How do pedestrians react when they encounter an automated vehicle on the street? Does the interaction feel safe and comfortable, and does it make a difference whether the vehicle is operating autonomously, is driven by a human, or is teleoperated from a remote location? How should an automated vehicle brake when yielding to a pedestrian? Researchers from Chemnitz University of Technology and Technische Universität Berlin investigated these questions in July and August 2026 using an automated shuttle on the campus Erfenschlager Straße 73 in Chemnitz.

The studies were conducted by the Chair of Cognitive Psychology and Human Factors (Prof. Dr. Stefan Brandenburg) and the Chair of Ergonomics and Innovation Management (Prof. Dr. Angelika Bullinger-Hoffmann) at Chemnitz University of Technology as part of the Chemnitz Center for Mobility (CCM). The cooperation partner was the Department of Automotive Engineering at TU Berlin (Prof. Dr. Steffen Müller), which provided and programmed the vehicle for the studies.

How do pedestrians perceive different vehicle modes?

One study examined how vehicle mode and driving speed affect pedestrians’ perception of the interaction and their intended crossing behaviour. Three operating modes were simulated: automated, manual, and teleoperated. Furthermore, the shuttle approached participants at different speeds, after which they evaluated the interaction.

Initial results indicate that interactions with the shuttle were generally perceived as safe, comfortable, self-determined, and efficient. As vehicle speed increased, perceived safety and comfort decreased slightly, while perceived efficiency increased. The vehicle’s operating mode, however, had no significant influence on how the interaction was experienced. These findings suggest that both automated and teleoperated vehicles can enable positively perceived interactions from the pedestrian’s perspective.

How should an automated vehicle brake?

Another study focused on the braking behaviour of the automated shuttle during interactions with pedestrians. Participants experienced different braking manoeuvres in which both the stopping distance and the braking profile were systematically varied, representing different braking strategies.

Preliminary analyses show that both the nature of the braking manoeuvre and the final stopping position substantially influence how pedestrians perceive the interaction. The findings indicate that it is not merely the fact that an automated vehicle stops that matters; the way it decelerates and where it stops are equally important for creating a positive interaction.

A human-centred perspective for automated mobility

Together, the two studies provide valuable insights into how automated vehicles should behave when interacting with other road users. Rather than defining vehicle behaviour solely from a technical perspective, the project places the human experience at the centre of the design process.

The data are currently being analysed and will be published in scientific journals. The findings will contribute to the human-centred development of automated mobility and provide evidence-based recommendations for the design of future automated shuttles.

The research was funded through internal resources of TU Chemnitz and TU Berlin. In addition, the project received support through a doctoral scholarship funded by the Sächsische Aufbaubank (SAB) in cooperation with the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+).

Additional information is available on the project website: www.mytuc.org/rfmh

Event announcement: The research project and the automated shuttle will be presented on 6 October 2026 at the CVAG conference “MOBILITÄTSIMPULS – Automated Driving in Public Transport” to a professional audience. In the evening, the project will also be showcased during a free public event, where visitors will have the opportunity to take a seat inside the automated shuttle and learn more about the project and its findings.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Stefan Brandenburg, Chair of Cognitive Psychology and Human Factors at Chemnitz University of Technology, Email stefan.brandenburg@psychologie@tu-chemnitz.de, Prof. Dr. Angelika Bullinger-Hoffmann, Chair of Ergonomics and Innovation Management at Chemnitz University of Technology, Email angelika.bullinger-hoffmann@mb.tu-chemnitz.de, and Prof. Dr. Steffen Müller, Department of Automotive Engineering at TU Berlin, Email steffen.mueller@tu-berlin.de

A research team at Chemnitz University of Technology has developed a flexible nanocomposite film that uses two physical effects in one material. Under mechanical load it generates electrical charge through the piezoelectric effect. At the same time, it changes its electrical resistance through the piezoresistive effect. The material combines the polymer polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) with ceramic barium titanate (BaTiO₃) particles and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The results have been published in Nano Energy, one of the leading international journals in the field of energy materials and nanotechnology.

Two sensing principles in a single material

Piezoelectric materials are used in two ways. They serve as sensors for dynamic loads such as vibrations and impacts, and they can also harvest energy by converting mechanical movement into electrical energy. A piezoelectric sensor can therefore supply its own power. However, it only responds to changing loads. Piezoresistive materials respond to pressure with a measurable change in resistance, so they can also detect static loads precisely and sensitively. Until now, the two material types have usually been developed separately. The Chemnitz team combines both principles in one film only about 40 µm thick.

The two fillers divide the work between them. BaTiO₃ is a lead-free piezoceramic. It supports local polarization and promotes the formation of the electroactive phase of PVDF, which is responsible for the piezoelectric effect. The carbon nanotubes form an electrically conductive network in the polymer. When the film is compressed, the contacts between the nanotubes change and the electrical resistance changes with them. The nanotubes also reinforce the polymer mechanically.

“Our central question was how the ceramic and conductive fillers act together inside the PVDF matrix,” says Prof. Dr. Olfa Kanoun, head of the Professorship of Measurement and Sensor Technology at TU Chemnitz. “By adjusting both concentrations systematically, we could control the material structure and direct its performance toward energy conversion or pressure detection.”

PVDF is lightweight, flexible and suitable for large-area processing. To perform well as a piezoelectric material, however, it usually needs high-voltage electrical poling, mechanical stretching, or both. In the new composite, the fillers take over this task during film formation. The ceramic particles promote the polar crystal structure, and the nanotubes act as nuclei that increase the overall crystallinity of the polymer. At the interfaces between polymer, ceramic particles and nanotubes, microcapacitor-like regions form, which increase charge accumulation and polarization. As a result, the electroactive content of the films is up to about twice as high as in pure PVDF. Their piezoelectric coefficient reaches values comparable to those of electrically poled PVDF-based systems.

Simple processing produces flexible thin films

The films are produced by solution casting. PVDF and the fillers are dispersed in a solvent, then cast and thermally treated. The result is a homogeneous, flexible film. For energy-harvesting tests, the films were placed between flexible electrodes to form compact nanogenerators.

“A homogeneous distribution of the ceramic particles and carbon nanotubes was essential,” explains Dipl.-Ing. Ahmed Attaoui, lead author of the study. “The performance depends not only on the individual constituents, but also on the interfaces formed between them.”

The composition decides which effect dominates

The team succeeded to systematically vary the nanotube content at each ceramic level. This allowed them to link the composition of the material to its structure, mechanical strength, electrical output and pressure sensitivity. The composite is considerably stiffer and stronger than pure PVDF, yet it stays flexible.

A formulation with a higher nanotube content delivered the best energy harvesting. It reached output voltages of up to 25 V and a maximum power of 345 microwatts, about a hundred times more than the same material without nanotubes. The material also demonstrated long-term stability: The output voltage remained stable over 20,000 loading cycles. Even after 50,000 and 100,000 cycles, the peak voltage decreased only slightly, while the overall signal shape was preserved. A formulation with more ceramic and fewer nanotubes gave the highest pressure sensitivity, while still delivering a high electrical output. This formulation was therefore selected for all subsequent device tests.

“The important result is the controllability of the system,” says Kanoun. “One composition can be selected for higher electrical output, while another can be selected for pressure sensitivity. This gives device designers a clear basis for choosing the formulation that fits the intended function.”

“Combining piezoelectric and piezoresistive effects in one material opens up a range of possible uses, from sensors to energy harvesters and, in future, actuators,” says Kanoun. “Our results provide a materials basis for exploring these functions within one composite system.”

Toward self-powered smart skins and wearable electronics

A demonstration shows how the two effects complement each other in a single device. When the researchers pressed the film steadily with a fingertip, its electrical resistance dropped clearly while almost no voltage was generated. Rapid tapping, by contrast, produced strong voltage pulses. The same film can therefore register how strongly and how long it is pressed, and at the same time harvest energy from movement. The team also showed that the harvested energy is usable: The rectified output charged capacitors within a few seconds and powered an array of LEDs.

The concept is aimed at flexible and wearable electronics, where space, weight and energy supply are limited. Potential applications include self-powered pressure sensors, electronic skins, health-monitoring patches, robotic tactile interfaces, structural monitoring and autonomous Internet of Things devices.

The researchers are now investigating whether the material can also produce controlled mechanical motion under electrical excitation. This could extend the concept to actuation, for example vibrotactile feedback in wearable and interactive systems. “The study provides a materials basis for compact autonomous devices”, says Attaoui. “The next step is to translate the measured material properties into reliable components and to evaluate how energy harvesting, sensing and actuation can be integrated at device level.”

