Images: Tobias Hase / Interview: Cornelia Freund
You studied civil engineering in both your Bachelor's and Master's degrees. What fascinates you about the subject matter?
My interest in planning and construction was actually sparked by the classic Lego building blocks. This was followed by a fascination for architecture and an enthusiasm for the mathematical and mechanical background of these inconspicuous, life-saving load-bearing structures. To this day, I am inspired by how shape can follow function in civil engineering.
Why did you decide to study civil engineering at TUM?
Education is the key to many opportunities. As a country kid, with the TUM I found an prestigious university with a good basic education in an international village.
What advice would you give to students who are interested in studying civil engineering at TUM?
It's simple: what you enjoy, you do well. And what you are good at is also fun. A thirst for knowledge is a good prerequisite for this. That's why my advice is to question everything, leave nothing hanging in the air and remain persistent.
You work as a research assistant at the Professorship of Wood Technology. What research topic are you working on?
I am working on the simulation of the naturally grown raw material wood. The aim is to better understand the mechanical properties of the building material with its heterogeneities and orthotropy, i.e. its force-deformation behaviour, in order to be able to use them in a targeted manner.
What do you enjoy most about your work with wood and numerical data?
Learning from nature, analysing with numerical methods and understanding correlations - that's what I find exciting about my research. In my case, this means recording wood characteristics, structuring this data, linking it with mathematical and mechanical descriptions in order to ultimately characterise mechanical properties efficiently. I can follow my instincts and learn something new every day. In the best case, I add another building block to the understanding of timber structures and can thus contribute my small part to reducing the carbon footprint in the construction industry.
What scientific and/or professional perspectives do civil engineering and specifically wood technology offer? What are your further career plans?The use of computational simulations - both in materials science and at the structural level - is an important tool for engineers to design and maintain structures safely and aesthetically. Interfaces between computational mechanics, structural design and timber construction are and will certainly play a role in my future career plans. Where exactly I will end up, however, remains a big question mark.
Links
Professorship of Wood Technology, Prof. Jan-Willem van de Kuilen