Jun.-Prof. Dr. Christian Dreßler has been head of the Theoretical Solid State Physics Group at TU Ilmenau since September 2022. His path in science began with a chemistry degree at the University of Leipzig. He then completed his doctorate at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg on the development of cross-scale approaches to the description of proton conduction and intermolecular interactions. Parallel to his PhD, he studied mathematics for several semesters. He completed his PhD in 2020, and already one year later he received a call to TU Ilmenau.

In the context of his research, Prof. Dreßler deals with the simulation of the motion of atoms and molecules by means of molecular dynamics. In particular, he investigates ion transport in energy materials, for example proton transport in fuel cell membranes or lithium ion transport in electrodes for lithium batteries. In order to calculate proton transport in realistic, for example nanostructured or porous materials, Prof. Dreßler developed a multiscale approach, which he would like to further improve in the future and extend to the transport of additional ion types. In addition, he plans to extend his research to areas that already have great relevance for TU Ilmenau, for example, the simulation of the semiconductor/water interface using molecular dynamics. Next semester, he will give a quantum mechanics lecture and also plans to establish a lecture and lab on molecular dynamics in the future.

Prof. Dr. Christoph Berkholz has been head of the Algorithms Group at the Institute for Theoretical Computer Science of the Department of Computer Science and Automation since August 2022.

Prof. Berkholz received his PhD from RWTH Aachen University in 2014. After postdoctoral stays in Stockholm, Berlin, and Berkeley, he was Junior Professor of Logic and Complexity at the Institute of Computer Science at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin since 2019 and head of the DFG-funded Emmy Noether Junior Research Group Representation Complexity of Enumeration and Counting Algorithms. His research interests are in theoretical computer science, in particular the study of algorithmic methods and their principal limits. The scientist published about 30 papers on these research topics and participated in program committees of several international conferences and symposia on AI, Theoretical Computer Science, and Foundations of Database Systems.

The research and teaching of the Algorithmics Department is guided by the following two core questions: Under what conditions do efficient algorithms exist and how does the structure of "light" and "heavy" input instances differ? And what are the possibilities and the principal limits of concrete algorithmic strategies and solution methods? The methods investigated so far range from classical decision problems (such as the satisfiability test of propositional logic) to counting and enumeration algorithms (determining the number or generating all solutions) to dynamic algorithms that support efficient update operations. Concrete application areas of this research are query optimization and query evaluation on relational and probabilistic databases as well as methods and data structures in the area of SAT and constraint solving.

Prof. Dr. Ing. Thomas Dallmann was appointed junior professor at the Radio Technologies for Automated and Connected Vehicles Research Group and started his work as head of the group in October 2022.

After graduating with a degree in electrical engineering and information technology from RWTH Aachen University, he worked there as a research assistant at the Institute of High Frequency Technology (IHF) from 2010 to 2016. He completed his PhD in 2017 and published his dissertation titled "Polarimetric Radar Cross-Section Imaging". For the thesis, he developed imaging techniques that spatially resolve radar reflections on objects and visualize polarimetric effects such as multiple reflections.

Subsequently, Prof. Dallmann established a research group at the Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques (FHR) in Aachen, which was dedicated to mobility topics, including the verification and validation of automotive radars. As part of this activity, he and his team built a radar target emulator whose radars can be used to simulate virtual traffic scenarios. At the TU Ilmenau, he will further deepen his previous research focus, the verification and validation of automotive radars. In addition, the department head will look into the merging of radar and communication systems - this promises to enable more efficient use of frequency resources as well as a more comprehensive representation of the environment. Both research areas aim to make automated and connected driving safer, more sustainable and more comfortable. As part of his teaching activities, he is currently giving a lecture on the fundamentals of radar technology - in the summer semester, he plans to offer another in-depth lecture on radar technology.