Interdisciplinary and international cooperation

The study is the result of a cooperation between the Professorship of Measurement and Sensor Technology and TU Chemnitz alumna Dr. Ayda Bouhamed. She is now at the Faculty of Sciences of Gafsa, University of Gafsa, and a member of the Laboratory of Electromechanical Systems at the National Engineering School of Sfax in Tunisia. The work was carried out during her visiting professorship at TU Chemnitz. The visiting professorship allowed the partners to combine their expertise in nanocomposite materials and sensor technology. It also strengthens the long-standing collaboration between TU Chemnitz and research institutions in Tunisia.

“It is a special pleasure for me to collaborate with my alma mater,” says Dr. Ayda Bouhamed. “The visiting professorship program gave us the opportunity to bring our expertise together in Chemnitz, and it shows how well scientific cooperation works across borders today.”

Further partners from TU Chemnitz contributed their expertise: Prof. Dr. Martin F.-X. Wagner and Mario Scholze from the Institute of Materials Science and Engineering, and Prof. Dr. Christoph Tegenkamp from the Professorship of Analysis of Solid Surfaces at the Institute of Physics. Prof. Dr. Chokri Bouraoui from the Laboratory of Mechanics at the National Engineering School of Sousse, University of Sousse, co-supervised the work. The cooperation brought together measurement and sensor technology, materials science and surface physics.

Publication: Ahmed Attaoui, Ayda Bouhamed, Mario Scholze, Martin F.-X. Wagner, Christoph Tegenkamp, Chokri Bouraoui, Olfa Kanoun: "High-performance self-poled PVDF-BaTiO₃-CNT nanocomposites: A multifunctional material for flexible next-generation energy harvesting and sensing." Nano Energy, 2026, 148, 111688. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2025.111688

Further Information: Prof. Dr. Olfa Kanoun, phone +49 (0)371 531-36931, email olfa.kanoun@etit.tu-chemnitz.de

(Author: Ahmed Attaoui)

The Chair of Microeconomics (Prof. Dr. Torsten Heinrich) at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Chemnitz University of Technology has successfully secured external funding from the EFRE/JTF Regionale program. Together with Prof. Dr. Svenja Flechtner and her team at the University of Siegen, the team at Chemnitz University of Technology will analyze labor market trends in the Südwestfalen reion in Westphalia as part of the project "MARS — Modellierung der Arbeitsmarktverschiebungen in Südwestfalen" (Modeling Labor Market Shifts in South Westphalia). The project has a total budget of over 1.6 million Euros (ca. 0.8 million Euros at Chemnitz University of Technology).

Prof. Heinrich explains: "Labor markets in Germany and Europe are facing major changes driven by the rise of AI, demographic shifts, and missed opportunities for innovation. The Südwestfalen region is among the more strongly affected regions. The MARS project will apply new computational economics methods to empirical labor market modeling in order to develop better forecasts and new strategies for addressing the challenges of the coming years. Collaboration with companies and other regional stakeholders plays a key role in the project."

Prof. Flechtner says: "The labor market in South Westphalia is facing profound changes driven by digitalization and AI, demographic change, skills shortages, and the ecological transformation. MARS therefore focuses not only on what changes can be expected, but also on the scope for shaping these developments in the region. The project combines quantitative labor market modeling with the perspectives of regional businesses, policymakers, and other stakeholders to identify potential developments at an early stage and jointly develop approaches for shaping a sustainable future for the regional labor market."

Funded by EU and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia via EFRE/JTF, the project will run until mid-2029.

(Author: Prof. Dr. Torsten Heinrich)

From 21 to 25 September 2026, the “Summer School on Applied Analysis” was held once again at the “IdeenReich” of the University Library. With more than 70 participants, the event, which has been organised annually since 2006, recorded the highest attendance in its history. In the mornings, four invited speakers each gave two lectures: Prof. Dr. Nicolas Boullé (Imperial College London), Prof. Dr. Hanno Gottschalk (TU Berlin), Prof. Dr. Carola-Bibiane Schönlieb (University of Cambridge) and Prof. Dr. Gabriele Steidl (TU Berlin). In addition, there were two talks from Chemnitz: Prof. Dr. Tino Ullrich (Professorship of Applied Analysis) and Prof. Dr. Sebastian Neumayer (Professorship of Inverse Problems).

The programme showed how strongly artificial intelligence now shapes applied analysis. Nicolas Boullé spoke about operator learning, i.e. learning solution operators of partial differential equations from data. Hanno Gottschalk presented a statistical theory of generative learning, and Gabriele Steidl covered generative flows — including a paper accepted as a spotlight at NeurIPS 2026, the world’s largest conference on machine learning. Carola-Bibiane Schönlieb showed how classical inverse problems in imaging are being reconsidered in the age of AI.

The two contributions from Chemnitz spanned the range from theory to practice. Tino Ullrich spoke about approximation, sampling and recovery, illustrating how closely the organisers of the summer school collaborate in their research. The closing talk was given by Sebastian Neumayer, who demonstrated how research results can be translated into software with the help of new AI-assisted tools — and how programming with AI works in practice today.

The concept that gives doctoral students in particular their first conference experience proved successful again this year: in the afternoon sessions, doctoral researchers and postdocs gave short talks or presented their research topics on posters. The award for the best talk went to Linéll Dehne (University of Greifswald) for the presentation “Parameter Identification using Physics-informed Neural Networks”. The prize for the best poster was awarded to Nikolas Klug (University of Augsburg) for the contribution “Natural Riemannian Gradient for Learning Functional Tensor Networks”.

The summer school was financially supported by the Priority Programme “Theoretical Foundations of Deep Learning” (SPP 2298) of the German Research Foundation (DFG).

“That more than 70 researchers came to us this year shows how great the need is for a format that brings together the mathematical foundations and current developments of machine learning. We were particularly pleased by how intensively the early-career researchers used the time between talks for discussion and networking,” reports Prof. Dr. Daniel Potts (Professorship of Applied Functional Analysis). Together with Dr. Franziska Nestler, Sebastian Neumayer, Prof. Dr. Martin Stoll (Professorship of Scientific Computing) and Tino Ullrich, Potts is part of the summer school’s organising team.

“Record participation of more than 70 researchers and such lively discussions in all sessions — that speaks to the appeal of this summer school,” says Prof. Alois Pichler, PhD, Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics. “I am especially pleased by how modern our applied mathematics is: the topics of the summer school are exactly those that are currently moving the field.” The next summer school will take place from 20 to 24 September 2027.

Further information is available from Prof. Dr. Daniel Potts, phone +49 (0)371 531-32150, email potts@mathematik.tu-chemnitz.de.

(Author: Prof. Dr. Daniel Potts)

Pedestrians and cyclists are particularly vulnerable in road traffic accidents. Statistics from the past ten years show that they account for 75 to 85 percent of all seriously and fatally injured individuals in Germany—even though they are only involved in about one in ten accidents. While the absolute number of road fatalities continues to decline, partly as a result of stricter requirements for vehicle structural design and advanced driver assistance systems, the safety of “vulnerable road users” (VRUs) remains a key challenge.

From brake assistance to advanced driving maneuvers

Existing driver assistance systems prevent or mitigate accidents or their consequences through braking maneuvers. In the VIRTUS project, Chemnitz University of Technology, the Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed Dynamics/ Ernst-Mach-Institute (EMI) and Technische Universität Berlin are investigating the extent to which injuries can be reduced through additional, targeted steering maneuvers – specifically in situations where a collision is unavoidable. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space with €1.6 million, of which €247,000 Euro is allocated to TU Chemnitz. Fraunhofer EMI is the project coordinator.

VIRTUS builds on findings from the project “ATTENTION”, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Using cyclists and pedestrians as examples, the researchers demonstrated in a virtual test environment that injury risks could be reduced with targeted steering and braking interventions performed by involved vehicles. Over the next three years, the VIRTUS project partners will verify whether this also works reliably under realistic conditions.

At the core of the project is an algorithm that, based on sensor data, vehicle movement, and the predicted movement of the VRU, calculates driving strategies in very short time that minimizes injury risk. The Chair of Cognitive Psychology and Human Factors of TU Chemnitz is responsible for the user studies and the human-centered validation of the algorithms. “Within the project, we investigate the effectiveness of the automated driving function while taking the VRU behavior, the system acceptance, as well as the interaction between drivers and the driving function into account,” says Prof. Stefan Brandenburg.

Realistic testing in a virtual environment

For the tests, the project partners will use a highly integrated test bench system. Within a virtual traffic scenario, a real vehicle mounted on a test bench, a pedestrian in a virtual environment, and a human driver in a driving simulation are integrated into the system and interact in real time. By coupling these components, accident scenarios and the interactions between different road users can be realistically replicated and investigated without exposing participants to risks and in compliance with ethical requirements.

