Bochum, Germany – March 24, 2009    The winners of this semester’s university-wide eLearning competition "RUBeL 5×5000" have been elected. The acronym "RUBeL 5×5000" indicates that eLearning at the Ruhr-University Bochum is addressed. Furthermore, 5,000 € are awarded for 5 different innovations in teaching. The so called "Interactive Tutor for Technical Design in Civil Engineering", a software system allowing students a cooperative self-learning of course subjects, was one of the 5 winners in the winter term 2008/2009. The system is intended to be applied in the course "Technical Design using CAD Systems" (course no. 123016) for improving the quality of teaching. The prize money of 5,000 € has been used to create a new undergraduate position. The student meanwhile being employed at this position is charged with developing and implementing further features of the "Interactive Tutor".
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Munich, Germany – January 13, 2009    The academic prizes of the annual competition "Auf IT gebaut" have been awarded on January 13, 2009. The term "Auf IT gebaut" stands for "Building with IT"; the competition is organized by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. Accordingly, the awards of this competition are bestowed for outstanding IT applications in the field of civil engineering. In particular, novel IT solutions of young people (scientists, students – and also apprentices) from German universities and companies are addressed. A key objective is to set on the young people’s talents and to integrate their solutions into the daily practice of companies in the construction sector. By that, promotion and support of the modernization of German economy focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises is intended. The ceremony was held at the Munich Trade Fair Center within the scope of the "BAU 2009", which is Europe’s most important trade fair for architecture, materials and systems (212,035 visitors and 1,920 exhibitors from 43 countries in 2009).
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Bochum, Germany – November 28, 2008    The academic annual celebration of the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering was held on November 28, 2008 at the Ruhr University’s conference center. Students of various degree courses offered by the department as well as alumni, staff and faculty attended the event. During the ceremony, anecdotes have been told by alumni, talks on actual scientific topics have been given and awards have been bestowed, like the prestigious Zerna Prize.
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Bochum, Germany – August 21, 2008    After a 30-minute presentation of his research work on autonomous monitoring of safety-relevant engineering structures and a disputation of about 60 minutes, Kay received his doctorate degree with the grade "Summa Cum Laude" from the Dean of the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Professor Rolf Breitenbücher. Examiners of the dissertation were Professor Dietrich Hartmann (Computational Engineering), Professor Markus Thewes (Tunnelling, Pipeline Technology and Construction Management) and Professor Michael Scherer (Geodesy in Civil Engineering), who also joined the doctorate party afterwards. Some impressions of this unforgettable event, in which friends, colleagues and family of the new doctor participated, can be found below.