Emese Domahidi was appointed University Professor by the President of TU Ilmenau, Prof. Kai-Uwe Sattler, on September 12, 2022. Since October 2017, Emese Domahidi was a junior professor (with tenure-track) responsible for the Computational Communication Science Group at TU Ilmenau. After the positive final evaluation, she was appointed university professor.

Emese Domahidi studied Communication Science, Modern German Literature and Philosophy at the Free University of Berlin. She worked as a research assistant in the ERC project "The social fabric of virtual life: A longitudinal study on the social foundations of online gaming (SOFOGA)" with Prof. Dr. Thorsten Quandt first at the University of Hohenheim (2010-2012) and finally at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (2012-2015). In September 2015, she received her PhD for her thesis "Online media use and perceived social resources. A meta-analysis" at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster. From 2015 to 2017, she worked as a postdoc in the Social Media Research Group with Prof. Dr. Sonja Utz at the Leibniz Institute for Knowledge Media in Tübingen.

As head of the Computational Communication Science Group at TU Ilmenau, Emese Domahidi researches digital media content and communication processes and related changes for individuals and society. Her research focuses on biases in digital media, well-being and digital media, and crisis communication via digital media.

In addition to traditional methods of communication science, Emese Domahidi is primarily interested in the development, application, and evaluation of computational methods and pursues these research interests in numerous externally funded projects at TU Ilmenau. In the future, Emese Domahidi will further expand these key research interests and, in particular, also focus on and strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration.

Dr.-Ing. Thomas Bachmann has been appointed university professor and head of the Group of Automotive Engineering at theDepartment of Mechanical Engineering as of January 01, 2022. With this appointment, the fields of competence of the Thuringian Innovation Center Mobility (ThIMo) are once again fully staffed.

After studying mechanical engineering and working for four years as a research assistant at the Group of Automotive Engineering at TU Darmstadt. Thomas Bachmann moved to industry in 1997, where he most recently worked in the BMW Group's Digital Car, Automated Driving development area as vehicle project manager of the fully automated driving pilot fleet. Prior to that, he worked on topics such as vehicle safety, driving dynamics, networking and driver assistance.

Prof. Bachmann will contribute his expertise to the ThIMo core competencies of vehicle technology and drive technology. With the new leadership, the Group has been renamed from "Kraftfahzeugtechnik" to "Fahrzeugtechnik". In addition to research, Prof. Bachmann will also be intensively involved in teaching and training the students of the Automotive Engineering program.

Prof. Bachmann is married and has two children aged 23 and 17.

Yury Person has been University Professor and Head of the Large Networks and Random Graphs Group  at the Institute of Mathematics at TU Ilmenau since September 10, 2021.

Previously, he was Endowed Junior Professor of the Carl Zeiss Foundation since May 2018. In his research, he searches for patterns in large discrete structures that appear chaotic. This often involves the interplay of structure and randomness as a tool of proof. This also has application references in computer science, for example in property testing.

Yury Person studied mathematics at the Technical University of Munich and subsequently received his PhD in computer science from the Humboldt University of Berlin (2010). After PostDoc at the Institute of Mathematics at the Free University of Berlin, he became Junior Professor of Discrete Mathematics and its Applications at the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main (2013 - 2018). From 2014 to 2016, he was a fellow in the Main-Campus-educator program of the Stiftung Polytechnische Gesellschaft Frankfurt am Main. In 2017, he was nominated by the students of the Department of Computer Science and Mathematics at Goethe University for the 1822 University Award for Excellence in Teaching. Yury Person has had several extended research stays at the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (Los Angeles), the Hebrew University Jerusalem, and the Universidade de São Paulo.

Yury Person spends his rare free time with his wife and daughter. He loves improvisational theater, musicals, traveling, and good food.

Thomas Schröder has been head of the University Computing Center (UniRZ) at TU Ilmenau since July 1, 2022. He succeeds Günter Springer, who headed the UniRZ from 1993 until June 2022.

