On January 01, 2012, Dr. Ulrich Breuer took office as member of the Presidential Committee of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The new Vice President will be responsible for business affairs and finance. Previously, Breuer worked at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB).
“The merger of two different institutions of the German science system is setting a trend. KIT is an exciting challenge for me and I am looking forward to it,” said the new Vice President, who accompanied the merger of the Hahn-Meitner Institute with the Berliner Elektronenspeicherring-Gesellschaft für Synchrotronstrahlung (BESSY) into Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie as Commercial Director. The physicist considers the growing together of the research sector and the university sector of KIT one of the most important tasks in the years to come.
“We are highly pleased that we were able to win Dr. Breuer. His personality and experience gained in particular while working at HZB will be of high value for the further development of KIT. Mr. Breuer will complement and enrich the Presidential Committee in an excellent way,” emphasized the KIT Presidents Professor Horst Hippler and Professor Eberhard Umbach.
Dr. Ulrich Breuer, born in 1961, studied physics and graduated at RWTH Aachen. At Forschungszentrum Jülich, he worked as assistant of the Chairman of the Executive Board and then headed the staff unit for “Public Relations, International and Business Affairs” from 1995 to 2000. In 2000, Breuer took over the direction of the staff unit for “Scientific-technical Planning.” In 2005, Breuer moved to the Hahn-Meitner Institute, Berlin, where he assumed the function of Commercial Director. In January 2009, Breuer became Commercial Director of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie established by the merger of the Hahn-Meitner Institute and BESSY.
Apart from the Presidents Hippler and Umbach, KIT’s Presidential Committee consists of the Vice Presidents Professor Detlef Löhe (Research and Information), Dr. Peter Fritz (Research and Innovation), Dr. Elke Luise Barnstedt (Human Resources and Law), and Dr. Ulrich Breuer (Economic Affairs and Finance). Breuer succeeds Dr. Alexander Kurz, who moved to the Fraunhofer Society, Munich, in mid-2011.
Being “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 10,000 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,800 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.