“In this test environment, we can investigate how an injury risk-minimizing vehicle control system behaves in interaction with real people and realistic hardware for the first time—without real risks for any of the people involved. This is an important step toward deployment-ready safety technology,“ project leader Dr. Thomas Soot explains. Prof. Stefan Brandenburg adds: “The user studies of the project will provide important insights how people respond intuitively and how their reactions affect the effectiveness of this safety technology during such encounters.”

Beyond testing the specific driving function, VIRTUS pursues another goal: The developed test methods and ethical guidelines of the project are intended to be applicable for other automated driving systems in the future. In this way, the project supports the safe development and testing of automated vehicle technology in Germany. 

For further information, please contact Dr. Ann-Christin Hensch, Telefon 0371 531-35419, E-Mail ann-christin.hensch@psychologie.tu-chemnitz.de, Bettina Kämpfe, Telefon  0371 531-36314, E-Mail bettina.kaempfe@psychologie.tu-chemnitz.de, and Prof. Dr. Stefan Brandenburg, Telefon 0371 531-31312, E-Mail stefan.brandenburg@psychologie.tu-chemnitz.de.

(Sources: Fraunhofer EMI, Professur Allgemeine Psychologie und Human Factors der TU Chemnitz)

Organic solar cells can be thin, lightweight and flexible. Although laboratory devices now achieve efficiencies of more than 20 %, maintaining a high performance when moving towards large-scale production remains a challenge. Researchers at Chemnitz University of Technology have now demonstrated organic solar cells based on non-fullerene acceptors using scalable printing and coating processes on flexible substrates. At the same time, they investigated why these devices are less efficient than their laboratory-scale counterparts.

The researchers used the photoactive material system PM6:Y12 and deposited the photoactive layer by gravure printing instead of conventional spin coating. In this process, the material solution is transferred onto the substrate using an engraved cylinder – a method suitable for continuous roll-to-roll production. They also used o-xylene, a non-halogenated solvent that is both more environmentally friendly and better suited to industrial processing than the commonly used laboratory solvent chloroform.

"We were able to produce uniform photoactive layers using gravure printing and a solvent suitable for industrial processing. However, printing the active layer is only one part of the challenge. All the layers have to work together, and each manufacturing step must be compatible with the layers underneath," said Svitlana Taranenko, first author of the study and researcher at the Institute for Print and Media Technology at Chemnitz University of Technology.

Gravure printing itself is not the limitation

An obvious explanation for the lower efficiency would be that gravure printing changes the morphology of the photoactive layer – in other words, how the two photoactive materials arrange themselves. However, the results reveal a more complex picture. "Our measurements show that gravure printing largely preserves the photoactive material's ability to absorb light and generate charge carriers. A substantial part of the efficiency loss comes from the architecture of the complete solar cell. At the same time, slower charge transport and additional recombination further reduce the performance," said Dr. Maria Saladina, corresponding author of the study and postdoctoral researcher at the Professorship of Optics and Photonics of Condensed Matter at Chemnitz University of Technology.

Despite these losses, the solar cells achieved power conversion efficiencies of 7.3 % – a record for fully roll-to-roll-compatible organic solar cells with a gravure-printed photoactive layer. "We now understand better where the remaining limitations lie. To bring the efficiency of printed solar cells closer to that achieved in the laboratory, we need to optimise the entire device architecture, including the interfaces and charge-transport layers. This provides a clear direction for the next steps towards scalable manufacturing," adds Dr. Saladina.

While hundreds of studies focus on laboratory-scale organic solar cells, only a small number investigate devices manufactured entirely using roll-to-roll-compatible methods. Among the few research groups pursuing gravure printing for organic photovoltaics are those led by Prof. Chang-Qi Ma in China and Prof. Arved C. Hübler at Chemnitz University of Technology. "Our results show that there is no fundamental obstacle to transferring modern organic solar cells to scalable printing techniques. The challenge is that far fewer researchers work on these manufacturing methods than on laboratory-scale devices. With more research effort, more people and sustained funding, we could accelerate efficiency improvements and bring printed solar cells much closer to their laboratory counterparts," said Prof. Dr. Carsten Deibel, head of the Professorship of Optics and Photonics of Condensed Matter at Chemnitz University of Technology and spokesperson for the DFG Research Unit POPULAR.

The study demonstrates how interdisciplinary research combining printing technology, materials science and semiconductor physics can help bridge the gap between laboratory-scale organic solar cells and their future industrial production. The new publication, entitled "Bridging the lab-to-fab gap in non-fullerene organic solar cells via gravure printing" (https://doi.org/10.1039/d6el00051g), appeared in EES Solar, a journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry. The research was conducted by researchers from Chemnitz University of Technology in collaboration with Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and Durham University in the UK.

The POPULAR research project

Within the DFG Research Unit "Printed & Stable Organic Photovoltaics with Non-Fullerene Acceptors – POPULAR" (FOR 5387), researchers from 9 universities are working together to advance organic solar cells for large-area printing processes. Their research focuses on improving the performance and stability of these solar cells while gaining a better understanding of the underlying physical processes. The Research Unit is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and coordinated by Prof. Dr. Carsten Deibel at Chemnitz University of Technology.

For further information, please contact Maria Saladina, phone +49 (0)371 531-34046, email maria.saladina@physik.tu-chemnitz.de, and Prof. Dr. Carsten Deibel, phone +49 (0)371 531-34878, email deibel@physik.tu-chemnitz.de.

(Source: Professorship of Optics and Photonics of Condensed Matter)

Internationally renowned researcher Dr. Alejandro G. Frank from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Brazil has accepted an invitation from the Chair of Factory Planning and Intralogistics and will visit Chemnitz University of Technology in October. During his one-week visit, Dr. Frank will deliver two complementary lectures in English on October 21, linking the future of industrial work with the future of research in the field of operations management.

"As *Homo faber*, humans not only create technology but are also profoundly influenced by it. Industrial revolutions have shaped societies and our planet. Whether this is for better or worse ultimately depends on how we shape the interaction between humans and new technology. It is therefore a pleasure to welcome Prof. Frank to our chair," emphasizes Prof. Matthias Thürer, holder of the Chair of Factory Planning and Intralogistics.

Extensive expertise in digital work and empirical research

In his lecture titled "Integration of digital technologies and work: main advances, challenges and future perspective", Dr. Frank will discuss how over a decade of research into Industry 4.0 has transformed our understanding of technology and work, why the emerging debate on Industry 5.0 increasingly focuses on human-centric production, and the challenges researchers and companies still face in designing digitally supported work environments.

In his lecture titled "What makes a paper relevant for publication at IJPE? Lessons learned from the empirical research department" the guest from Brazil will draw on his editorial experience to provide a behind-the-scenes look to explain what distinguishes impactful empirical research from manuscripts that struggle to meet the expectations of leading international journals. The talk addresses recurring methodological and theoretical weaknesses, emerging trends in empirical research, and how researchers can design studies that make a significant contribution to operations and production management.

About Prof. Alejandro G. Frank

Prof. Alejandro G. Frank conducts research in the fields of digital transformation, Industry 4.0, and operations management. His work has received exceptional international attention; for instance, his 2019 article on Industry 4.0 technologies, published in the International Journal of Production Economics (IJPE), has been cited over 2,600 times in Scopus and is currently the journal's most-cited article on that platform. Prof. Frank also ranks among the top two percent of the most influential scientists worldwide according to the citation database compiled by Stanford University and Elsevier.

Beyond his own research, Prof. Frank plays a pivotal role in shaping international research in operations management, serving as an editor for IJPE (one of the field's leading journals) and as a board member of the European Operations Management Association (EurOMA). His international academic experience includes research activities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he remains affiliated with the MIT Industrial Performance Center.

For further information, please contact Prof. Matthias Thürer at matthias.thuerer@mb.tu-chemnitz.de. Details regarding the lectures can be found at https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/mb/FabrPlan/fo_seminars.php.en  

(Author: Prof. Matthias Thürer)

The Free State of Saxony is supporting structural transformation in Southwestern Saxony with further multi-million-euro investments in science and research. One of the largest planned investments is the construction of a new cleanroom for research and technology development in the field of sustainable microelectronics and sensor technology at the Center for Micro and Nanotechnologies (ZfM) at Chemnitz University of Technology. Unspent EU funds are to be utilized for the building, which will cost approximately €68 million. Subject to approval by the European Commission, this will enable the implementation of a project that strengthens Chemnitz University of Technology's research infrastructure and creates new opportunities for collaboration with research institutions and companies. This was announced by the Saxon State Ministry of Science, Culture and Tourism in a press release published on August 25, 2026.

“We are absolutely thrilled that, even in these highly constrained and challenging fiscal times, the construction of the new cleanroom for research and technology development in the field of sustainable microelectronics and sensor technology can be realized. This represents an exceptionally significant investment in Chemnitz University of Technology—particularly in its core competencies of materials and intelligent systems — as well as in the entire region of Southwestern Saxony. We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the Saxon State Government — in particular to Minister-President Michael Kretschmer and Minister of Science Sebastian Gemkow — as well as to everyone else involved for their outstanding support!" says Prof. Dr. Gerd Strohmeier, Rector of Chemnitz University of Technology.

