Made in Science – The official podcast of the University of Stuttgart

Professor Sabine Ludwigs, who is our podcast guest today is heading an interdisciplinary and international research team of polymer chemists, physical chemists and material scientists who are developing functional and intelligent polymer materials and devices. We talk with her about chemistry at the University of Stuttgart and her research activities, about functional soft materials and Soft Robot...

We talk to Professor Katharina Hölzle, who has headed the Institute of Human Factors IAT at the University of Stuttgart and the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO since 2022. Among other things, we talk about how the work of the future is being researched, what Hölzle advises the political level on and why the education system needs to be changed. Many inspiring statements can be...

Our guest is Rubina Zern-Breuer, who has headed the new Transfer Center at the University of Stuttgart since the beginning of 2023. This is where the transfer of knowledge and ideas is bundled and where the central career service for students is also located. We talk about collaboration between the university and external parties, innovation and the new start-up culture. But biographical topics, s...

Nina Devolder works as Lead Program Manager at the Wikimedia Foundation. Working with professionals and volunteers around the world, she implements strategic programs, streamlines ongoing workflows, optimizes resources, improves collaboration and knowledge sharing, and helps improve our collective impact. She took a starting point for her career path at the University of Stuttgart: coming from Fin...

With our guest Joris van Slageren, Professor at the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the University of Stuttgart, we talk about the current research project "Chem4Quant" - on the impact of research in chemistry on quantum science. But we also talk about diversity in teaching, what science fiction has to do with science, and we also get an unusual book recommendation from Prof. von Slageren. Wort...

Erasmo Cachay Mateos graduated from the University of Stuttgart in 2002 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. Today he works as a project manager in the automotive sector. His main interests are also literature and film. In 2014 he published his first novel. In the podcast, we talk about his approach to art, his path from Peru to Germany and why he owes a lot to the University of Stuttgart.

Salma Maged graduated in 2017 with a double degree in the master’s program Integrated Urbanism and Sustainable Design (IUSD) in Cairo and Stuttgart. Nowadays, she looks after development in Egypt in a non-profit organization and she has founded the network NIU together with another alumna. NIU is a community of diverse, interdisciplinary researchers and professionals with a passion for integrated...

Dr. Matthew Hoehler is our guest on this episode of the podcast. Hoehler is a research engineer in the Fire Research Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He was part of the very first cohort to study the COMMAS (Computational Mechanics of Materials and Structures) international degree program at the University of Stuttgart. Topics of the podcast include: How Hoehl...

All episodes: www.uni-stuttgart.de/podcast In the 26th episode of our podcast, we talk to Chinese physicist Laura Na Liu. She is an international leader in the field of metamaterials. Since July 2020, she has been head of the 2nd Institute of Physics at the University of Stuttgart. We talk about how her interest in physics was sparked, what nanotechnology is all about, and what recommendations she...

Iranian Mahsa Taheran is a space systems engineer at the University of Stuttgart. She won the Amelia Earhart Fellowship Award 2022 for her Ph. D., which is valued at USD 10,000. Taheran’s Ph. D. is part of a collective European effort to shift the landscape of astronomical balloons by developing extensible, reusable and adaptive platforms that can fly regularly to operate different instruments and...

Wolfram Ressel is an engineer, professor and currently also Rector of the University of Stuttgart. In the current episode, he talks to Dr. Holtkamp about why he loves the mountains so much, which three people have influenced him the most, and how universities will develop in the coming years.

In this episode we talk to Dr. Johannes Ziegler, the Founder and CEO of Miaplaza Inc, an elearning and play platform for young students. Ziegler is an engineer and studied at leading universities including Stanford University, Tsinghua University in Beijing and the University of Stuttgart. He enjoys creating innovative forms of online learning and testing them out on his five kids. Among other thi...

