Day of the Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering 2025
On June 28, 2025, almost 300 guests celebrated the Day of the Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering at the Boulevardtheater Dresden. At this year's ceremony, over 60 graduates from the Mechanical Engineering, Process Engineering and Natural Materials Technology and Material Science degree programs were given a ceremonial send-off into professional life, 9 doctoral graduates were congratulated on the successful completion of their dissertations and prizes worth a total of 13,500 euros were awarded.
Greeting from the Dean
Prof. Michael Beckmann, Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering, welcomed and congratulated all participating graduates, prize donors and guests. He reminded them of the tension between the melody of destiny and the ode to joy during their studies - and encouraged the graduates to consciously incorporate both the sound of destiny and the melody of joy into their lives even after leaving their alma mater.
Greetings from the University Executive Board
Vice-Rector Research at TU Dresden, Prof. Angela Rösen-Wolff, also welcomed all the guests in attendance. In her speech, she emphasized the particular strength of TU Dresden as a University of Excellence, especially in the School of Engineering Sciences. She emphasized the excellent prospects that their education opens up for graduates, both regionally and internationally, and highlighted the social relevance of STEM and engineering disciplines, which make a decisive contribution to solving global crises. At the same time, she invited those present to remain connected to their alma mater as a scientific home in the future - as researchers, partners in industry or in the alumni network.
Ceremonial speech
Christine Herntier, Mayor of Spremberg and engineering economist, gave a very special speech at the event entitled "The country needs engineers!". In her speech, Christine Herntier emphasized the central role of engineers in transforming Lusatia into a climate-neutral, innovation-driven region - the so-called Net Zero Valley. She spanned the spectrum from current local developments to the long-term prospects for Lusatia as a model region for sustainable transformation.
Farewell and graduation speech
The graduates of the Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering, sorted by degree program, then took to the stage and were congratulated by the Dean to applause.
After all the graduates had been "bid farewell", Julian Hagert addressed the audience. On behalf of the class, he reviewed his studies, emphasizing in particular the importance of study groups for getting through the "jungle of subjects".
He also reported on major and minor challenges during his studies, such as exam phases, choosing a specialization and the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, Hagert emphasized: "What we have retained, however, is the resilience and stamina we have built up, which we were able to demonstrate at the end of our studies." All of the graduates overcame many hurdles together, something they can be very proud of, he also emphasized. "And it is this cohesion and community that ultimately makes studying at the Faculty so special."
Hagert also thanked the teaching staff and companions, in particular the canteen staff at the pasta counter, and concluded his speech by encouraging the new graduates to start their new chapter in life. "Equipped with an 'excellent' education, we are actually prepared for anything. [...] Now it's our turn to help shape, think and build on what we have learned and experienced in recent years."
Teaching awards
The prize for innovation in teaching has been awarded to a lecturer at the Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering since 2010. This year, for the first time, the prize for research and practice-oriented teaching was also awarded to a teacher at the Faculty. At this year's Faculty Day, Prof. Stefan Odenbach, Dean of Studies in Mechanical Engineering and for the Master's degree program Textile Machinery and High Perfomance Material Technology and Chair of Magnetofluiddynamics, Measuring and Automation Technology, received the award for innovation in teaching. Kiara Schwarz and Flora Üregi from the Faculty Student Council for Mechanical Engineering (FSR) praised his continuous support for students in preparing their practical courses and his willingness to constantly improve courses.
The second teaching award went to Dr. Martin Kern, Research Associate and Teaching Organizer at the Chair of Textile Technology. The FSR representatives emphasized his infectious enthusiasm for his subject area, his individual and comprehensive support of students and his commitment to the organization and implementation of school projects.
Manfred Hirschvogel Prize
The Manfred Hirschvogel Prize is awarded to the best dissertation in the last calendar year in the field of mechanical engineering. Dr. Sara Marchini received the prize money of 5,000 euros for her work "Development of a Methodology for Measuring Axial Gas Dispersion Coefficients in Bubble Columns using Gas Flow Modulation". Doctoral supervisor Prof. Uwe Hampel, Chair of Imaging Techniques in Energy and Process Engineering, and Walter Pischel, Chairman of the Frank Hirschvogel Foundation, shared the laudatory speech.
Sponsorship award from the Friedrich & Elisabeth Boysen Foundation
The Friedrich and Elisabeth Boysen Foundation and TU Dresden award the prize in recognition of particularly outstanding dissertations by young scientists in the field of environmental technology and environmental protection. Dr. Juliane Moritz was awarded 5,000 euros for her thesis "Microstructure adaptation and high-temperature oxidation behaviour of the additively manufactured titanium-aluminium alloy Ti-43.5AI-4Nb-1 Mo-0.1 B". Prof.Antonio Hurtado, Spokesperson of the Boysen-TU Dresden Research Training Group and Chair of Hydrogen and Nuclear Energy, and Dr. Anna Martius, Managing Director of the Boysen-TU Dresden Research Training Group, presented the award to Dr. Moritz.
Franz Stolze Prize
The Franz Stolze Prize (1,500 euros) for outstanding scientific theses in energy technology was awarded to Tom-Alexander Matthias Müller for his diploma thesis on "Investigation of the backpressure system of a scroll compressor for car air conditioning" and Dr. Alexander Babich for his dissertation on "On the dynamics of electrolytic gas bubbles at microelectrodes".
The prize is sponsored by Dr. Manfred Freimark and Gudrun Stolze (granddaughter of Dr. Franz Stolze). Prof. Uwe Hampel also gave the laudatory speech.
Oscar Kjellberg Award
The Oscar Kjellberg Award was presented for the first time at the Faculty Day. With this award, the Kjellberg Foundation recognizes outstanding student work in the field of joining technology, thermal cutting, separating and joining. Clemens Acksteiner ("Numerical and experimental investigation of the properties of uniformly thick clinching points"), Jan Aleksander Kieser ("Increasing the cooling capacity of a magnetron sputter source by using additively manufactured porous structures made of copper and copper-chromium zirconium") each received prize money of 500 euros for their theses, Cedric Nikolov ("Quality and process monitoring in projection welding in series production using machine learning") and Martin Selleng ("Potential study for additive TIG 3-wire welding with the InFocus process").
Volker Krink, Chairman of the Board of the Kjellberg Foundation, congratulated the four graduates on their outstanding achievements.
Dr. Mike Thieme, from the Institute of Lightweight Engineering and Polymer Technology, moderated the event and singer Felix Herrmann provided musical accompaniment to the ceremony. The evening event included cool drinks, a tasty buffet, a photo wall and lots of great conversations in the beer garden in beautiful weather. The "Day of the Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering" was organized together with the association Freunde und Förderer der Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering der TU Dresden e.V..
© Christian Hüller
© Christian Hüller
© Christian Hüller
© Christian Hüller
© Christian Hüller
© Christian Hüller
© Christian Hüller
© Christian Hüller
© Christian Hüller
