The Week at TU Braunschweig │24.04.2020 Our Newsletter for all Employees

Topics: Masks + pharmaceutical research + radar sensors + corona app + home office + online teaching + fundraising + food trucks + future city + attention and care

► “Masks”

Are now mandatory in Braunschweig in shops and on public transport. Correctly they are called “mouth-nose-coverings”. Even at our university they have to be worn if the minimum distance of two metres to the next person cannot be maintained. Why and how to wear them is explained in the new handout in the Infoportal.

► Much more “masks” – everyone can help!

What we can achieve in Corona times is shown by the project “behelfs.mundschutz.fuer.braunschweig” from Sandkasten. Together 250 people sew makeshift masks for the region and donate them to institutions in Braunschweig. Almost 10,000 masks have already been sewn and the project is still looking for active support. Everyone can help.

► Optimal “packaging” for medicines

Active pharmaceutical ingredients must arrive in the body at the right time and in the right dose. Professor Heike Bunjes and her team at the Department of Pharmaceutics put the active ingredients into the right form – right down to individualized drugs.

► Radar for robots

If something shall drive autonomously, it must know where it is. The Core Research Area Mobility is now investigating radar sensors that map the ground. Autonomous vehicles and robots are thus achieving new levels of reliability.

► Corona app

The Federal Government’s app is to warn contact persons of Covid-19 patients in the future. Professor Konrad Rieck from the Institute of System Security explains how the app works and the challenges for data protection.

► Sustainability

… is one of the scientific and personal guidelines of Professor Wolfgang Durner, and as the representative for sustainability he has a central task for the entire university. Today, however, we look back on the successful term of office of the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs.

► Home Office

We report regularly from the various home offices of the TU Braunschweig. To help you get through these challenging times in the best possible way, the Health Management collects a wide range of tips and links for the new working routine.

Professor Julia Gerick experiences a special challenge. Appointed on 1 April, she started her professorship at the Institute of Educational Sciences in the middle of the universities emergency mode. It’s a good thing she’s there now, because she’s researching teaching with digital media.

For Professor Katja Koch, this new working routine means above all many video conferences. As Vice President for Teacher Training and Knowledge Transfer, the normal working day already consisted of many meetings. Now, the meetings with the Presidency, the deans and the “WeCare” project ensure a tight schedule.

Meanwhile, the Personnel Department alternates between the home office and the offices in the forum building. Head Anne Fritz and assistant Maria Hasselfeld report on the new working day in a much sought-after department.

► Task Force for Online Teaching

The Project Group Teaching and Media Education has set up a special programme for teachers. They offer webinars, lots of instructions on various tools, but also personal advice for online and location-independent teaching.

► TU students in need

The part-time job is gone, but the rent still must be paid: the Corona crisis is hitting many students financially hard. The Carolo-Wilhelmina Foundation helps and awards scholarships for short-term financial bottlenecks. In order to help more students, the foundation is starting a fundraising campaign.

► Four-wheeled cafeteria

From now on the Studentenwerk OstNiedersachsen will bring you baked goods, coffee and hot food by food truck. One truck is parked daily at the Universitätsplatz, a second one drives through Braunschweig and Wolfenbüttel. The current timetable and menu is on the website of the Studentenwerk.

► Next week

The lecture series “Core concepts for the city of the future” started last Tuesday with an introduction by Professor Eckart Voigts and Dr. Maria Marcsek-Fuchs, Institute of English and American Studies. We are looking forward to twelve more interdisciplinary events. On April 28, Dr. Anja Schwarz from the Institute of Geosystems and Bioindication will approach the city of the future via “water”.

► Our affectionate darling of the week

“We are determined to overwhelm our students with attention and care.” This sentence comes from our darling of the week, the welcome video of the Department of Architecture at the start of the semester.