“Polymers are my favorite subject”

At Röhm, many young talents take their first steps onto their career path. Iman and Daniel, both Master’s students in Chemical Engineering, talk about their practical experience.

The Master’s students Iman and Daniel have completed an internship at Röhm.

Iman is a chemistry ace: She was studying Chemical Engineering for her Master’s degree at Strasbourg University when she met Röhm at the “Forum Horizon Chimie” Career Fair in Paris. “I had offers to do my internship in the lab, but I wanted to learn a new side of chemistry and learn more about production processes in the company: preferably with polymers, they’re my favorite subject.” Polymers are important components of plastics such as polymethyl methacrylate, or PMMA for short. With its well-known PLEXIGLAS® brand, Röhm is one of the world's leading manufacturers.

A passion for chemistry around the world – Beirut, Strasbourg, Röhm

The Lebanese, who moved from Beirut to Strasbourg for her Master’s degree in 2019, is organizing her work visa for Germany with Röhm’s HR support. Then, she moved to Worms. “Yeah, before I started I was nervous,” says the 23-year-old. “But everyone on the team treats me like a colleague, not an intern, which is great. Although sometimes there are small translation hiccups between us, since Google Translate can be quite misleading at times,” she laughs.

One of Iman´s tasks were to analyze molding compounds.

Iman enjoys being involved in the manufacturing processes of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) every day: She takes samples from production herself, which she examines daily in the laboratory. “Most of the time I'm working on my project, which involves investigating whether it's possible to reduce the generation of particulate matter during PMMA processing, but I also worked on marketing topics in particular for the medical market in Europe - maybe I’ll tack on an MBA after I graduate.” Her supervisor Natalia was very happy to have Iman in her team. “Such an internship provides young engineers a fresh view on the way we run our business. At the same time interns also help Röhm to better understand young engineers needs in particular with such international background as Iman. After all, our business is becoming more and more global and eventually such students join Röhm or work for its customers or suppliers creating a strong bonding in the future.”

Organic work on organic chemistry

Daniel, too, is eager to finally put into practice what he learned at the Graz University of Technology. The parents of the 24-year-old from Salzkammergut in Upper Austria run an inn. “Cooking and chemistry are similar, though one of them shouldn’t be eaten,” he says with a grin. Stepping foot into the chemical industry was therefore an obvious choice for him. After an “uncomplicated application process,” as he recounts, he moved into an apartment in Worms shortly before starting at Röhm.

For his Master’s thesis, which he is writing at Röhm, Daniel is using laboratory tests and process simulations to test whether he can improve the shelf life of methacrylamide (MAA). Each morning, he discusses his plan for the day with his supervisor Markus. “Because we coordinate so often, I have a fair amount of freedom to work on my Master’s thesis. It's an organic process that is always adapting to the latest findings.” When he's not studying the turbidity of MAA, the recreational athlete, who enjoys biking and jogging, goes on trips around Worms. Favorite city so far: Heidelberg.

Around 1,030 employees and apprentices work at the Worms site in production, operation, workshops or administration. The production site is Röhm´s largest site and is located directly by the river Rhine.

You are interested in doing an internship at Röhm? Just take a look into our job portal, were we regularly publish interesting possibilities for students.

Go back