With the Award, SSF regularly supports young engineers at the Technical University Munich. This year, the award for outstanding bachelor’s thesis, compensated with 1,500 euros, will be awarded for the first time at Wuppertal University. “We are happy to expand the SSF award. It is a wonderful achievement for remarkably committed students and allows us to actively form networks with young engineers”, says Christian Schmitt, chairman at SSF Ingenieure AG.
The first SSF award in the civil engineering discipline at Wuppertal University is presented to Ms. B.Sc. Carina Wegert who convinced the jury with her thesis on “Determination of local compression energy during compression trials of concrete samples with digital image correlation method”. The jury consists of representatives of the university’s examinations office as well as selected coworkers at SSF’s Düsseldorf branch.
The award was presented during the graduation ceremony at the university. Sören Klein, head of SSF branch Düsseldorf and the department for road infrastructure, and Tobias Hintzke, head of the department for railway infrastructure at our Düsseldorf branch, gave the certificate to the award winner. To strengthen our first contact, Tobias Hintzke invited her to visit the SSF office Düsseldorf and to exchange information with staff at the office.
We congratulate Ms. Wegert to her excellent bachelor's thesis and wish her all the best for her personal and professional path.
Interview with Prof. Dr.-Ing. Arndt Goldack, vice dean at Bergische Universität Wuppertal in the field of load-bearing structures, structural statics and structural dynamics
Why would you recommend high school graduates to study civil engineering at Wuppertal University?
"What first comes to mind is our very good mentoring scheme. At our university, students are more than just a number in the system. We rely on personal contact and individual support. Our small campus usually provides this automatically. And students amongst each other form relationships very quickly as well. Moreover, we score in terms of excellent equipment. We have numerous laboratories, e.g the BIM laboratory, VR laboratory. Another aspect which our students appreciate are the wide variety of specialisation opportunities during master studies. Everyone can choose to specialise in the field that suits them best; may it be structural civil engineering, environmental infrastructure design or transport infrastructure planning.In addition to full-term studies, we offer the bachelor’s degree civil engineering as job-accompanying course, for example alongside a trade apprenticeship in a company. In the near future, we’ll add part-time bachelor and master studies where working while studying is explicitly desired. Another important point is the good network between academics and businesses: we have great connections with local employers. Another essential advantage for our students: Wuppertal still offers affordable and sufficient housing options – and those who prefer a more urban lifestyle don’t have to travel far from Düsseldorf or Cologne."
The lack of skilled professionals is currently a big subject and young engineers are in high demand on the labour market. What effect does this have on the students’ mood?
"Students look in general very positively to the future. Many work as student trainees in engineering offices and already have the opportunity to get an idea of real-life work experience as well as earning money on the side. We also observe that many enter the professional world after their bachelor's degree and might start their master studies later on."
The impending climate crisis is one of the biggest challenges of our time. Does this subject influence the curriculum of engineering studies?
"The subject of sustainability is discussed in many of our events, for example in view of materials. And also, our specialisation “environmental infrastructure” tackles this important subject."
