Mechanical engineering award for outstanding academic achievements awarded to Ilmenau students

“The award-winning theses demonstrate the diversity and practical relevance of research and studies at TU Ilmenau,” said Dean of Studies Prof. Stephan Husung, who presented the awards in the university’s Audimax. The prizes recognized theses with the potential to advance emerging technologies and improve practical applications.

Several of the awarded projects focused on cutting-edge laser technology. Hanna Braun, for example, received an award for her Master’s thesis, completed in cooperation with TRUMPF, on a process for the more precise analysis of high-power lasers.

Metrology as a key technology across many fields

The sponsoring association also honored outstanding achievements in measurement technology. In his final thesis, Christopher Tom Ries investigated acceleration sensors using advanced metrology methods. Sebastian Oscar Siebenhaar, meanwhile, developed a method in his Master’s thesis for actively regulating air density in order to achieve highly precise measurement results, particularly in sensitive technical applications.

In the field of materials science, two theses stood out in particular this year. Niclas Hober received an award for his Master’s thesis on the efficient joining of aluminum and copper using laser beam welding. Bo Ebsen was  honored for his Bachelor’s thesis in automotive engineering, in which he developed and characterized biodegradable plastic-copper pastes for 3D printing.

Other award-winning projects focused on digital development processes. Sophie Leidl, a Master’s student in Industrial Engineering and Management, demonstrated in her interdisciplinary research how different product variants can be modeled and efficiently managed using abstract “fictitious” type representatives based on concepts from software development.

Manufacturing technology was also advanced through several projects. Mechanical engineering student Niels Milde was honored for his diploma thesis on the modeling and optimization of directionally selective compliant mechanisms for the additive manufacturing of glass components.Mechatronics student Magnus Alexander Kastius received an award for his Bachelor’s thesis on the development of an automated coil-winding machine. 

Ergonomics and miniaturization also featured prominently among the award-winning projects. Mechanical engineering student Felix Poppel developed a passive exoskeleton to support the upper extremities during physical work, which was recently presented at the Hannover Messe. In addition, a student project group consisting of Sarah Leinberger, Florian Michel and Simon Schäfer developed a glass-based microelectromechanical load cell building on an existing system as part of a project seminar.

Prof. Thomas Fröhlich, Chairman of the Association for the Promotion of Mechanical Engineering, emphasizes the broad importance of measurement technology, in particular:

“Measurement technology plays a decisive role in almost all areas of life. Whether in industrial automation, the analysis and control of biotechnological processes, or the generation of data sets for personalized medicine, metrology is a central enabling technology.”

The Association for the Promotion of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Precision Engineering at TU Ilmenau supports research and academic education in mechanical engineering, strengthens collaboration between academia and industry, and promotes exchange among current members, alumni, emeriti and former employees of the faculty.

To this end, the association supports specialist events and publications, raises and manages funding for projects and infrastructure, and awards prizes for outstanding achievements and contributions in the field of mechanical engineering.