Retirement of Mr. Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Hartmut Rödel on March 31st 2018

Appreciation of Professor Rödel´s long-standing efforts at the TU Dresden, in particular as Head of the Chair of Ready-Made Technology

Professor Rödel became Head of the Chair of Ready-made Technology in 1993. At that time, he could already build on numerous years of practical and theoretical experience gained at the Institute of Textile and Clothing Technology, as it was formerly known. He considered it a great privilege to support talented and highly motivated national and international students on their career path, whether it led to a career in research or in industry.  Thanks to Professor Rödel´s great commitment, the Chair of Ready-made Technology – characterized by a conceptual orientation that is unique among all German universities – was firmly anchored in the national and international research landscape. Hence, standard research and education efforts in the field of clothing technology were complemented by innovative approaches so that the assembly of technical textiles, spanning from product development to cutting and joining technologies, could be established on an international level. He was able to achieve this aim in close collaboration with industrial partners. Automation and digitalization had been key topics right from the beginning of his professional career, and they remained an essential part of his research work throughout all these years until today. As a member of the fair advisory board, he strove to put emphasis on these highly innovative topics at Texprocess, being the leading international fair for the processing of textile and flexible materials. He supervised and evaluated more than 30 dissertation theses acting as both first and second advisor. His most important goal was to share interdisciplinary knowlege.   

In addition, as academic dean serving for several legislative terms and chairman of the examination committee, Prof. Rödel strove to further develop and advance academic organizational structures. Based on the knowledge gained in these positions, he was significantly involved in the accreditation of engineering study programs. In this position, he will surely be remembered by numerous students for a long time.

© ITM/TUD

On behalf of all employees of the entire institute and the Chair of Ready-made Technology in particular, I would like to express sincere gratitude to Prof. Rödel for the long-standing and trustful cooperation. Unfortunately, the final years of his professional career were impaired by an eye disease he suffered from. Hence, for the future, we wish Professor Rödel improved eyesight as well as good overall health so he can fully enjoy this new period of life together with his family.

Sybille Krzywinski