The world of digitalization: Girls' Day 2025 at CIDS

On April 3, 2025, the CIDS - Center for Interdisciplinary Digital Sciences welcomed seven technology-enthusiastic schoolgirls aged 13 to 18 to Girls' Day. In a varied joint program, the departments ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig, the ZIH - Information Services and High-Performance Computing, and the Interactive Science Lab opened their doors and gave exciting insights into their research and fields of activity. Girls' Day is a nationwide orientation day for girls' career and study choices, during which they get to know professions or study subjects in which the proportion of women is below 40 percent.

ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig: Artificial intelligence and machine learning

The day began in the Living Lab at ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig with an introduction to computer science and digitalization – and an open conversation about the students’ own digital experiences.  The students then gained deeper insights into the work of ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig. Following an introduction to the center’s structure and main research areas, the theoretical foundations of machine learning were explained in a comprehensible way. Building on this, the participants were introduced to  asanAI – an interactive software tool they could continue to explore at home. To wrap up the session, various machine learning methods were presented, along with explanations of how researchers select appropriate techniques based on their data in real-world applications.

Visit to the ZIH computer center: IT infrastructure, supercomputing and study and training opportunities

The students then visited the TU Dresden's computer center. There they immersed themselves in the world of supercomputing and learned how modern data centers are operated and secured. How much power does a supercomputer have? Why is the data in the data center particularly worth protecting? How do you prevent fires in a data center? The students learned all this and more during their tour of the data center. After the computer center tour, they received information about training and study opportunities in the field of computer science and were able to test their knowledge in an entertaining quiz.

Interactive Science Lab: History of computing technology at TU Dresden

After having lunch together, the students visited the CIDS pop-up exhibition in the Makerspace of the Saxon State and University Library Dresden (SLUB), where they explored the history of computing technology at TU Dresden. Interactive exhibits such as the Magic Mirror also invite visitors to try them out. Finally, in the Makerspace itself, the girls were able to get creative and design small souvenirs such as name badges and printed fabric bags themselves.