Elected to the German Academy of Science and Engineering
- News
Virtual machining, robotics and electrical energy conversion are some of the research areas from which the 27 new members of the German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech) come. Since the end of November, Prof. Petra Wiederkehr, who holds the professorship of Virtual Machining at the Department of Computer Science at TU Dortmund University, has been one of them. In future, the new members will contribute their scientific excellence in future technologies to policy and social consulting for the common good.
The election of the new members is both a recognition of their scientific achievements and an honorary mandate: the Academy, which is funded by the federal and state governments, advises politics and society on technology-related issues. The Academy's more than 700 members are outstanding scientists from the fields of engineering, natural sciences, medicine, humanities and social sciences. At acatech, they work at the interface between science, business and politics, developing options and recommendations for action. They work together with experts from business and society in interdisciplinary working groups, thematic networks and projects. The project topics range from digital transformation and securing skilled workers to the hydrogen economy and nuclear fusion to the circular economy and mobility of the future.
Prof. Petra Wiederkehr was appointed to the UA Ruhr Professorship of Virtual Machining at the Department of Computer Science at TU Dortmund University in 2017. She conducts research in the field of digitalization and optimization of manufacturing processes - and as Principal Investigator at the Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. She was previously a junior professor for "Modeling Methods for Machining Processes" at the Department of Mechanical Engineering. She has received several awards for her research. Among other things, she is an associate member of the International Academy of Production Engineering (CIRP). Since 2023, Prof. Petra Wiederkehr has also been Vice-President of TU Dortmund University for Diversity and is committed to further reducing structural barriers for women in science.