This year’s Day of Physics was launched in the Rudolf-Mößbauer lecture hall with students, support staff, and researchers in attendance. Representatives of the student council of Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science and Chemistry (MPIC) – Louna Zaragoza-Daumas, Ismaël Brunet Pac, and Luk Heine – awarded four professors with the Golden Chalk teaching prize.
Golden Chalk Awards
Best teaching in the Bachelor’s program in Physics Prof. Robert König (Analysis 3)
Prof. König’s lectures were entertaining as well as informative, drawing from teaching evaluations to continuously improve over three semesters, reaching an outstanding review by the students in his course. König is Chair of Quantum Information Theory in TUM’s Department of Mathematics in the School of Computation, Information and Technology.
Best teaching in the Master’s program in Physics Dr. Raimund Strauß (Astroparticle Physics 1-2)
With the ability to explain complex topics in a clear, understandable way using interactive elements that engaged students and inspired them for the subject, TUM Junior Fellow Strauß created a pleasant learning environment for the students.
Best tutorial Eklavya Goyal (Real Analysis 1)
Praised for his commitment, clear explanations, and friendly manner, Mr. Goyal (Department of Mathematics) prepared his students well for their exams with humor and support.
Best exercise class instructor Matthias Pfeifer (Linear Algebra 1)
MPIC selected Mr. Pfeifer (Department of Mathematics) for this award because of his clear explanations, well-thought-out structure, and “the courage to use intuition”.
The student representatives of MPIC congratulated all awardees for their outstanding commitment to teaching and handed the event over to Physics Head of Department, Prof. Elisa Resconi, who introduced this year’s speakers.
Scientific presentations
Professors Lorenzo Tancredi and Johanna Eichhorn at the Physics Summerfest. Photo: Dr. Annemieke IJpenberg / TUM
Prof. Johanna Eichhorn presented “Nanoscale influences on energy conversion processes” in which she explored the importance of developing solar conversion technologies to sustainable energy production. The goals of her research at TUM are to make significant improvements in the efficiency and durability of solar cells at low cost. Her research group, Nanoscale Microscopy and Spectroscopy of Energy Materials, examines the photoelectrochemical energy conversion process to convert solar energy directly into storable, energy-dense fuels. Advanced scanning microscopy techniques probe a material’s properties and stability under realistic operation conditions with expectations to scale up production. She concluded the talk by thanking her research group members, collaborators, and importantly, the students in attendance.
Prof. Lorenzo Tancredi , recipient of the MPIC Golden Chalk award for best MSc lecture in for the Advanced Quantum Field Theory course in 2023, presented the audience with the motivation behind his research in a talk entitled, “Special Numbers and Special Functions in Particle Collisions”. Tancredi’s focus is quantum field theory and high-energy particle physics. He is especially interested in the mathematical structures in Feynman diagrams, many of which were illustrated in the talk, with the goal of developing new methods to investigate the Standard Model of particle physics. His research does so within the context of particle collisions with the aim to cut short the process of understanding the “very messy” interactions that take place in these experiments.
Physics Summer Fest
After the conclusion of the awards and presentations, Prof. Resconi thanked organizer Karin Lichtnecker for putting the event together. The audience then joined members of the Physics Department gathered in the lobby and kicked off their summer fest with a meal and lively conversation.
More information and links
- Goldene Kreide - Teaching Award NAT https://mpic.fs.tum.de/en/fachschaft/hopo/nat/goldene_kreide/
- “MPIC Student Council present Golden Chalk 2024 summer terms awards for Commitment and Excellence in Teaching” https://www.nat.tum.de/en/nat/latest/bioscience/article/mpic-student-council-present-golden-chalk-2024-summer-terms-awards-for-commitment-and-excellence-in-teaching/
- Day of Physics (in German) https://www.nat.tum.de/nat/aktuelles/veranstaltungen/tag-der-physik/ (in English)
- Prof. Lorenzo Tancredi’s Professorship for Theoretical Particle Physics and Mathematical Models https://www.ph.nat.tum.de/ttpmath/home/
Prof. Johanna Eichhorn’s Chair for Nanoscale Microscopy and Spectroscopy of Energy Materials https://www.ph.nat.tum.de/nano/home/
Press contact
communications(at)nat.tum.de
Team website