The 2011 edition of the Summer School on “Micro Mechanical Systems Design and Manufacture” organised by DTU was attended by 20 students representing 7 countries of affiliation and 10 nationalities!

The students took part in an intense training made of lectures mainly in the mornings and project work in the afternoons. This year the summer school was spiced up with involvement in the activities of the cutting edge FP7 research project Cotech, featuring guest teachers from CEA, MEC, Sonion and Fotec, partners of this EU project. The students’ task was to create a fully working prototype of a microfluidic cooler for industrial applications, including design, fabrication and testing according to functional specifications. This case study was offered by the EU project Cotech.

During the two weeks, the students explored alternative design solutions, selected a suitable process chain, carried out the fabrication of moulds and parts as well as the metrological assessment and functional validation of the produced prototypes. The project work was a great success, demonstrating the enthusiastic participation and the determination of a great bunch of students.

The special guest this year was Prof. Humbert Noll from the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, Austria, who is also the coordinator of the FP7 EU project COTECH. Prof. Noll gave a lecture on MEMS technology and also acted as external censor for the students evaluation.

A warm support was given to the organizers and students as well by the 4M Association who supplied 3 scholarships and by the EU FP7 project COTECH which has partially funded the Summer School.

The support of the industrial sponsors Sarix, Esprit and Comsol, who supplied student licenses for practical work, is also acknowledged.

On the social side the weather was… well.. nice, and the students staying in the youth-hostel seemed to have enjoyed the proximity with the woods and beaches as well as the camaraderie spirit . We also met in Copenhagen for a farewell diner in a nice Italian restaurant and later some pub hopping...

Let me remind you that the website for next year Summer School will still be found in due time at http://microsummerschool.net