With the planned cleanroom, the ZfM will further expand its expertise in micro- and nanotechnologies. The focus will be on technologies for sustainable microelectronics and sensor technology. The new infrastructure creates the prerequisite for cutting-edge research and technology development, while also aiming to intensify collaboration with non-university research institutions and industry partners.

“The planned new cleanroom represents a milestone boost for the Center for Micro and Nanotechnologies at Chemnitz University of Technology. Through these forward-looking investments, our world-class research can be further expanded and strengthened. This state-of-the-art infrastructure serves as a tremendous source of motivation for our staff and acts as a magnet for leading international researchers. In doing so, we are not only creating optimal conditions for research into sustainable microelectronics and cutting-edge technologies in quantum computing, neuromorphic computing, photonics, and smart sensors, but we are also building a stronger bridge between excellent research and industrial applications. As a key player in the region, we make a significant contribution to value creation—from which regional partners will benefit in the long term," said Prof. Dr. Harald Kuhn, holder of the Professorship for Smart Systems Integration at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at Chemnitz University of Technology, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems (ENAS), and Director of the ZfM at Chemnitz University of Technology.

The planned investment is part of a comprehensive package of measures by the Free State of Saxony to strengthen Southwestern Saxony as a hub for science and research. This includes 79 European research funding projects (ERDF/JTF) in the field of mechanical and plant engineering, totaling more than € 80 million, as well as projects totaling over € 200 million in medium-term financial planning through 2031.

Background: The Center for Micro and Nanotechnologies (ZfM)

With the ZfM, Chemnitz University of Technology (TU Chemnitz) is home to one of the world’s leading research centers for microsystems technology and nanotechnologies. It represents one of the technological cornerstones of the Southwestern Saxony industrial region and serves as an indispensable pillar of Silicon Saxony. Key research areas include system miniaturization, energy efficiency, performance enhancement with reduced resource consumption, and the integration of micro- and nanoscale components into complex systems.

Microelectronics is the core enabling technology for AI, medical technology, autonomous systems, as well as energy and mobility solutions—forming the foundation of industrial transformation. With over 120 German and 49 European partners, the ZfM serves as a global development partner for industry. The planned new building is therefore far more than just a construction project; it is of immense strategic importance. Ultimately, it will help secure and expand more than 300 highly skilled jobs in Saxony.

(Source: including a press release from the SMWK dated August 25, 2026)

Dr. Elizabeth Mamros, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, USA, has joined the Professorship Forming Technology at Chemnitz University of Technology as a visiting scholar. During her one-year stay, which began on July 1, 2026, she will work with the Chemnitz team on research focusing in particular on innovative heating strategies for incremental forming processes.

Her stay is supported by two programs: the Visiting Scholar Program of Chemnitz University of Technology and the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. This support provides an opportunity to continue and further develop a German-American research collaboration that has grown over several years.

The collaboration between Dr. Mamros and Prof. Dr.Ing. Till Clausmeyer, head of the Professorship Forming Technology, began at TU Dortmund University. At the time, Dr. Mamros was a doctoral researcher and spent 13 months in Germany conducting research through the Fulbright Program. Their collaboration subsequently included the joint supervision of a student through the DAAD RISE Worldwide program and a joint scientific publication. They also worked together on an international review contribution to the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP) and continued to meet regularly at international conferences.

After completing her Ph.D. at the University of New Hampshire in 2023, Dr. Mamros joined Bucknell University as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Following Prof. Dr.-Ing. Clausmeyer’s move to Chemnitz University of Technology, their collaboration is now continuing at the Professorship Forming Technology.

“We are delighted to host Elizabeth Mamros in Chemnitz for an extended research stay. I have known Elizabeth since her time as a doctoral researcher in Dortmund and have followed her scientific development with great interest ever since. It is therefore a particular pleasure to welcome her to Chemnitz now as an Assistant Professor and internationally recognized researcher. The fact that our joint project was successful in both the Fulbright Program and the Visiting Scholar Program of Chemnitz University of Technology is a special recognition for us and gives us the opportunity to develop our existing collaboration into a long-term partnership between our professorships and universities,” says Prof. Dr.-Ing. Clausmeyer.

Dr. Mamros’ research in forming and manufacturing technologies combines fundamental questions of material behavior with innovative manufacturing processes. In Chemnitz, her work will focus on the application of induction heating strategies in incremental forming processes. Together with researchers at the Professorship Forming Technology, she will work to advance the fundamental understanding of these flexible manufacturing processes and explore new approaches for their future industrial application.

“I am very excited to spend a year as part of the team in Chemnitz and to further develop this international collaboration. One of our biggest strengths is the combination of the team’s scientific expertise and the excellent experimental capabilities in forming technologies. This gives us the opportunity to investigate scientific questions together that would be difficult to address at either of our institutions alone. At the same time, I am looking forward to being immersed in the German culture, exploring a new region of the country, and building new connections,” says Dr. Mamros.

The collaboration is intended to continue beyond the current stay. Plans include joint scientific publications and conference contributions as well as the development of further collaborative research projects. In the longer term, students from both universities are also expected to become more closely involved in the exchange.

Research is only one aspect of the collaboration. Personal and cultural exchange also plays an important role and is a central element of the Fulbright mission. For both researchers, this aspect has a personal connection: Dr. Mamros previously spent time in Germany as a Fulbright grantee, while Prof. Dr.-Ing. Clausmeyer gained international experience early in his life as a high-school exchange student in the United States. The current stay therefore brings together scientific collaboration and the long-term development of trans-Atlantic relations and cultural exchange between Germany and the United States.

In quantum computers, ions prefer to be isolated and kept at freezing temperatures because, to achieve optimal performance, they must be as isolated from their environment as possible. Only then can quantum operations be performed on them without perturbation. To this end, the ions are confined in a trap by electric fields, and the entire ion trap is cooled to a temperature of less than 10 Kelvin (just above absolute zero) in a high vacuum. Quantum computers based on such ion traps are currently attracting a great deal of interest in industry and science, particularly with regard to their miniaturization. This requires new concepts, materials, and technologies for heterogeneous system integration. This expertise is a strategic priority of the European Chips Act and will now be strengthened in Chemnitz and further developed for new areas of application. This is being carried out by Chemnitz University of Technology and the Chemnitz-based Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems (ENAS), in collaboration with partner institutes of the German Microelectronics Research Factory (FMD).

At the new “Cryo-Lab for Materials and Electronics Packaging Chemnitz”—CRYME for short—based at Chemnitz University of Technology, scientists aim to research and develop materials, components, and systems for future generations of quantum computers, as well as evaluate their reliability. Thanks to an investment project by Fraunhofer ENAS, funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR), state-of-the-art equipment was acquired, including two specialized cooling devices known as cryostats, a cryogenic materials testing system for determining thermomechanical properties, and a cryogenic scanning electron microscope for materials analysis at extremely low temperatures. This technology is now jointly operated by Fraunhofer ENAS and Chemnitz University of Technology. As part of the European Test and Reliability Center (ETRC), CRYME strengthens the close collaboration between Fraunhofer ENAS and the FMD as well as the Chair of Materials and Reliability of Microtechnological Systems, the Center for Micro- and Nanotechnologies (ZfM), and the Research Center for Materials, Architectures, and Integration of Nanomembranes (MAIN) at Chemnitz University of Technology. The new laboratory is located at the Research Center MAIN. The new helium liquefaction plant at the neighboring Institute of Physics also plays an important role, as some of CRYME’s cryostats are powered by liquid helium.

“As a key technology of the 21st century, quantum computing also stands for technological leadership, high-quality jobs, and cutting-edge research. That is why the Chemnitz researchers involved in CRYME view the new laboratory as a key building block for innovation, new large-scale research projects, excellent teaching, and attracting young scientists,” says Prof. Dr. Bernhard Wunderle, holder of the Chair of Materials and Reliability of Microtechnical Systems. At the same time, he notes that the collaboration taking place here is a prime example of successful cooperation on the “Smart Systems Campus” in Chemnitz.

Dr. Remi Pantou, head of the “Characterization and Analytics” group at Fraunhofer ENAS and laboratory director of CRYME, adds: “CRYME’s new facilities are a key factor for collaborative projects with industry partners, as the complexity of this specialized research laboratory is unique in Germany and Europe. Several companies have expressed interest in collaborating. Specific collaborative projects have already begun, and additional projects are in the planning stages.”