Already as a student and student assistant at the end of the 1990s, Thomas Schröder got to know the structures of the university, especially the university computer center and the administration. After successfully completing his studies in 2005, he was given the opportunity to apply and expand his skills at the UniRZ in a Thuringia-wide identity management project. Already at this time collegial contacts to other universities were established.

Complex projects together with many areas of the university and other Thuringian universities were and are the rule in his daily work. A special interest for him is the conception and construction of highly available IT systems with their adaptation to efficient workflows and to put this complete package into the hands of the users. Until 2010, he led the development team responsible for the relaunch of the TU Ilmenau website. The concepts and technical solutions developed in the process lasted more than a decade and significantly increased the acceptance of TYPO3 at the university. The cooperation with the units, departments, operating units and faculties were always enriching and constructive for him, not only in this project, as he says.

In the same year, Thomas Schröder took over support for the university's mail systems and the Thuringian anti-spam appliance "Ironport". This was also the start of hosting groupware services for other Thuringian universities. Until the end, he was responsible for the Exchange systems of TU Ilmenau, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Hochschule für Musik Weimar, Universität Erfurt and Fachhochschule Erfurt, as well as the SharePoint systems of TU Ilmenau, Universität Erfurt and EAH Jena. In addition to a high level of service availability, he always placed great value on appreciative and collegial communication.

As head of the "IT Service Management" department, Thomas Schröder took on further personnel responsibility in 2013 and was given the opportunity to optimize processes across departments and to develop and implement sustainable, holistic solutions to problems. For him, a continuous improvement process is part of his daily work and has high priority. The IT Service Desk is part of this department and is the first point of contact for IT problems at the TU Ilmenau. It is therefore an important component in the external image of the UniRZ. This and his many years of involvement in the ITUM (IT-supported university management) working group have raised his profile within the university.

Through TU Ilmenau's cooperation with International University Liaison Indonesia (IULI), Thomas Schröder was in contact with the program's coordinators from 2017 and was able to provide IT resources in close coordination with the staff there. Through the Rotary Club of Ilmenau, he had worked with other Rotarians to try to establish a support program for the education of low-income Indonesians.

His department has established a role for itself as a reliable partner in Thuringia and throughout Germany: through the provision of groupware services for the TLPK (Thuringian State Presidents' Conference), SharePoint websites for ministries and the Thuringian Corona Advisory Board, among others, to website design implementation and hosting for the ZKI e.V. (Centers for Communication Processing in Research and Education). By gradually establishing services for other Thuringian universities, it was important for him to consolidate and expand contacts. He worked constructively with the heads of the university computer centers in Thuringia, was involved from the beginning in the staffing of the HS-ITZ (IT Center of the Thuringian Universities) and since 2020 has been a member of the "Advisory Group Technology and Strategy" of the HS-ITZ Board.

He sees the HS-ITZ as a consistent continuation of the SAGS (Standing Working Group on Software). By concentrating resources and knowledge at key points, IT services can be offered cost-effectively and with high quality throughout Thuringia, thus relieving the data centers of other universities. For many years, the SAGS has regularly provided support for tenders for framework agreements or Thuringia-wide training courses.

All UniRZ colleagues are eagerly awaiting the move to the new ITZ building, the Grace Hopper Bau. As a member of the UniRZ's internal "New Building" working group, Thomas Schröder was involved at an early stage in the planning process - especially in the areas of furnishings, locking systems, security technology, commissioning and documentation. The last four points are elementary for secure future operation and the desired certification. The UniRZ thus achieves a unique selling point in the Thuringian university data center environment. "I am convinced that the new building is an important component in consolidating and further expanding the Ilmenau location," says Schröder.

In his private life, too, his interests are wide-ranging: Further training in the areas of intercultural competence and time and project management have always been enriching for him and have also brought about positive developments at work. Business activities and the appearance as a service provider were already modeled for him in his childhood through the entrepreneurial activities of his parents and grandparents. His involvement in the Ilmenau Student Club, Rotaract, until recently the University Sports Center, and the Rotary Club of Ilmenau were and are a pleasant addition to his professional life, as he reports: "They have strengthened my social connection to the campus, Ilmenau and the region. Especially through Rotary, I always get to know interesting personalities whose stories motivate and make me think."

