September 2013, Issue 129
Alumni News
RWTH Alumni Visited DFS near Frankfurt
Innumerable bumblebees are flying over Germany, apparently disorganized and arbitrarily. The film in time laps, which schematically demonstrates the flight movements, powerfully illustrates, what moves over heads in the sky in a day. Up to 10000 flights a day, about three million a year are safely guided through German airspace by the Deutsche Flugsicherung, DFS for short. Axel Raab, DFS Press Speaker and air traffice controller for 20 years, explained how flight safety and air traffice controllers work to the RWTH Alumni from the Rhein-Main region, who recently visited the DFS center in Langen near Frankfurt.
Alumni Spotlight
Joint PhD Degree
The awarding of the first joint PhD degree to Anette Christ from RWTH Aachen and Maastricht University marked a milestone in the research and education program of the IRTG1508/EUCAR international graduate school, headed by RWTH Professor Jürgen Bernhagen and Professor Tilman Hackeng, Maastricht Universtiy. The inter-university and transnational awarding of a joint doctoral degree is an important instrument for joining together science and education institutions. Biomedicine, especially with its complex technologies, lives off of the collaborating labs.
Research & Business
Water, Not Pesticides
Plant protection is essential to secure food supply and guarantee its high quality. Products contributing to plant protection, however, must be effective and pose only minimal risk and hazards for humans, animals, and the environment. For this reason, the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection supports a research consortium investigating the effectiveness of an innovative, water-based plant protection product.
International Research Team Develops New Methods for Therapy Evaluations in Rare Diseases
In the EU diseases that affect on average not more than 5 in 10,000 people are called rare. Worldwide, more than 7,000 such rare diseases are registered. The resulting groups of patients who are affected by a specific rare disease can be very small. A significant number of diseases occur in only 1-2 patients (e.g. obesity due to prohormone convertase-I deficiency), Orphanet (2012). An international researcher-team under the coordination of Professor Ralf-Dieter Hilgers of the Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, will jointly develop new designs and sophisticated analysis methods for the evaluation of therapies for rare diseases, supported by the EU Project Management Office of RWTH Aachen.
50 Years of Physics Institute III at RWTH Aachen
Around 200 guests celebrated the 50 year anniversary of the RWTH Physics Institute III during a celebratory colloquium. Even Ranga Yogeshwar, who completed his Diplom at the institute in 1984, made a guest appearance. After Professor Helmut Faissner, who founded the Institute of Physics III in 1963, the institute's research focused on elementary particles and their interactions at the highest energies.
RWTH Aachen Honored with DHV Seal of Approval
RWTH Aachen is the first German university to receive the seal of approval from the German Association of University Professors and Lecturers, DHV for short, for its fair and transparent recruitment process for professorial staff. “We are very pleased to receive this recognition. We take these processes very seriously and strive to continually improve them,” said Manfred Nettekoven, the Chancellor of RWTH Aachen University. According to the head of the university administration, “the appointment interview should be an expression of the university’s corporate culture.”
Siemens Gives RWTH Aachen Gas Turbine Model
Siemens gifted the RWTH Aachen Institute of Jet Propulsion and Turbomachinery a cutaway model of the Siemens gas turbine SGT5-8000H. The original gas turbine in a gas and steam turbine power plant has held the world record in effficiency for about two years with 60.75 percent. On a scale of 1:10, the model of the biggest and top-performing gas turbine at Siemens serves as a practical visual aid for students and instructors at the Institute of Jet Propulsion and Turbomachinery.
50 Years of Research For Nuclear Waste Management
Nuclear waste disposal is one of the most meaningful topics and questions of our time. It will also play a great role in the future as a responsibility in our society. Forschungszentrum Jülich has conducted research for the past 50 years on the safe disposal of radioactive waste. Interested citizens will be given a glance at current research results and developments in two presentations on October 14, in the SuperC, Templergraben 57:
- “Research for the Safe Disposal of Radioactive Waste“, by Prof. Dr. Dirk Bosbach, Forschungszentrum Jülich
- “Permanent Disposal of Radioactive Waste in the Perception of the Public”, by Diana Gallego Carrera, ZIRIUS – Center for Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Research at the University of Stuttgart
Registration till October 11, 2013. Admission is free of charge..