The new laboratory will be officially opened on September 2, 2026, as part of a two-day event called “Chemnitz Seminars,” which will be held under the theme “Testing and Reliability Between Ice and Fire: New Laboratories and Methods from 4 K to 700 K.” The event covers topics related to testing and reliability and provides an ideal platform for sharing knowledge, discussing practical applications, and identifying future opportunities for collaboration within CRYME. Registration for the free seminar is open until August 21, 2026.

Program of the Seminar and Registration:

https://www.enas.fraunhofer.de/en/news_events/Events/Chemnitz_Seminars/chemnitz-seminar-test-and-reliability.html

(Translation: Dona Maria, Research Center MAIN)

Previous apps for identifying animal calls regularly reached their limits in practice: without a stable internet connection, real-time identification in the forest or high mountains was impossible. The new BirdNET Live app, a further development of the BirdNET app, solves this problem with a technological breakthrough: the underlying AI models have been optimised, streamlined and accelerated to such an extent that they can now run directly on the smartphone.

Around 11,000 bird species are currently known worldwide; the app can currently recognise 8,927 of them. It is also capable of identifying the calls of 268 mammals, 254 insects and 340 amphibians, in real time and completely offline. In total, BirdNET Live can identify almost 10,000 animal species by their sounds – more than any other app, as lead developer Dr Stefan Kahl from the Professorship of Media Informatics at the University of Technology Chemnitz explains: the next-best offline app can only identify around 2,300 species.

As an open-source project, BirdNET Live offers maximum usability. The app’s user interface is currently available in seven languages; the names of the identified animal species are translated into 25 languages.

A tool for experts and the general public

Whilst conventional identification apps are primarily intended for occasional use in one’s own garden, BirdNET Live is aimed first and foremost at nature conservation professionals, researchers, students and ambitious citizen scientists. Amateur ornithologists can, of course, also use it.

The app features specialised modes for structured surveys, as are standard in scientific fieldwork. It automatically records animal calls with precise location and time data and stores them locally on the smartphone.

The recordings can subsequently be flexibly reviewed, exported or shared with other experts for validation. At the same time, the app serves as a learning tool: users can listen back to their own acoustic recordings directly and thus continuously improve their species identification skills.

Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt funded the development team

BirdNET Live is the result of close interdisciplinary collaboration as part of the RangerSound project, which was funded by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU).

To identify the shortcomings of existing bioacoustic systems in everyday practical use, conservation biologists from the University of Würzburg, the rangers at the Bavarian Forest National Park, hardware experts from the company Oekofor (Freiburg / Breisgau) and AI specialists from University of Technology Chemnitz worked hand in hand.

The result is a practical and robust app designed specifically for field conditions. When used with an external microphone, for example, the smartphone can be carried safely and waterproofed in a rucksack whilst the app continuously records data in the background.

BirdNET Live is an enormous technological progress

“At first glance, running the AI locally on a smartphone seems like a small, logical step forward. However, behind this lies enormous technological progress in optimising our AI models,” says Dr Stefan Kahl from University of Technology Chemnitz, an AI expert and lead developer of BirdNET. The app demonstrates just how important interdisciplinary collaboration is: “It was only when practitioners, conservation biologists and we, as AI developers, sat down together that we were able to identify the real shortcomings in the field and create a tailor-made, practical solution. This is a model that can be applied to many areas where AI is finding its way into our everyday lives.”

Professor Jörg Müller: “An app for students too”

“We will now be using BirdNET Live as standard in our university teaching. This will give our students entirely new opportunities to collect standardised data for their dissertations or during field courses,” says Professor Jörg Müller, Chair of Conservation Biology and Forest Ecology at the University of Würzburg.

The app’s potential extends far beyond local forests: “We expect the app to serve us exceptionally well in our research work in the extremely species-rich lowland rainforest in Ecuador, where there is no mobile phone coverage whatsoever.”

Dr Simon Verdon: “Ideal for rangers”

“Local analysis carried out directly on site is exactly what we’ve been hoping for in the day-to-day work of ranger teams in protected areas,” says Dr Simon Verdon from the University of Würzburg, a member of the RangerSound project: “They can simply leave the app running during their patrols and immediately get a clear picture of the local species composition without having to rely on mobile network coverage.”

Further facts about BirdNET

• De facto standard: BirdNET is an AI system for the automatic recognition of bird calls and the world’s leading technology for AI-supported bioacoustic monitoring.
• Successful citizen science project: With more than two million active users worldwide and over six million app downloads, more than 250 million verified nature observations have already been collected.
• Important for science: The data collected from citizen science projects feeds directly into global research projects. For example, BirdNET data collected via the BirdWeather network provided the basis for a study published in the renowned journal Nature on the impact of light pollution on birds’ singing behaviour.
• Partners: BirdNET is a joint project between University of Technology Chemnitz and the Cornell K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics (USA).

The ‘Schlaumeise’ portal helps you get started

For aspiring citizen scientists, schools, teachers and learners, the schlaumeise.org portal offers supporting materials, tutorials and project ideas covering the topics of bioacoustics, species conservation and artificial intelligence.

Further information on the app and how to download it:

• Official project website: birdnet.tu-chemnitz.de/live-app
• Portal for learners and teachers: www.schlaumeise.org

Contact: Dr. Stefan Kahl, Telephone +49 371 531-32219, e-mail stefan.kahl@informatik.tu-chemnitz.de, and Prof. Dr. Jörg Müller, Telephone +49 931 31-83378, e-mail joerg.mueller@uni-wuerzburg.de

(Author: Robert Emmerich, University of Würzburg)

Researchers from the Professorship of Optics and Photonics of Condensed Matter (led by Prof. Dr. Carsten Deibel) at the Chemnitz University of Technology and several partner institutions have systematically investigated how organic solar cells behave when the usual donor–acceptor mixing ratio is pushed to the extreme – down to only 1 percent donor content. Using the well‑known PM6:Y12 material system, they link nanomorphology, charge transport, and recombination to device performance and provide a unified physical picture of “donor‑diluted” organic solar cells. This is taking place within the framework of the Research Unit "Printed & Stable Organic Photovoltaics with Non-Fullerene Acceptors - POPULAR", funded by the German Research Foundation, of which Prof. Deibel is the spokesperson.

Organic solar cells typically consist of two components: a donor, which tends to donate electrons, and an acceptor, which accepts electrons. When light is absorbed, electron–hole pairs are formed and then separated at the donor–acceptor interface, enabling the generation of photocurrent. “In recent years, dilute donor blends have reached surprisingly high efficiencies, but we lacked a consistent understanding of how morphology, transport, and recombination interplay in these systems,” says Prof. Dr. Carsten Deibel, head of the Chair of Optics and Photonics of Condensed Matter at Chemnitz University of Technology and corresponding author of the study. “Our work shows that donor dilution mainly reshapes the topology of the transport network – and that this topology, rather than a sharp percolation threshold, defines the performance limits.”

Continuous donor network even at low content

In their study, the team fabricated PM6:Y12 bulk‑heterojunction solar cells with donor fractions ranging from 1 to 45 percent and characterized them with a broad set of structural, optical, and electrical methods. Grazing‑incidence wide‑angle X‑ray scattering (GIWAXS) and resonant soft X‑ray scattering (RSoXS) reveal that even below 5 percent donor content, lamellar stacking enables charge extraction in the inverted device architecture used. Complementary ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) depth profiling confirms that, apart from a thin donor-rich surface layer, the bulk composition closely follows the nominal donor–acceptor ratio across all blends.

To quantify charge transport, the researchers extract an effective active‑layer conductivity directly from current–voltage curves under illumination, based on a recently developed method that separates recombination and transport contributions near open‑circuit voltage. The resulting effective conductivity, that accounts for electron and hole conductivities, drops strongly towards low donor content but shows a robust, nearly temperature‑independent scaling with composition when evaluated at a fixed energetic depth in the density of states. The authors show that this dependence can be described by a classical three‑dimensional percolation model. “We find that the topology of the PM6 transport network controls conductivity and mobility, and that this network behaves like a three‑dimensional percolating system without a pronounced percolation threshold,” says Dr. Maria Saladina, co‑lead author of the study.

Exciton quenching experiments indicate nearly complete harvesting of PM6 excitons for all compositions, while the quenching of Y12 excitons and their effective lifetime improve with increasing donor content. “Even at very low donor fractions, we still observe a continuous, three‑dimensional PM6 network rather than isolated donor islands,” explains first author Dr. Chen Wang. This connectivity is crucial to maintain efficient charge extraction despite strong dilution.

From reduced Langevin to Smoluchowski‑type recombination

Nongeminate recombination is analysed by combining time‑resolved photoluminescence under 1‑sun‑equivalent excitation with time‑delayed collection field measurements. For higher donor fractions, the recombination kinetics can be described within a Langevin‑type framework with a pronounced Langevin reduction factor smaller than one, which the authors attribute mainly to redissociation of electron–hole pairs at the donor–acceptor interface before recombination.

