Advice and Requirements for Thesis Students

At IAS, we differ in many ways from other groups at TU Darmstadt. Hence, read this page carefully.

Finding a Thesis Topic at the Intersection of Machine Learning, Robotics and Biomimetic Systems

  1. Option: Check Overview. If you like these topics, ask Jan Peters to set up a meeting with as many lab members as he sees fit. They will introduce different topics and advisors.
  2. Option: Find a lab member whose research you like and directly email her or him. You find some candidates on Abschlussarbeiten. If this lab member takes you on, please make sure to get yourself introduced to Jan Peters as soon as possible.

Getting Started

  • Make sure to register at the our mailing list for students: 
     https://mail.ias.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/mailman/listinfo/students
  • Register your thesis with the department: 
    https://www.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/en/students/exams-examination-office/forms/

Expected Behavior during the Thesis Execution

  1. We expect our students to regularly attend our Oberseminar.
  2. For Master students only: When they are at the stage that they know their topic sufficiently to write 40% to 50% of their thesis, they are supposed to give an Intermediate Presentation.
  3. After submitting the thesis, they need to defend the thesis in a Final Presentation.

Intermediate Presentation

  • While the Intermediate Presentation is ungraded, we do expect an excellent presentation where you set the stage for yourself. Remember: this is how we get to really know you! Only Master students are required to have the Intermediate Presentation. Bachelor students only have to do the Final Presentation
  • We strongly enforce these rules:
  1. Not more than 10 slides (excluding title slide)
  2. Not more than 10 minutes! Time limits are strictly enforced!
  3. Make sure your supervisors do a test talk with you.
  4. Follow the template.
  • Expect at least 10 minutes of questions for which you can have backup slides!
  • It is often smart to bring up "open questions" for which you (and potentially your advisor) miss an answer. Ask for feedback on these!

Final Presentation

  • The Final Presentation is graded and you are only allowed to give it AFTER you have submitted your thesis to Jan (substantial grade reduction if violated).
  • We have both Regular Theses which follow the rules as well as Special Theses.
  • For Regular Theses, we strongly enforce these rules:
  1. Not more than 15 slides (excluding title slide)
  2. Not more than 20 minutes! Time limits are strictly enforced!
  3. Make sure your supervisors do a test talk with you.
  4. Follow the template.
  • Special Theses are theses where a good reason (e.g., technical reasons, required by the content, etc.) makes a longer presentation necessary. This status needs to be discussed with Jan Peters and your direct supervisor.
  • Expect at least 10 minutes of questions for which you can have backup slides!

Thesis

Submissions of Theses under Corona Regulations

  • Theses no longer have to be submitted in printed form. Submitting the text documents in time by uploading them electronically to the TUbama platform will be sufficient.

Please find the detail at "https://www.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/studium_fb20/im_studium/studienbuero/abschlussarbeiten_fb20/index.en.jsp"

Expected Behavior for Finishing Up

Please make sure to do each of these steps carefully:

  1. Talk to your advisor whether you have fulfilled all of his or her requirements well ahead of submitting your thesis, at least 4 weeks before submission. It may make a substantially difference for your grade.
  2. Go through the What we expect? and The Writing Check-List! -- make sure to do everything right.