CKI Conference Innovation Management
Once again the Siemens CKI, Center of Knowledge Management, at RWTH Aachen is hosting the CKI Conference. The conference and its accompanying exhibition at Aachener Tivoli, held on November 19, 2013, will focus on the topic Innovation Management. The key speakers for the event are RWTH Professor Günter Schuh and Professor Frank T. Piller and Siemens Chairs Professor Siegfried Russwurm and Mr. Klaus Helmrich.
Studies for Senior Citizens Starts Again
Studies for senior citizens for winter semester 2013/14 is being kicked off with an orientation event on Monday, October 7, 2013, from 10am to 12:30pm. The event will take place in seminar room 603, 6th floor, HKW 5 (former heat and power station), Wüllnerstraße 1 in Aachen. Here, all interested individuals can get information about this service at RWTH Aachen. Afterwards, there will be a tour through the center of the university. Registration is open till October 25.
Wild Cards for Alumni at Career Day
On November 22, 2013, at Karrieretag Familienunternehmen at Wacker Neuson SE in Munich, RWTH Alumni will have the opportunity to directly talk with the owners and leading engineers (Engineering Lab) from Germany's leading family businesses about individual career opportunities. RWTH Aachen alumni will receive a wild card, which allows them to skip the official application process and be directly admitted! The registration deadline is October 7, 2013.
Feuerzangenbowle Planned Again
The RWTH Aachen Filmstudio is showing the movie Die Feuerzangenbowle again on November 22. This event is open to all Aacheners, particularly former students. There will be six showings: in Aula 1 at 7:30pm and 9:45pm; in Fo1 and Fo2 in Kármán Auditorium at 8pm and 10pm. Advanced tickets sales start on October 14, 2013, and are open from Monday to Thursday from 1 to 2pm.
Events
- October 7 to 9, 2013: Aachen Colloquium for Automotive and Motor Technology
- October 14, 2013: 50 Years of Research for Nuclear Waste Management
- October 16, 2013: Technology on Tour: Bus tour through the Forschungszentrum Jülich campus under the motto "Key Technologies for Tomorrow"; begins at 2pm, bus leaves at 1pm from the RWTH Aachen Main Building, Templergraben 55. Participation in the tour is free of charge. Register by October 11, 2013 via phone, or email to the RWTHextern team.
- October 16 and 17, 2013: 13th International Colloquium Toolmaking with the Future
- October 19, 2013, 11am: Tales & Science – Meeting of Two Worlds? Round table conversation with Professor Hermann Wagner from the Chair and Institute of Biology II and Native American storyteller Gayle Ross on the topic "Intelligence in Nature“; Humboldt-Haus, Pontstraße 41
- October 28 to November 11, 2013: Wandering Exhibit Ideas 2020 –Tour through the World of Tomorrow“; Mondays to Friday, 8am to 8pm in the exhibition hall of the Reiff Museum, Schinkelstraße 1. Admission is free of charge.
- October 30, 2013: Alumni Get Together in Shanghai
- October 31, 2013, 7:30pm: Uni at City Hall: Data Security – How (un)safe is our information society? Professor Ulrike Meyer from the Computer Science IT Security Teaching and Research Area, RWTH Aachen, Professor Roger Häußling from the Chair of Sociology, RWTH Aachen; Moderation by Bettina Staubitz, WDR; Aachen City Hall Coronation Hall; admission free of charge.
The Alumni Newsletter is released once a month. The International Office, Fundraising, and Alumni publish the newsletter on behalf of the Rector. The contact person in the editorial office is Dietrich Hunold. Responsibility is assumed by Renate Kinny.