In this episode we talk to Dr. Anette Fintz, founder of the "Institut für Sinn-orientierte Beratung". She has been supporting managing directors and CEOs in SMEs in Germany and Switzerland since 1998. Dr. Fintz graduated in philosophy, psychology and sociology. In the interview, she explains the importance of humour in daily work, gives her impression of the status quo of digital transformation an...

Prof. Markus Bühler - an alumnus of the University of Stuttgart - is a materials scientist and engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he holds the endowed McAfee Professorship of Engineering chair. The focus of his research is computational materials science for biological materials. But Bühler's activities also extend to art: he is a composer of experimental music, set...

In this episode we welcome Sven Hahn, who works as a city manager at the City-Initiative Stuttgart e. V.. Hahn studied at the University of Stuttgart and in the USA. After completing his Master's degree in American and German Studies in 2009, he began his professional career as a journalist at the Stuttgarter Nachrichten. We talk about whether Stuttgart is a student-friendly city, what impact Coro...

In this episode, host Wolfgang Holtkamp meets Ann-Kathrin Briem, who is Environmental Engineer and Life Cycle Assessment Expert at the University of Stuttgart and the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics. They talk about sustainability assessment in the area of "mass personalisation" and also "function-optimised biosurfactants", a sustainable alternative to chemically synthesised surfactants....

In this episode, we welcome Aerospace Engineering master’s student and team lead of the CubeSat mission SOURCE of the Small Satellite Student Society at the University of Stuttgart, Julia Zink. The conversation is not only about satellites, however, but also about a stay abroad in Australia und what are the next endeavors of Julia.

In the 17th episode of our podcast "Made in Science", Prof. Alexander Brem is our guest. He is Professor for Entrepreneurship in Technology and Digitalisation and Director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Science at the University of Stuttgart. We talk about what qualities a successful founder needs, how he himself went from founder to scientist and what major challenges compan...

In this episode, we welcome Simon Batzner. His way into academia included some twists and turns, but a few years ago he ended up at the University of Stuttgart to pursue his Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace engineering. After that he acquire his Master’s Degree in Computational Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and started to pursue his PhD in Applied Mathematics at Harvard Univ...

For Tasneem Barakat, it's all about water. Our podcast guest grew up in Syria and is a graduate of the English-speaking master’s program WASTE. She currently works at the civil engineering office of the city of Stuttgart, where she deals with the topic of water bodies and fountains. In this episode, she talks about how she developed enthusiasm for engineering, the challenges of her job and what sh...

In this episode we talk to Dr. Brighton Austin Chunga from Stellenbosch University in South Africa and Mzuzu University in Malawi. He is an Alumnus of the the international English speaking Master’s program WAREM at the University of Stuttgart and now tries to help improve Water Management in Africa. We talk to him about the sustainability of support by NGOs, the role of governments in water polic...

In this episode we welcome Dr. Rama K. Aluru. He is a graduate of our English language master's programme PHYSICS and now founder of two different companies. Wolfgang Holtkamp talks to him about how he helps people pursue their careers according to personal passion, why he studied in Stuttgart and not in the US, and how he wants to close the innovation gap in India.

Our guest is Jun.-Prof. Hanaa Dahy. The Egyptian wants to incorporate intelligent materials into architecture. She followed the usual career path of an architect until an event in her home country opened her eyes, from which point on Hanaa Dahy has been interested in sustainable building and has developed a straw composite material which has received several awards. As junior professor and head of...

As guest of the 11th episode Wolfgang Holtkamp welcomes Dr. Jessica Bundschuh. She has a Ph. D. in Creative Writing and English Literature from the University of Houston and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland. Before joining the English Literatures & Cultures faculty at the University of Stuttgart, she taught at a number of universities in the US. We talk to her about her w...

In this episode, we welcome our alumnus Dr. Tarek Zaki. He recently joined BMW as project manager and partner lead and develops future entertainment systems in vehicles. We talk to him about his passion for creating "lovable products", his way of working and his way into and out of academia.