Prof. Dr Oliver Steffens, Vice-President for Research, Prof. Dr Katherine Gürtler, Dean of the ANK Faculty, and Dr Marcus Graf, Head of the Centre for Research and Transfer (ZFT), were delighted by the opportunities this offers the university’s research community.
“With these workshops, we’ve killed two birds with one stone: we’ve resolved the shortage of research space at the ANK Faculty and created the ideal conditions for cross-faculty projects,” said Vice-President Steffens. New equipment, such as a drilling and milling machine, two welding machines, cupboards, rolling tables, tool trolleys, protective gear and an initial supply of consumables, was procured using HTA funds. An annual sum is also allocated from this fund to replenish consumables. In addition, existing equipment from the Microsystems Engineering building can now be used here, including two 3D printers and a bench drill.
The initiative to equip the workshops came from the ANK Faculty. Thomas Zimmermann, the faculty’s laboratory workgroup manager, approached Dean Kate Gürtler with his ideas. “I’m really pleased with how everything has gone,” said Prof. Gürtler. “Especially as we’ve already received positive feedback on the workshops.” Initial training sessions on how to use the equipment have already taken place. Furthermore, in workshop W013, several research groups comprising a total of 15 people are currently working on a wide variety of projects, including in the fields of platinum and wafer milling and kinetics.
The ANK team – comprising Thomas Zimmermann, Tobias Wolf (industrial foreman in chemistry) and Sven Lange from the Optics and Physics Laboratory – is responsible for the maintenance of the workshops and their ongoing operation, including safety briefings for everyone wishing to use them. The workshops can be booked via Outlook.
