TU Dresden to play an active role in two large-scale research centers – the German Center for Astrophysics (DZA) and the Center for the Transformation of Chemistry (CTC). This development enables TUD to strengthen its expertise in interdisciplinary digital sciences.

Two new large-scale research centers will host scientists from institutions including TU Dresden to study major topics of the future and drive forward structural change in Saxon Lusatia and the Central German coal mining region. Lusatia will be the new home of the German Center for Astrophysics (DZA), while the Center for the Transformation of Chemistry (CTC) will settle in the Central German mining region. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) selected these winners of the “Wissen schafft Perspektiven für die Region!” (“Knowledge creates prospects for the region!”) funding initiative in Berlin on September 29, 2022.

With the construction of the German Center for Astrophysics (DZA), Saxony will gain a national research hub with international reach, funded with €170 million per year from the Federal and State governments. “The decision to build this center is groundbreaking – a milestone for scientific research, for the Free State of Saxony, and for the people of Lusatia,” remarks TU Dresden Rector, Professor Ursula M. Staudinger. “TU Dresden will contribute its outstanding expertise in data analytics, artificial intelligence, high-performance computing and green electronics while simultaneously accepting responsibility in the context of structural change in the region.”

Astrophysics is a high-tech discipline with great innovative capacity. Today’s telescopes are giant facilities located all around the world, serving as instruments and locations for international collaboration. They are complex tools that require ultra-precise measurement equipment. The sheer amount of data that will flow to Lusatia from all over the world will exceed the total data volume which is currently shared over the Internet on a daily basis. This alone poses major challenges to precision measurement equipment, both in optics and sensor technology. Moreover, the associated data storage and computing requirements create an ideal field of application for the advancement of digital sciences. Both areas have enormous potential for commerce and society.

DZA: TUD contributes its expertise for interdisciplinary digital sciences, optics and sensor technology

The leading applicant and founding director of the DZA is the Director of Science at the European Space Agency, Professor Günther Hasinger. TU Dresden will spearhead the project over the course of the three-year development phase. It will also be responsible for the advancement of digital and technological instruments at the DZA. To this end, TUD will provide the necessary data storage infrastructure for the DZA’s research projects. In the medium term, the DZA is set to receive its own computing center for sustainably managing the enormous data volume. In this mission as well, TU Dresden will contribute and strengthen the expertise it has already gained with internationally leading projects such as the Center for Scalable Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (ScaDS.AI) and as a location for National High-Performance Computing (NHR).

Professor Wolfgang E. Nagel, Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Digital Sciences (CIDS) played a decisive role in the submission of the proposal, asserting, “TU Dresden will be a strong, capable partner to the DZA. Together, not only will we use intelligent data analysis to break new ground in digitalization, we will also use green computing and the Low Seismic Lab to develop new technological solutions, in turn providing an economic boost that will benefit both astronomy and society.”

Furthermore, TU Dresden will enhance its educational curriculum with three new astrophysics chairs. For interdisciplinary digital sciences, two additional chairs are in the pipeline that will bolster key fields of research for filtering and storing data as well as green computing in order to develop energy-efficient storage methods and components. The ultimate goal is to make IT – a high-energy area domain – more climate-friendly. The enormous and increasingly complex quantities of data also require new smart analysis methods and technologies that make it possible to glean knowledge from these numbers and that can be introduced into all spheres of life.

In terms of research in Germany, the DZA will ensure access to future large-scale projects on the international level. It will also open up possibilities for industry to respond to calls for proposals. With a Center for Innovation and Transfer (ZIT), the DZA will pave a new path for the collaboration of research and industry. Its international visibility and network will draw in specialists and create opportunities for young people in the region. Over 50 businesses – most of them small or medium-sized – supported the DZA’s proposal.

CTC: TUD research for sustainable chemistry

© HDR GmbH

The Center for the Transformation of Chemistry (CTC) seeks to follow a transdisciplinary approach and collaborate with research, industry and society to transform the German chemical industry into a circular economy. Chemist Prof. Peter H. Seeberger is the initiator and organizer of the CTC. TU Dresden will also contribute its scientific expertise to this large-scale research center selected to receive funding, located in the Central German coal mining region.

Prof. Jan J. Weigand, Professor of Inorganic Molecular Chemistry at TU Dresden and co-applicant in the funding initiative, was highly influential in the development of the CTC and will contribute his research expertise at the large-scale research center. The primary focus is on the development of innovative synthesis and recycling schemes in inorganic molecular and materials chemistry. In addition to novel electrochemical procedures, attention will be aimed at recovering critical resources such as phosphorous, rare-earth elements and lithium, for example through waste and residual material extractions (battery materials, FCC catalysts) and (catalytic) methods of synthesizing commodity chemicals.

The development of more innovative and sustainable phosphorous chemistry will be of pivotal importance. Phosphorous is a key building block of all living organisms and a functional component of many products, for instance pharmaceuticals, foods and fertilizers. Prof. Weigand and his team recently celebrated success in developing a more sustainable process for converting white phosphorous into a number of crucial phosphoric platform chemicals. TU Dresden will also contribute to the development of the CTC with its skills in the areas of catalysis and biocatalysis, food chemistry, circular economy, process control engineering, supply chains and interdisciplinary digital sciences.

Detailed information on the selected large-scale research centers:

DZA: https://deutscheszentrumastrophysik.de/en/

CTC: https://ctc-concept.com/en/center-for-the-transformation-of-chemistry-en/

Information from the BMBF (in German) on the “Wissen schafft Perspektiven für die Region!” funding initiative

https://www.bmbf.de/bmbf/de/forschung/das-wissenschaftssystem/wissen-schafft-perspektiven-fuer-die-region_/wissen-schafft-perspektiven-fuer-die-region_.html

Contact at TU Dresden:

German Center for Astrophysics (DZA)
Prof. Wolfgang E. Nagel
Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Digital Sciences (CIDS)
Tel.: +49 351 463-35450

Center for the Transformation of Chemistry (CTC)
Prof. Jan J. Weigand
Chair of Inorganic Molecular Chemistry
Tel.: +49 351 463-42800