and Norbert Henze
Becker has been vice-president for teaching since 2005 already and now assumes office for the second time. “I want to provide the new bachelor and master studies courses at the KIT with a research-oriented profile”, underlines Becker. During his past term of office, he implemented the first basic components in the teaching sector as outlined in the concept for the future submitted under the Excellence Initiative. The House of Competence (HoC) was founded to convey key competences in teaching and studies. The Karlsruhe House of Young Scientists (KHYS) was established to enhance the quality of education of phD students. Systematic linking of teaching to the KIT campus north (Forschungszentrum) in all phases of the studies is another objective of the vice-president, who understands his role to be that of the “interface to the students”.
Apart from his work as vice-president, the engineer is member of the management board of the Institute for Information Processing Technology (ITIV). There, the former state teaching award winner represents the field of embedded electronic systems in research and teaching, with the focus lying on automotive technology, sensor/actuator systems, communication technology, and infotainment.
The mathematician Henze now starts his third term of office. As vice-president for structural matters since 2002 and chief information officer (CIO) since 2005, he accompanied the merger of the university’s computing center with the Institute for Scientific Computing of the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe to the Steinbuch Centre for Computing (SCC) early this year. As chairman of the KIT Senate Committee for Information Processing and Supply founded in March 2008, he pleads for “all KIT employees in research, teaching, innovation, and in administration as well as all students being supported by modern information technology in the best possible way”. Among others, this will include the establishment of a joint library as an innovative center of information supply for the KIT and the bundling of media services.
In the KIT Executive Board, Henze is responsible for the newly established KIT focus COMMputation. This made-up word reflects the inherent mutual dependence of communication and information processing. Apart from his work as vice-president, the mathematician is member of the management board of the Institute for Stochastics, where he represents the field of statistics in research and teaching.
The vice-presidents have been elected for another three years subject to a change of the management structure as a result of the planned KIT Act.
The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is the merger of the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, member of the Helmholtz Association, and the Universität Karlsruhe. This merger will give rise to an institution of internationally excellent research and teaching in natural and engineering sciences. In total, the KIT has 8000 employees and an annual budget of 700 million Euros. The KIT focuses on the knowledge triangle of research – teaching – innovation.
The Karlsruhe institution is a leading European energy research center and plays a visible role in nanosciences worldwide. KIT sets new standards in teaching and promotion of young scientists and attracts top scientists from all over the world. Moreover, KIT is a leading cooperation partner of industry.