Archive: News of Technical University of Darmstadt

Thin films in the fight against corona

Researchers in materials science, led by Professor Wolfgang Ensinger, are developing plastic membranes with nanopores. Now they are experimenting to establish whether the thin films are suitable as air filters in the fight against coronaviruses.

Students from three UNITE! Partners are designing a bioreactor for space missions in the INSPIRED project

The INSPIRED (International Project Week for Interdisciplinary Research-Oriented Digital Learning) project is being held entirely in digital form this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Students from Portugal, Italy and Germany are carrying out research and learning together in interdisciplinary groups for three weeks. Their task: to design a sustainable and efficient bioreactor that can generate nutrients and therapeutics under the extreme conditions found in space. The project has been held under the umbrella of the European University UNITE! since 2020. INSPIRED is a good example of what UNITE! stands for: completely new forms of cross-border teaching and student exchange.

Research at the Locomotion Laboratory

Human movement when stumbling is manifold – and remarkably misunderstood. TU motion scientist have come to a well-founded conclusion that could even help robots to maintain balance.

TU research team lets photons and atoms interact

Researchers at TU Darmstadt halt individual photons and can release them at the push of a button. The tool could be used for bug-proof communications, for example, or for something that was previously impossible.

Kavli Prize for physics professor Harald Rose and long-standing research colleagues

The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has announced the 2020 Kavli Prize winners who will be honoured for groundbreaking discoveries in astrophysics, nanosciences and neurosciences. The highly prestigious Kavli Prize for Nanosciences, worth one million US dollars, is shared by Professor Harald Rose (TU Darmstadt and University of Ulm) with his colleagues Maximilian Haider, Knut Urban and Ondrej Krivanek.

An opportunity for digital lessons in schools

Student teachers at TU Darmstadt have already been using the electronic portfolio tool introduced by the Center for Teacher Education (ZfL) to prepare for and follow-up on their practical training units both inside and outside of school for around five years.

The international body identifies new members for the Scientific Council

TU Computer Science Professor Mira Mezini has been named as a member of the Identification Committee that identifies future members of the Scientific Council, the governing body of the European Research Council (ERC).

Digital teaching at the Institute IWAR

Christiane Brockmann has already been using Moodle exercises, scanned examinations and teaching videos in her chemistry courses and laboratory practicals for prospective environmental engineers for many years. She has gained good experience of these methods in her work at the Institute IWAR in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, which is now helping her in the digital summer semester. In particular, she wants to provide her students with more short films of chemistry experiments and video tutorials on laboratory devices as didactic tools.

TU study examines influences on perceived income justice

Whether people perceive their income as fair is not only important for themselves but also for the labour market. But which factors – environment or genetics – influence the perceived income justice? Professor Michael Neugart and doctoral student Selen Yildirim from the Institute of Public Economics and Economic Policy at the Department of Law and Economics investigated this question. They published the sometimes surprising results of their research in the journal “Economics and Human Biology”.

First digital semester – an experience report

For the first time ever, an entire semester is being run digitally. This is a challenge not only for the lecturers, but also for their students. So how do students cope with this, and what do they want? Where do they see any problems, and what is already working well? A student of sports sciences and Dr. Annette Glathe of the Center for Educational Development and Technology at the TU report on the first experiences.

Inverted Classroom Models for Digital Teaching

Dr. Felicitas Rädel and Professor Jörg Lange teach steel construction at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The two scientists turned their teaching concept upside down in a Master's module back in 2015, when they realised that students wanted more exercises and more intensive exchanges with teachers – instead of 90 minutes of “chalk and talk”.

Creative stopgap solutions at the University and State Library (ULB)

The University and State Library (ULB) continues to offer a basic service to students and researchers during the corona crisis. ULB Director Thomas Stäcker believes that the accelerated digitalisation of processes due to the virus offers an opportunity. The commitment shown by employees has impressed him and many of the ideas and stopgap solutions developed for the digital summer semester will also be suitable for the period after corona. He is certain that the positive experience with mobile working and video conferences will simplify everyday working life and the search for specialist employees in the future.

Virtual courses at the Language Resource Center

The Language Resource Center at TU Darmstadt is now also providing its lessons for German, English and 17 other languages or specialist languages online. The lecturer Karen Fleischhauer explains what assistance and didactic or technical options the rapidly formed e-learning working group is considering for the virtual courses and how the internal communication between the around 90 teachers has also changed.

"The lecture in the auditorium is fleeting"

Josef Wiemeyer is in a class of his own these days. The TU professor of sport science has been working with electronic learning formats for almost 20 years. In the digital summer semester, he can draw on a great treasure trove of materials, tips and experiences that benefit his colleagues as well as his students. He is particularly committed to interactive offers.

ULB Darmstadt uses an innovative disinfection process

The University and State Library Darmstadt is irradiating books with high-energy UV-C light during the corona crisis to kill the virus.