At donor fractions below 5 percent, however, the situation changes qualitatively. The apparent recombination order and the time dependence of the recombination rate deviate from Langevin expectations, and the effective Langevin reduction factor extracted from experimental data can even exceed unity, i.e. the recombination rate becomes higher than predicted by the classical Langevin model. By analysing the long‑time dynamics, the authors identify a transition to a dispersive, Smoluchowski‑type recombination regime, where encounters of spatially distributed carriers lead to a characteristic power-law decay of the recombination rate. “In strongly diluted blends, charge carriers move in a topology‑limited network with spatially inhomogeneous fields, and the recombination kinetics become dispersive and scale‑free,” explains Saladina. “This Smoluchowski‑type regime goes beyond the conventional Langevin picture and helps explain why recombination can exceed Langevin predictions at very low donor contents.”

Publication in the Journal "Advanced Materials"

The study “Rethinking charge transport and recombination in donor‑diluted organic solar cells” appears as a research article in the renowned journal Advanced Materials. The work was led by Maria Saladina together with Carsten Deibel at the Institute of Physics, Chemnitz University of Technology, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Freiburg, Fraunhofer ISE, the University of Bayreuth, TU Dresden, IFW Dresden, and Durham University. The research builds on and extends earlier work by the Chemnitz group showing that transport resistance dominates fill‑factor losses in record organic solar cells and provides a quantitative framework to describe these losses via an effective conductivity and a transport‑related figure of merit. These results have been achieved within the framework of the DFG Research Unit POPULAR, which continues to work on understanding and improving printed organic solar cells.

Background: DFG Research Group "Printed & Stable Organic Photovoltaics with Non-Fullerene Acceptors - POPULAR" under the leadership of TU Chemnitz

The research group "Printed & Stable Organic Photovoltaics with Non-Fullerene Acceptors - POPULAR" (FOR 5387), funded by the German Research Foundation with around five million euros, is leading in the field of optoelectronic characterization of organic solar cells. Prof. Dr. Carsten Deibel, holder of the Professorship of Optics and Photonics of Condensed Matter at TU Chemnitz, is the spokesperson for the DFG Research Unit, which involves 14 scientists from several universities in Germany and the UK. The common goal is to produce organic solar cells using mass-production-compatible printing processes and to understand and improve them with complementary experiments and simulations.

Publication: Chen Wang, Maria Saladina, Carsten Deibel, et al: Rethinking charge transport: Donor dilution reshapes limits of organic solar cells. Advanced Materials e23681 (2026). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202405889

For further information, please contact Maria Saladina, phone +49 (0)371 531-34046, email maria.saladina@physik.tu-chemnitz.de, and Prof. Dr. Carsten Deibel, phone +49 (0)371 531-34878, email deibel@physik.tu-chemnitz.de.

(Source: Professorship of Optics and Photonics of Condensed Matter)

The International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) is considered one of the most important international conferences in machine learning, a subfield of artificial intelligence. The conference is highly competitive: this year, only 6,352 out of 23,918 submitted papers were accepted. Among the accepted contributions is a paper from the ESF PLUS junior research group “Human-Understandable, Optimal Resource and Energy Management for Complex, Network-Integrated, Biogenic Production Systems” (MORE-KIBA) at Chemnitz University of Technology, led by Prof. Dr. Stefan Streif, Professorship of Automatic Control and System Dynamics.

Causally grounded and human-understandable explanations for optimal predictive control

The accepted paper, titled “Hierarchical Causal Abduction: A Foundation Framework for Explainable Model Predictive Control”, addresses a central question of MORE-KIBA. Model Predictive Control (MPC), widely used in control engineering, is applied in many domains where resource consumption must be optimized, such as energy systems, building climate control, and process or biotechnological systems.

“Due to nonlinear process dynamics, strict safety constraints, and the complexity of numerical optimization procedures, time-dependent control decisions are often very difficult for operators to understand,” says Streif. “This significantly reduces trust in the control system and often leads to it being switched off and replaced by manual operation. This, in turn, results in efficiency losses and unnecessary resource consumption.”

He continues: “With Hierarchical Causal Abduction, we present a framework that combines three complementary sources of evidence: physics-based knowledge from knowledge graphs of the underlying process model, auxiliary variables from the optimizer, and temporal causal dependencies. By integrating these sources, reliable and human-interpretable explanations for the decisions of nonlinear MPC can be derived.”

The approach was evaluated in three applications: greenhouse climate control, a heating and ventilation system for a residential building, and a process engineering system. Validated by domain experts, the method improves explanation quality by 53 percent compared to other AI-based explanation approaches. The quality of explanations can be further significantly improved with additional data and training. Moreover, the approach is easily transferable to other processes and applications controlled by predictive control methods.

“The acceptance of this Chemnitz contribution at ICML 2026 highlights the international visibility of the group’s research on trustworthy and explainable AI for engineering applications,” Streif concludes.

Background: Junior Research Group MORE-KIBA

The junior research group “Human-Understandable, Optimal Resource and Energy Management for Complex, Network-Integrated, Biogenic Production Systems” (MORE-KIBA) addresses a pressing challenge in sustainable industrial production. In times of limited resources, complex systems must be operated optimally, yet the underlying mathematical algorithms are often difficult for operators to understand. As a result, potential for sustainable operation is lost or promising technologies are not adopted.

The goal of MORE-KIBA is to make algorithmic decisions transparent and understandable using AI. The approach is demonstrated using a biorefinery coupled with an energy network simulator. Applicability is ensured through collaboration with various stakeholders from industry in Saxony.

The project is funded with more than € 2.13 million through the European Social Fund Plus program. Seven early-career researchers from four faculties at TU Chemnitz are involved.

Project homepage: www.tu-chemnitz.de/etit/control/research/CEA/index_MORE-KIBA.php 

About ICML

The International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) is a premier gathering of experts in machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence research. It showcases cutting-edge research across all aspects of machine learning, including artificial intelligence, statistics, and data science, as well as key application areas such as computer vision, computational biology, speech recognition, robotics, and control engineering.

Preprint link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.10624

Contact: Prof. Dr. Stefan Streif, Professorship of Automatic Control and System Dynamics, Phone +49 (0)371 531-31899, Email stefan.streif@etit.tu-chemnitz.de

(Translation: Ramesh Arvind Naagarajan)

Only 20 projects nationwide were selected by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in the competitive "Academic Horizons" programme and Chemnitz University of Technology is among the winners, as the only higher education institution in Saxony to secure funding in this call. With a budget of 750,000 euros over 3.5 years, the project "AI GlobalMinds – Global Minds Advancing Next-Generation Sustainable AI for Innovation Leadership" stood out through its comprehensive integration concept, holistic AI education approach across the complete value chain, effective mobilization of existing DAAD partnerships and international networks, and strategic diversification of recruitment channels for Master's students and PhD candidates.

Running from May 2026 to December 2029, AI GlobalMinds addresses a critical challenge: Germany's growing shortage of qualified specialists in artificial intelligence. The project aims to diversify the recruiting channels for students and PhD candidates by creating structured international talent pathways, combining targeted recruitment from Chile, Tunisia and Serbia, and with academic qualification and practical integration into the German innovation ecosystem. TU Chemnitz will build new recruiting channels and advertising strategies to showcase its excellent education programs around AI from data acquisition and sensor technology, through AI methods and neuromorphic computing, to sustainable and Green AI applications in science and different economic sectors.

"AI GlobalMinds addresses a key challenge for Germany's innovation system," explains Prof. Dr. Olfa Kanoun, project coordinator at the Chair of Measurement and Sensor Technology. "The demand for AI expertise is growing rapidly, while qualified professionals remain scarce. By connecting international recruitment with structured qualification and integration, we create opportunities for both AI talents and Germany's innovation landscape."

From Sensors to Intelligent Systems: Comprehensive AI Education

What distinguishes AI GlobalMinds is its holistic approach to AI education. Rather than focusing on isolated algorithms, participants gain system-level understanding across the full AI value chain from sensor-based data acquisition to intelligent processing and real-world implementation in neuromorphic systems and robotics, with particular emphasis on sustainable and Green AI approaches.

“Neurorobotics represents the convergence of brain-inspired computing, embodied AI, and intelligent sensor systems,” explains Florian Röhrbein. “By bringing together international talent with diverse backgrounds in these complementary fields, we are building the interdisciplinary teams needed to advance intelligent systems that can truly interact with and learn from their environment — while also addressing energy efficiency and sustainability aspects that are crucial for the future of AI.”

The project brings together multiple faculties at TU Chemnitz: Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Computer Science, and Mathematics alongside central institutions including the International University Center and Career Service.

