Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Mareen Grillenberger has held the Chair of Didactics of Computer Science at TU Dresden since February 1. She completed her Master's degree in Teacher Training - Secondary Schools in English and Computer Science at the University of Potsdam, where she wrote her doctoral thesis on "From Embedded Systems to Physical Computing: Challenges of the "Digital World" in Secondary Computer Science Education" in 2018. From 2012 to 2020, Mareen Grillenberger worked as an academic assistant at the Chair of Computer Science Education at the University of Potsdam - with a temporary teaching assignment at the University of Leipzig. Since 2020, she has headed the Endowed Chair of Computer Science Didactics S1 - a joint Chair of the Schwyz University of Teacher Education, the Lucerne University of Teacher Education and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.

Her research focuses on the development, implementation and evaluation of concepts for computer science education in the school context. This includes the target group-appropriate didactic preparation of learning objects and the research-led development of suitable tools and methods in order to be able to use them in a sustainable and accessible way in education. "I am particularly interested in linking the subject area of embedded systems with the didactics of computer science and school teaching. As part of my doctoral project, I have already looked at the relevance of this subject area for computer science education, worked out key aspects of the content and developed tools and teaching scenarios."

In addition to her previous areas of focus, which include physical computing, embedded systems, educational escape rooms and extracurricular learning spaces, Grillenberger will be devoting herself in particular to the EduInf teaching and learning laboratory at the Faculty of Computer Science. "I would like to further expand EduInf thematically and enrich it with new research topics. I'm thinking of setting up a computer science educational escape room," she says of her goals for the Chair. "I am aiming to collaborate with various researchers at the faculty in order to use modern technologies for education, among other things. And, of course, I will continue my cooperation with the Student Computing Center."

Born in Brandenburg, she is married and has two children. She enjoys traveling and photography and also enjoys all things technical in her private life. We are delighted that she has landed at the Faculty of Computer Science after five years of living in Switzerland and wish her all the best for her plans.