12.05.2025

‘You are the heart of our university": TU Ilmenau students bid farewell in a ceremony

TU Ilmenau/Stefan Riehmer

TU Ilmenau bid farewell to its graduates of the first quarter of 202 at a ceremony in the Audimax.

230 young people successfully completed their Bachelor's, Master's or Diplom degree at TU Ilmenau in the first quarter of 2025. 19 received their doctorate. As a sign of recognition, University President Professor Kai-Uwe Sattler, together with Vice President Professor Jens Müller and the deans of the five faculties, personally presented them with their degree certificates at a ceremony on May 10. One of the highlights of the event was the awarding of the Dagmar Schipanski Prize by the Ilmenau University Society - Friends, Sponsors, Alumni e. V.: The award for the best dissertation, endowed with 2,000 euros, went to Dr. Liana Khamidullina. The results of her work on digital signal processing have the potential to significantly improve a wide range of applications, for example in mobile communications or biomedical technology.

A festive atmosphere prevailed in the afternoon in the TU Ilmenau Audimax when University President Prof. Kai-Uwe Sattler personally bid farewell to the graduates as they embarked on their future careers or on subsequent Master's degree courses. In addition to the best graduates, the Student Council (StuRa) also honored alumni and alumnae who have made a special contribution to committees such as student councils or the various student associations - founding, enriching and developing them: "Many of you have also volunteered alongside your studies," said Prof. Sattler in his speech: "Continue this commitment: get involved, take responsibility. Help to make this world a little bit better by changing it."

Graduate Julius Prenzel was delighted twice over: with an award from the university for the best Master's degree in media technology and the honorary award from the Student Council (StuRa) for his commitment to the Bergfest, a 50-year-old tradition that celebrates half-term. On behalf of all those who have successfully completed their studies, he looked back on his time in Ilmenau in his speech: "I learned one thing above all during this time: if you lack something, then make it happen. If you want something, then start building it. And if you find something that is close to your heart, then put your heart and soul into making it last. Ilmenau is not what YOU make it. Ilmenau - and the world - is what WE make of it!"

Dagmar Schipanski Award for outstanding dissertation

Dr. Liana Khamidullina mit Präsident Sattler und Vizepräsident Sinzinger auf der Bühne im Audimax

TU Ilmenau/Stefan Riehmer

Dr. Liana Khamidullina was granted the Dagmar Schipanski Award for her doctoral thesis on signal processing

One graduate who has already found her dream job at TU Ilmenau after completing her doctoral studies is Dr. Liana Khamidullina, research assistant at the Communications Engineering Group. For her outstanding dissertation on multi-antenna signal processing at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, in which she developed new signal processing concepts and was awarded "summa cum laude" in 2023, she was presented with the University Society's Dagmar Schipanski Award at the ceremony. "You, our early career researchers, are the heart of our university," said Professor Stefan Sinzinger, Vice President for Research and Young Scientists, in his laudatory speech: "You are the ones who drive our research forward."

Dr. Liana Khamidullina's research topic, signal processing, plays a crucial role in today's digital, increasingly networked world: from radar systems that detect distances or speeds, to EEG devices that record brain activity, to mobile phone networks that transmit voice and image information to keep people connected all over the world. However, as technology advances, so does the complexity of the data that needs to be processed: While classic signal processing often works with one- or two-dimensional data, signals are now often measured simultaneously over many channels, in different frequency ranges or at several locations. This results in multidimensional, for example cube-shaped data structures, so-called tensors. Instead of simplifying this data, Dr. Liana Khamidullina's research looks at it in all its complexity - and makes it possible to identify and analyze the hidden patterns and correlations within these complex data sets more precisely.

"Dr. Khamidullina has written an outstanding and very mature dissertation at the highest theoretical level on a highly topical research problem that has numerous interdisciplinary practical applications," says her supervisor and Head of the Communications Engineering Group Prof. Martin Haardt: "The dissertation makes an excellent scientific contribution to the growth of knowledge and thus significant pioneering work in the field of multidimensional signal processing."

These breakthroughs in research have already been widely recognized in the scientific community. As one of the best female doctoral students in electrical engineering in Germany, Dr. Liana Khamidullina also received the prestigious Dr. Wilhelmy VDE Prize 2024 from the Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies (VDE).

Meanwhile, the young woman is already continuing her research in the field of tensor-based signal processing as a post-doctoral student at TU Ilmenau in order to develop solutions for other applications. With the Dagmar Schipanski Award, she has now been honored once again: "I am very pleased and grateful to TU Ilmenau and Professor Haardt for the opportunity to work on current research topics and to exchange ideas and collaborate with scientists from all over the world. Being awarded the Dagmar Schipanski Award means a lot to me - it is a wonderful recognition of my research and motivates me to pursue my scientific work with even more enthusiasm."

The prize awarded to Dr. Khamidullina by the University Society also commemorates the work of Professor Dagmar Schipanski as a scientist, Rector of TU Ilmenau and, among other things, Minister of Science in Thuringia, and honors her commitment to science and to young scientists.