Comprehensive Support: From Arrival to Career

"Successful international recruitment requires more than academic excellence it demands comprehensive support throughout the entire journey," emphasizes Katharina Wohlgemuth from the International University Center. "AI GlobalMinds provides exactly this: structured pre-arrival preparation, coordinated onboarding, buddy program, accelerated German language training, and continuous mentoring to ensure participants thrive both academically and socially in Chemnitz."

The project explicitly prepares participants for both academic and industry careers in Germany. "Germany's AI ecosystem needs qualified professionals across all sectorsfrom university research groups to innovative companies and applied research institutions," adds André Zwingenberger Claren from the Career Service. "Through targeted skills workshops, networking events with AI experts and industry representatives, and intercultural workplace training, we prepare AI GlobalMinds participants not just technically, but also for the realities and expectations of the German professional environment."

Building on established partnerships with universities in Tunisia, Serbia, and Chile, the project creates sustainable recruitment structures while strengthening international cooperation and diversifying TU Chemnitz's talent pipelines.

Background: Project "AI GlobalMinds"

AI development demands more than algorithms, it requires integrating data acquisition, hardware, and realworld implementation. AI GlobalMinds spans this full spectrum: from sensor technology through machine learning to sustainable Green AI applications. The project combines short-term orientation formats with longer study and research stays, allowing early identification of talent and gradual integration into academic and professional pathways in Germany. Students are introduced to research environments, work on practical topics, and gain experience in applying AI methods in realistic scenarios—from intelligent sensor systems to neuromorphic computing and autonomous robotics, with emphasis on energy-efficient and sustainable implementations.

At the same time, AI GlobalMinds strengthens existing international partnerships and contributes to the development of sustainable structures for recruiting and qualifying talent. By diversifying recruitment channels and building new pathways for international students and PhD candidates, the project supports Germany's long-term goals in innovation and artificial intelligence development.

Further Information: Prof. Dr. Olfa Kanoun, phone +49 (0)371 531-36931, email olfa.kanoun@etit.tu-chemnitz.de

(Author: Prof. Dr. Olfa Kanoun)

A Franco-German research team of members of the FEMTO-ST Institute at the Université Marie et Louis Pasteur, Besançon, as well as the Faculties of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology and Natural Sciences, and the Research Center for Materials, Architectures and Integration of Nanomembranes (MAIN) at Chemnitz University of Technology, have uncovered new insights into the formation of forbidden frequency bands in periodic solid-state structures. The study, titled “Contact points open wide band gaps in all two-dimensional Bravais lattices,” was published in late April in the physics journal Physical Review B and makes fundamental contributions to the understanding of the electromagnetic wave transport properties through regularly arranged materials.

This study examines the influence of contact points between copper tubes as individual scatterers arranged regularly in space on the propagation of radio waves and, consequently, on the formation of forbidden frequency regions for these waves—so-called band gaps. Using theoretical considerations, numerical simulations, and experimental measurements of scattering across all possible two-dimensional arrangements—known as Bravais lattices—of the tubes, the researchers demonstrate that contact points systematically generate wider band gaps, thereby enabling broadband filters for radio-frequency waves.

The results underscore that a precise understanding of the geometric structure of the scatterers and their exact positioning relative to one another, especially in the case of touch, can systematically influence and control the band structures, thereby helping to control and tailor the propagation of waves. Large, adjustable band gaps are of crucial importance, particularly for applications in electronics and photonics, as they determine the electrical and optical behavior of the components.

This study is part of the current research on the development of geometric effects in functional, two-dimensional membrane materials and is consistent with findings from previous research in which the authors demonstrated a similar effect for sound. It is inspired by work conducted as part of the TUCculture initiative on the stele artwork “Model of Thought and Perception for the Phenomenon of Color” by Dresden-based artist Stefan Nestler (1998), located in front of the Central Lecture Hall and Seminar Building at Chemnitz University of Technology. This artwork has been discovered as the world’s largest realization of a photonic crystal. By further developing this field, the authors are now making a positive contribution to basic research in the field of wave physics and providing a new impetus for materials research.

Original publication: D. Röhlig, R. Zichner, T. Blaudeck, A. Thränhardt, V. Laude: „Contact points open wide band gaps in all two-dimensional Bravais lattices“, Physical Review B 113, 144391 (2026). URL https://doi.org/10.1103/9ql7-t9rh

(Author: Dr. Thomas Blaudeck)

At the 23rd International Multi-Conference on Systems, Signals and Devices (SSD’26), held March 30 to April 2, 2026, in Catania, Italy, Dr. Ahmed Yahia Kallel, research associate and group leader for Impedance Spectroscopy and Measurement Systems at the Chair of Measurement and Sensor Technology (headed by Prof. Dr. Olfa Kanoun) at Chemnitz University of Technology, received the Best Paper Award.

Lithium-ion batteries are the backbone of electric mobility and stationary energy storage. To reliably determine their state of charge, researchers use Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), a method that measures a battery’s electrical behavior across different frequencies and generates up to 480 data points per measurement – far too many for the small microcontrollers in battery management systems to process in real time. The award-winning paper “Fast A*-mRMR for Model-Aware Feature Selection in EIS-Based Battery State of Charge Estimation” addresses this challenge through intelligent pre-selection of the most informative data points. The method transfers the A* algorithm – a proven tool in robotics and game development for efficiently finding optimal paths through complex environments – to the domain of feature selection. Rather than exhaustively testing every possible feature combination, the algorithm identifies the best selection directly and efficiently, much like a navigation system finds the shortest route without driving down every road. Two criteria are considered simultaneously: how informative a data point is for predicting the state of charge, and how much it overlaps with already-selected points (Minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance, mRMR).

Tested on physics-based digital twin data from four battery cells across 17 state-of-charge levels and three temperatures (756 measurement points in total), Fast A*-mRMR achieves a prediction accuracy of 3.62 to 3.93 % error with a computation time of just 1.27 seconds – more than 500 times faster than comparable methods while matching or exceeding their accuracy. The work also yields a counterintuitive insight: allowing a controlled degree of similarity between selected data points can actually improve predictions, contrary to the prevailing assumption that redundancy should always be minimized. “Our method enables the practical use of high-dimensional impedance data in resource-constrained embedded systems, laying an important foundation for more efficient and reliable battery management systems,” explains Dr. Ahmed Yahia Kallel. “The Best Paper Award is a gratifying recognition that our work in intelligent sensor systems and sustainable energy technologies is resonating with the international research community,” adds Prof. Dr. Olfa Kanoun.

The SSD is an established IEEE international multi-conference founded in 2001, bringing together research in the fields of systems, signal processing, and devices, with an H-index of 35. The award was presented at the sub-conference Power Systems & Smart Energies (PSE). The proceedings are published in IEEEXplore and indexed in Scopus and Web of Science.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Olfa Kanoun, Chair of Measurement and Sensor Technology, email olfa.kanoun@etit.tu-chemnitz.de

Citation: Kallel, A.Y., Kanoun, O.: “Fast A*-mRMR for Model-Aware Feature Selection in EIS-Based Battery State of Charge Estimation.” Proc. 23rd Int. Multi-Conf. on Systems, Signals and Devices (SSD’26), Catania, Italy, 2026. Best Paper Award.

(Author: Prof. Dr. Olfa Kanoun)

The University Library of Chemnitz University of Technology was awarded with the current “Open Library Badge” (OLB). It is the first library in Germany, which was honored with this award for the third time in succession. Already in 2016 and 2020, its successful implementation of openness principles was certified by the dedication of the OLB. “We are very proud to be awarded again. This award encourages us in our engagement to fulfill also further criteria and fields of action”, Dr. Wolfgang Lambrecht, Deputy Library Director, comments. The jury attested the University Library a consequent implementation of openness and transparency in its all-day Library life. It stated that the engagement is particularly strong in the topics “Participation and Citizen Science”, “Open Access” and “Open Data”.

During the Capital of Culture-year of Chemnitz 2025, the University Library performed a particularly high number of activities jointly with regional networks. Based on that, the collaboration between science and citizens shall be further enhanced by transparency and participation. The University Library offers in addition to the proven support of Open Access publishing also a comprehensive range of offers in the fields of Open Data and Open Educational Resources. In order to assure sustainable implementation, Open Science is included in varied ways in the strategy document of the University Library for developing towards a 5D-Library until the year 2030 (mytuc.org/jwvr). 

Keyword: Open Library Badge 2025

The “Open Library Badge 2025” includes seven topics in total: “Participation and Citizen Science”, “Inclusion and Social Commitment”, “Open Access”, “Open Data”, “Open Source”, “Open Educational Resources” as well as “Open Government and Open Research Information”. The respectively four fields of action are “Consulting and Teaching”, “Provision of infrastructure”, “Corporate Action and Implementation of Strategies” as well as “Cooperation and Engagement in Networks”.

