The Week at TU Braunschweig │30.04.2020 Our Newsletter for all Employees
Topics: Restricted operation + coastal research + easter egg colour + everyday research + Teaching day + mathematics + (red) masks
Editor: Viktoria Heyer
► Return to restricted operation
The most important first: Starting next Monday, the TU Braunschweig will initiate the return from emergency operation back to so-called “massively restricted operation”. The corresponding operating stages had been defined by our university’s crisis management team right at the beginning of the corona-related measures in Germany. Even if attendance teaching has been suspended and many things remain significantly restricted, we are thus cautiously coming one step closer to normal operation. This is only possible on the basis of the framework hygiene plan and the infection control measures that the Presidential Board has now decided on the basis of the crisis team’s recommendations. You will find both documents enclosed and in the information portal (in German and English the folder “Coronavirus – Hinweise” under “Dokumente”). Our hygiene plan and the measures naturally follow the guidelines of the Federal Government and the State of Lower Saxony as well as the recommendations of the Robert Koch Institute and are implemented very similarly at all universities in Lower Saxony. Now it is a matter of translating them promptly into the concrete processes in the institutes and facilities. The central administration provides support in case you have questions. We all make our own personal contribution to ensuring that the requirements are met in practice and that, for example, the safety distances are observed.
► Coastal research far off the coast
Professor Nils Goseberg from the Department of Hydromechanics, Coastal and Ocean Engineering reveals in “Nachgefragt” how digital coastal research works. He reports on the work at the Leichtweiß-Institute for Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources (LWI) and how the safety distance is maintained on 5,600 square metres.
► With smartphone and easter egg color
This semester, 50 biotechnology students will be experimenting in the HomeLab with what the kitchen has to offer instead of the traditional laboratory. The physicist Dr. Christof Maul has designed experiments that students can carry out at home as a basic practical course in physical chemistry.
► Everyday research for doctoral students
The corona pandemic has influenced teaching, research and work at the Technische Universität Braunschweig in many ways. We spoke with PhD students Lucas Well, Lena Bittermann and Tina von Dapper-Saalfels about how their everyday research has changed in the current situation.
► Day of Teaching as digital format
This year, the 8th Day of Teaching will take place with a mixture of digital and face-to-face formats. The digital keynote by the Swedish teaching expert Professor Kristina Edström will kick off on 5 May. A look behind the scenes will show how this classroom event is being transformed into a digital format and who is behind the organisation.
► Mathematics for innovations
In industry, large and complex data volumes often have to be processed. Professor Sebastian Stiller and Professor Christian Kirches from the Institute for Mathematical Optimization and Professor Dirk Lorenz from the Institute of Analysis and Algebra are now investigating how this can work with mathematically-based artificial intelligence (AI) in two joint projects.
► BraunschweigZeigtMaske
Where can I get a mask? The obligation to wear a mask applies nationwide, the website braunschweigzeigtmaske.de shows tailors and shops that sell makeshift masks in the region of Braunschweig. Developed as a project in the “Sandkasten”, the local shops are supported with every purchase. The masks are self-sewn, washable, reusable – and fashionable, as the selection on the website shows.
► Our darling of the week fits in with this
It’s red. Because Dr. Yvonne A. Henze, head of the Central Student Advisory Service, has sewn a makeshift mask from a red TU-Braunschweig bag. Not only functional, but very chic, we think. Further fashionable mask selfies can be posted under the hashtag #SmileThroughTheMask to support the social media campaign of BraunschweigZeigtMaske.
Dance well, albeit privately, into May! Keep on taking care and stay healthy!