Over the years, Thomas Schröder has built up and expanded in-depth technical/specialized knowledge and soft skills in various fields of activity. "My career to date has shown that I have taken on responsibility in many places, can lead smaller and larger teams, and can also successfully manage complex projects," says Schröder. Continuing education courses with leadership and communication topics in particular have provided him with concepts and tools that have been helpful in his daily work. In his role as a manager, he relies on a combination of collegial leadership style as well as top-down and bottom-up approaches. He wants the UniRZ team to play an active role in helping to master the challenges of the future. Appreciation of the work leads to much higher motivation, which greatly benefits the daily work and projects, he says. This can ensure that the strategic goals and measures are aligned in terms of content, that they are ambitious but also achievable, and that employees can identify with them, he adds. "I see this identification among the colleagues at the UniRZ or the Ilmenau HS-ITZ site. Only in this way can we jointly master the challenges of the future. I'm optimistic about the future because, not least, I can rely on strong support from the UniRZ team."

For the coming years, the UniRZ director sees information security, dealing with cloud service providers, open source software and supporting research and teaching as the high-priority topics. These must be addressed in an overall IT strategy for the university and regularly adapted. In addition to these organizational-technical future activities, he also sees major challenges in the social area. Forward-looking personnel planning and development will be high on his agenda in the coming years.

Niko Kron has been the new student consul at TU Ilmenau since the beginning of the summer semester on April 1, 2022. He succeeds Jan Lemmen in office and will form an important link between university management, student body and the numerous university and student committees in the coming months of his term.

As a student on the bachelor's degree program in mechatronics, Niko Krohn was already active in the university's student council (StuRa) before taking up his post as consul and is therefore close to the issues and interests of the students: "I consider good representation of these interests at the university to be extremely important and am looking forward to taking on some non-technical work after completing my bachelor's degree as consul," says the 24-year-old, explaining his motivation for the post.

In the first few weeks of his six-month term of office, a lot of information has already poured in on the new student representative: "As student consul, I am allowed to take part in many committee meetings of the university as an advisory member, pass on information to improve the exchange between the members of the various committees, and am in direct contact with the presidium every week. This way, I can bring the concerns of the student body to the presidium and, conversely, inform the StuRa about news from the presidium."

Niko Kron is particularly concerned about the interests of the numerous international students in Ilmenau: "As a representative of a university with a high proportion of international students, it is important to me to include their interests and to integrate them well in the committee work." At the same time, Niko Kron would also like to support the volunteers in the committees: "The student committees at the TU Ilmenau are almost exclusively made up of volunteers. There are a lot of administrative tasks involved, and it's important that I can take on at least some of these tasks so that the volunteers can better concentrate on the substantive work."

On 01.08.2021 Sebastian Hübner started his position as an advisor for the Vice President for Studies and Teaching.

The native of Thuringia studied mechanical engineering at the TU Dresden. During his studies he gained a wealth of experience in the field of student and academic self-administration. Among other things, he was a senator at the TU Dresden and a member of the scientific advisory board of the Center for Quality Analysis. He acquired the necessary expertise in the course of his multiple expert activities in programme accreditation procedures at home and abroad. For his commitment, TU Dresden awarded him the Lohrmann Medal in 2018. With this award, the university honors its best graduates for their outstanding achievements.

After successfully completing his diploma, Sebastian Hübner began a scientific career at TU Dresden at the Chair of Hydrogen and Nuclear Energy Technology. In 2020, he moved to TU Ilmenau to the Department of Quality Assurance and Industrial Image Processing.

He now wants to use his experience in both scientific and administrative areas of the university profitably for the entire TU Ilmenau.