Bicycle Laboratorium

Bicycle Laboratorium

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Guide: Masters Students

MSc General

  • We expect you to take the lead in your project. Your supervisors are here to advise and guide you, but it is up to you to manage your time, relationships, work, etc.
  • BME and BMD MSc students now have some new excellent guidance documents with flowcharts available on the "Master Biomedical Engineering" and "Master Biomechanical Design" Brightspace courses under "Flowcharts & Guidance Docs". Please read these and reference them regularly. The guide here is a compliment to those documents.
  • You are encouraged to join the "Graduation Community Program" for get- togethers and workshops on topics to help you move through your MSc. This is especially helpful if you are struggling in your MSc.
  • You have to write at least three documents for your MSc. Read the writing guide for tips and expectations.
  • Review the Data Management Guide to learn how to handle your data.
  • If you are doing experiments, review the Experimentation Guide.

Internship

15 ECs (420 hours, ~10 weeks full time)

After you have found an internship, typically on your own but sometimes through postings via the lab, here are some things you need to do:

  • Review the Study Guide explanation of your internship, for example:
  • Review the internship forms and guidelines (always use up-to-date forms): https://www.tudelft.nl/en/student/faculties/3me-student-portal/education/related/student-forms/internship-forms
  • Fill out the MSc internship initiation form with your project description and other relevant information. Develop this project idea with your internship company/org contacts. If you think this aligns with Jason's research interests or the internship came through the bike lab you can send the form to Jason and ask him to be your TUD advisor. If he agrees, then you can obtain his signature on the form and forward it to your respective MSc coordinator.
  • Make all of your internship arrangements yourself with the company (travel, stipend, housing, IP, NDA, etc.). Reach out to your TUD supervisor if you need help in any of these aspects.
  • To receive academic credit for your internship at the end you need to write a report and have it assessed by your TUD internship supervisor. The short report should contain aspects aligned with those described in this rubric: https://wbmt2.tudelft.nl/organisatie/formulieren/msc/3me-msc-assessmentcriteria__internshipreport.pdf and the direction and needs of your external internship supervisor. This rubric will not be used to determine your grade, it is simply pass/fail based on the supervisor's review.
  • You also need your external internship supervisor to fill out the form "INTERNSHIP ASSESSMENT FORM FOR EXTERNAL PARTIES" and submit the completed version to your TUD supervisor.
  • Note that your TUD supervisor is typically not involved in your internship other than the signing the initial form and assessing and providing a grade at the end. The purpose of the internship is for you to get some non-academic experience in engineering. The internship should also be distinct from your MSc literature study and thesis project in the sense that a standalone report for the internship work is required.

Here are some companies and organizations that have hosted internships with us in the past: Gazelle, Prinoth, Garmin/Tacx, Swugo, B-Cells, Team DSM, SymPy, Bikefitting.com, TrueKinetix, velolab.de, TU Delft Sports Engineering Institute, Aalborg University Sports Sciences.

Literature Study

10 ECs (280 hours, ~7 weeks full time)

  • If you are a BMD or BME student, read the relevant guidance docs found on Brightspace.
  • Arrange an initial meeting with your supervisor(s) to discuss how to get started on the literature study and to discuss the general topic area of the study.
  • Review the "MSc Literature Review Assessment Rubric" on the 3mE MSc Forms page.
  • Read "How to read a paper" and "Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review" and review the "The Literature Review Process" website in the recommended reading section.
  • Choose and learn a tool/method to organize your papers and notes (e.g. Zotero, Mendeley, Endnote, Excel).
  • The first goal is to read a large quantity of paper abstracts (phase 1 in "How to Read a Paper") to get a broad sense of what people are researching about the topics of interest.
  • The second goal is to formulate a research question(s) that you can likely answer with the papers you read.
  • Once you have a research question in mind, arrange a meeting with your supervisors to formally present the question and receive feedback (this should occur within the first two weeks of work). You should prepare a slide presentation or similar to help communicate this.
  • The third goal is to delve deep into papers that are closely related to your research question, analyze and critique them, and synthesize the knowledge you obtain from them into a coherent answer to you research question.
  • Before writing your report read "The Science of Scientific Writing" and "How to write a good (enough) report" in the recommend reading section.
  • Lastly, write up your findings for a technical audience in a way that answers your research question.
  • Once you have a first full draft of the literature study, request feedback from your supervisors. This usually takes a week. You can arrange a meeting to receive verbal feedback also. Use the feedback to improve your document and then submit it to your supervisors for their official assessment and grade.
  • For BMD students, as you approach the finish of your literature study you should schedule your colloquium, where you will present the results of your literature study to your peers. We encourage you to practice your colloquium with an ad hoc group from the lab or at a lab meeting. Send an invite to your colloquium to the lab.

MSc Thesis

35 ECs (980 hours, ~25 weeks full time)

Basic Steps:

  • Submit MSc initiation form (BME/BMD form 4, other tracks may have a different form). You may do this at the start of your literature study, if appropriate.
  • Formulate a research question or hypothesis that you'd like address in consultation with your supervisors (this usually occurs in the later portion of your literature study period and is informed by your literature study findings).
  • Develop a written project plan (3 pages) and submit it to your supervisor(s) before the kickoff meeting so they have time to read it. The plan should address:
    • your research question/aim/goals
    • your basic technical approach to answer the research question or achieve you design (include your proposed methods, simulations, analyses, models, sketches, experimental methods, etc.)
    • a timeline that includes major milestones with dates, your expected holiday time, and a buffer for delays
    • what resources you will likely need for the project
  • Organize a kickoff meeting with all of your supervisors to formally present your research project and project plan. This should be slide presentation or similar.
  • Adjust your project plan based on the feedback at the kickoff meeting.
  • Work on the project with your daily supervisor's guidance.
  • Present your progress at a midterm meeting with a formal presentation and with all of your supervisors present. The midterm should occur after you have significant preliminary results that demonstrate you can succeed in the final project execution.
  • Work on the project with your daily supervisor's guidance.
  • Once you are getting close to a draft thesis arrange a Go/No-Go meeting. This meeting should include all of your supervisors that will be on your defense committee except the "external independent member". Typically give the supervisors one week to read and comment on the draft before the meeting. Prepare a (strictly) 10 minute slide presentation to get everyone up to speed at the beginning of the meeting.
  • If you get a "Go" at the Go/No-Go meeting then you should initiate the arrangement of your defense by submitting the correct forms to your track coordinators and department secretaries.
  • If you get a "No-Go", at the Go/No-Go meeting then take the supervisors' feedback and improve your work until you are ready for another Go/No-Go meeting.
  • When you have a "Go", edit your thesis based on the supervisors' feedback. When you have a final version of your thesis, send it to your supervisors two weeks before the defense and submit it to the TU Delft Education Repository. Make sure to add an embargo if your work requires one.
  • Follow the Data Management Guide and deliver your project assets to the lab principle investigator and any partner organizations.

Other: