Girls’ Day 2026 – Girls’ Future Day at the ZBT – Insights into Hydrogen Research

In the workshop, the students first received safety training and were introduced to personal protective equipment and the machinery used by workshop manager Mario Crisogianni and technician Yury Shamaev. With the team’s support, they then manufactured individual components for their own fuel cell models. Among other things, they used a waterjet cutting machine and a CNC milling machine. In addition, the participants processed their workpieces by filing, deburring, drilling, and sandblasting.

Another part of the program took the students to the chemistry lab. After receiving a safety briefing specific to the lab, the students galvanized copper coins under the guidance of our chemistry lab technician, Adolf Malkuß. Through this experiment, they were able to clearly understand basic chemical processes and observe how the surface of the coins changed visually.

Back in the workshop, the next item on the agenda was soldering electronic components. Together with mechatronics engineer Domenic Rudolph, the participants populated circuit boards with LEDs, switches, and battery holders. Finally, they assembled the individual parts they had previously fabricated into a functional, cell-phone-sized fuel cell model that lights up at the push of a button.

The Girls’ Day offered the students a diverse glimpse into the interdisciplinary research work at the ZBT and demonstrated the wide variety of careers in the fields of natural sciences, technology, and engineering.

Girls’ Day is a nationwide career and college exploration day. It is aimed at girls and gives them insights into careers and college programs in which women have traditionally been underrepresented—particularly in the fields of mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, technology, and the trades.