More information regarding the „Open Library Badge“: http://badge.openbiblio.eu

Contact to the Open-Access-Team of Chemnitz University Library: Ute Blumtritt, phone: 0371 531-31290, email os@bibliothek.tu-chemnitz.de

(Translation: Dr. Wolfgang Lambrecht)

The question of "What binds the world in its innermost core?" was on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's mind in "Faust." Many researchers at Chemnitz University of Technology also search for answers to this question. At the new Transmission Electron Microscopy Center (TEM-Center), officially opened on April 14^th, 2026, at Erfenschlager Straße 73 in Chemnitz, researchers aim to visualize structures smaller than the wavelength of visible light. This will enable them to identify atoms, molecules, and the bonds of matter. To achieve this, they will utilize the top-tier research infrastructure.

High-resolution microscopes enable precise material analysis

"The core of the new, single-story building are two highly sensitive transmission electron microscopes that allow us to examine the structure and properties of materials at the molecular and atomic levels, and then translate these findings to new applications," says Prof. Dr. Andreas Undisz, the Chair of Electron Microscopy and Microstructural Analysis at Chemnitz University of Technology and head of the new center. For example, processes that lead to material damage can be examined in very detail, enabling more accurate conclusions to be made about the durability and performance of components.

A worthwhile investment at Chemnitz University of Technology

"With this new building and the two electron microscopes, Chemnitz University of Technology is once again at the forefront of global materials research. The complex technical features offered by this facility as a whole can be found at only a few other locations worldwide. In addition to the three faculties, partner institutions will also benefit. This makes Chemnitz University of Technology even more attractive to top researchers from around the world. Thus, we strengthen the entire scientific region of Southwest Saxony,” said Saxony’s Minister of Science, Sebastian Gemkow, in a statement from the State Ministry of Finance.

"We at Chemnitz University of Technology are delighted to celebrate the opening of the Transmission Electron Microscopy Center. This is an important investment in Chemnitz University of Technology and, by extension, in Chemnitz as a research hub, in our core competencies in materials science and intelligent systems, and in our university’s national and international reputation. We are very grateful to the Free State of Saxony and to everyone involved who actively supported the establishment of the center," says Prof. Dr. Gerd Strohmeier, President at Chemnitz University of Technology. Prof. Dr. Anja Strobel, Deputy President and Vice President for Research and University Development at Chemnitz University of Technology, who represented the Rector in receiving the key, added: "The new Transmission Electron Microscopy Center, which brings together expertise from various research areas at Chemnitz University of Technology, significantly strengthens our university’s STEM field in research and teaching and creates highly attractive conditions for new interdisciplinary research projects as well as for recruiting and training our next generation of academics by providing researchers and students with access to the latest technologies and methods in materials science."

Technological marvels explore the nano cosmos

The electron microscopes, which tower over four meters, capture images of the tiniest structures at the nanometer level. "To ensure these sensitive marvels of technology can operate optimally, they are housed in specially shielded, climate-controlled rooms and rest on a 1.4-meter-thick vibration-damping concrete slab," explains Undisz. This keeps mechanical, acoustic, electromagnetic, and thermal sources of interference at a distance. Experiments using the large-scale research equipment in the protected inner core of the building are conducted remotely from operating rooms. In-depth material analysis using the two transmission electron microscopes requires preparing material samples just a few nanometers thin. This process is semi-automated in an adjacent room using a focused ion beam system.

Researchers from over 20 professorships will work with the equipment in the future

The new center has the advantage of merging all of Chemnitz University of Technology’s high-resolution transmission electron microscopy equipment in one location. More than 20 professorships of the faculties of mechanical engineering, natural sciences, and electrical engineering and information technology will use the equipment for their transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary basic and applied research. They will also collaborate with non-university research institutions, such as Fraunhofer Society institutes, as well as companies.

Background: Transmission Electron Microscopy Center at Chemnitz University of Technology

Construction of the new research building began in September 2023 under the direction of the State Office for Saxon Real Estate and Construction Management. The building was designed by Heinle Wischer Partnership of Independent Architects mbB in Dresden. The sculpture "Impact", created by Stefanie Welk from Walldorf near Heidelberg as part of the "Art in Architecture" competition, frames the building’s entrance.

Approximately 13.1 million euros were invested in the construction of the building. Of this amount, approximately 7.4 million euros were provided by the European Regional Development Fund and around 5.7 million euros by the Free State of Saxony. The project was co-financed with tax revenues based on the budget approved by the Saxon State Parliament. The German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Free State of Saxony each provided 3.5 million euros for the large-scale equipment. Professors Christoph Tegenkamp, Martin Wagner, and Bernhard Wunderle successfully acquired the funding on behalf of the three participating faculties at Chemnitz University of Technology.

For further information, please contact Prof. Dr. Andreas Undisz, phone +49 (0)371 531-34528, email andreas.undisz@mb.tu-chemnitz.de.

(Translation: Ulrike Lohr)

Dr. Chundong Wang, Professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan (China), has been awarded a research fellowship for experienced scientists by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The prestigious fellowship will enable him to conduct a one-year research stay at the Chemnitz University of Technology, starting in March 2026. At the Research Centre for Materials, Architectures and Integration of Nanomembranes (MAIN), he will work in the group of Dr Minshen Zhu at the Professorship of Material Systems for Nanoelectronics (Chair: Prof. Oliver G. Schmidt) in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology. 

Wang's research focuses on electrocatalysis and nanostructured functional materials, particularly for sustainable energy technologies such as hydrogen production and fuel cell technology. The aim of his work is to understand catalytic reactions at the atomic level and to develop advanced catalysts with precisely controlled electronic structures. In particular, he investigates single-atom catalysts and the role of electronic spin states in governing catalytic performance.

During his research stay in Chemnitz, Wang will collaborate with the groups of Dr Zhu and Prof Schmidt to develop microfluidic strategies for the controlled synthesis of single-atom catalysts at the MAIN Research Centre. The project aims to understand the influence of the electronic spin configuration of transition metal centres on catalytic reaction pathways and kinetics. By combining concepts from electrochemistry, nanotechnology and microfluidic technology, the aim is to enable more efficient and cost-effective production of catalysts. The expected results could contribute to the development of high-performance hydrogen fuel cell technologies, which are considered a key factor for sustainable energy systems.

Keyword: Humboldt Experienced Researcher Programme

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation's Humboldt Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers supports highly qualified scientists with established academic careers from all over the world in carrying out long-term research projects in Germany. It enables experienced researchers to carry out independent research projects in collaboration with a host institution and become part of the global Humboldt network. With this initiative, the foundation promotes international scientific exchange, strengthens long-term cooperation and supports outstanding research across disciplinary boundaries.

For further information, please contact Yvonne Ulbrich, email yvonne.ulbrich@etit.tu-chemnitz.de.

(Author: Yvonne Ulbrich)

Dr. Konstantin Hopf has been appointed Full Professor of Information Systems and Business Analytics at Chemnitz University of Technology as of 15 February 2026. He received his letter of appointment from the Vice President for Academic and International Affairs, Prof. Dr. Maximilian Eibl. The professorship is located at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.

Academic Career

Konstantin Hopf studied Information Systems at the University of Bamberg, where he also conducted research at the Bits-to-Energy Lab. His research focused on the application of machine learning methods to energy-related data in industry-oriented projects. He additionally gained international experience during a research stay at Copenhagen Business School.

In 2019, he completed his doctorate at the University of Bamberg with a dissertation entitled “Predictive Analytics for Energy Efficiency and Energy Retailing.” He subsequently worked as a Senior Researcher and Lecturer at the Chair of Information Systems and Energy-Efficient Systems (Prof. Thorsten Staake). As part of his habilitation, he established the research group “Machine Learning & Data Work in Organizations.” During this period, he was also a lecturer at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and Leipzig University.

Since October 2025, Dr. Hopf has been acting professor of the Chair of Information Systems and Business Analytics at Chemnitz University of Technology.

Research and Teaching

Dr. Hopf’s research focuses on the integration of explainable machine learning methods into enterprise information systems for decision support. His work addresses both methodological challenges in Business Analytics and theoretical questions concerning the transformation of socio-technical systems through artificial intelligence (AI). His research is supported by numerous third-party funded projects with national and international partners from academia and industry. He regularly publishes in leading international journals in Information Systems and management science and presents his findings at major international conferences.

At Chemnitz University of Technology, he aims to further strengthen practice-oriented and explainable Business Analytics and to expand the application of AI-based decision support systems in critical energy infrastructures and in digital higher education. In addition, he plans to pursue strategic and organizational research on the use of Business Analytics and AI in companies.

In teaching, he contributes to the Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programs in Information Systems as well as to the Master’s degree programs in Business Intelligence & Analytics and Value Chain Management. He also offers complementary courses, including courses taught in English.

(Translation: Dr. Konstantin Hopf)