves in the future.

At the heart of her work are catalysts that can specifically identify and replace damaged sections of polymer chains – potentially creating a sustainable alternative to scarce raw materials in microelectronics:

The goal is to cut out the damaged part of the polymer using a catalyst and insert a healing monomer, so that the polymer chain is restored without further damage. Therefore, we need a catalyst that selectively targets exactly where the damage has occurred.

Elyssa worked on an important part of the project: synthesizing ligands, the molecular building blocks needed for these catalysts, she explains:

It’s like a puzzle piece. When you put the molecules together, it’s a very important piece that you need before you can functionalize the molecule. The functionalization is what makes it actually work. So, if you think of it as a tower, you need to have that piece in place before you can add the final functionalization.

New chemistry, new skills

For Elyssa, the internship also meant entering a completely new field of research. While she mainly studies Biophysical Chemistry and the photophysics of fluorescent DNA molecules in Arizona, organic synthesis chemistry was suddenly on the agenda in Ilmenau.

I’m not an organic chemist at all, so doing synthetic chemistry was a completely new experience for me. I wanted to explore different fields of chemistry beyond what I do back home. Here, I’m actually carrying out reactions, working under inert conditions, and sometimes there’s even smoke coming out of the reactions.

She was particularly impressed by the practical component of German university education: 

Laboratory work is much more closely integrated into coursework here than at my home university.

“The university is more close-knit here”

Alongside her research, Elyssa also discovered a very different side of Germany. The contrast with her home university, with around 150,000 students, could hardly be greater.

The university is much smaller than my home university and it is nice how close-knit people are here. How many people know everybody in your area.

And then there was the nature of Thuringia.

It’s so green! That was actually one of my first impressions of Ilmenau. Where I’m from, it’s not like that.

The quiet atmosphere of the town helped her focus entirely on her research – even though she spent some weekends exploring London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Prague.

Supervision as an opportunity for both sides

The RISE internship was also a first for Henrike Zacher. Her supervisor, Prof. Robert Geitner, made her aware of the DAAD program – and she took the opportunity to supervise an international intern for the first time.

She did a really good job and worked very independently. I think choosing her was a really good decision. It was also a valuable experience for me to take on a supervisory role – not so much managing people, but having someone I was responsible for mentoring and supporting.

The collaboration brought new challenges: communicating in scientific English, different software skills, and different educational backgrounds. But the chemistry was right – also in a figurative sense.

Before, I was mainly used to working with bachelor’s students and other people here in Ilmenau, who all have a similar level of knowledge about the software and the working environment. So I had to communicate a lot more to explain the different programs, software, and workflows. Also, I normally speak German, so now I was forced to speak English. I think this also helped me improve my scientific English.

A summer to remember

Three months of laboratory work, weekly seminars with the research group, and exchanges with students and researchers from different countries have left a lasting impression on Elyssa’s perspective on science.

Her personal conclusion is unequivocal:

“Ilmenau in a nutshell for me: It was very educational. I learned so much that I can’t even summarize how much I’ve learned while I was here. I would say it was quiet, because it’s a smaller university. It’s been a very nice summer, and I’ve been able to focus much more on my research, which has been really great. I’d also say it was exciting. I’m just so happy to be here, to be honest. This has been a dream come true. Taking this internship was the best decision I made.”

DAAD RISE Germany

RISE stands for Research Internships in Science and Engineering. The program of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) places undergraduate students from North America, the United Kingdom, and Ireland in research internships at German universities and research institutions.

What makes the program special:

• Research internships during the summer months
• Projects in the natural sciences, life sciences, engineering, and computer science
• Academic and personal supervision by PhD students or scientists
• Scholarship funding from the DAAD with funds from the Federal Foreign Office
• English is generally the working language

At TU Ilmenau, RISE connects international talent with early-career researchers – creating valuable experiences for both sides.

Ilmenau School of Green Electronics

The Ilmenau School of Green Electronics (ISGE) is an interdisciplinary research and training structure at TU Ilmenau. Funded by the Carl Zeiss Foundation, researchers work on energy- and resource-efficient technologies for the electronics of the future.

The focus is on intelligent materials, bio-inspired microelectronics, and energy-efficient computing. The aim is to make electronic systems more sustainable – from production and use to repair and recycling.

Henrike Zacher’s research is part of this approach: She is developing catalysts that can specifically repair damaged electrically conductive polymers. The aim is to make electronic materials more durable and more resource-efficient in the future.