From New York to TC Cham: New Professor for Intelligent Sensor Actuator Systems

11.1.2021 | THD-Pressestelle

With Prof Jürgen Wittmann, the Technology Campus (TC) Cham of the Deggendorf Institute of Technology (DIT) gains an internationally proven professor. In his field of expertise “Design of Intelligent Sensor Actuator Systems”, he focuses mainly on sensor technology, quality and reliability, as well as the use of Deep Learning in and with the help of sensors.

From Regensburg, where he wrote his diploma thesis at Infineon, Prof Wittmann moved to the USA to East Fishkill, New York. There he worked on an international project with companies from three continents and learned the key to success in teams made up of different cultures and mentalities: a healthy tolerance for different approaches. He retained this in his subsequent work as an international auditor in various companies in Germany. He is therefore well prepared for his work as a professor at the international TC Cham. There, from March, he will work on ways to apply Deep Learning in technical products, such as the intelligent calibration of sensors. If, for example, a sensor signal deviates from the ideal value, this is compensated for by a neural network. Predicting the next necessary maintenance date for machines with the help of Deep Learning, the so-called predictive maintenance approaches, are also part of his specialty.

He gives his students a lot of freedom so that they can work out and develop a new field of knowledge themselves. It is a matter of course for him that they show a certain amount of commitment and independence. In this way, the budding engineers learn to find solutions independently and to implement them in their professional lives. For Prof Wittmann, freedom and the opportunity to choose one’s own topics are also extremely important. This, and the fact that the orientation of the degree programmes corresponds excellently to his competences, were the decisive reasons why he chose the professorship at DIT. TC Cham in particular offers him the opportunity to shape study content and shape the coming growth of the location, says the professor, who loves to familiarise himself with new topics and environments and understand how everything is connected. That is why he has also set himself the goal of further developing the path TC Cham has started on to become an internationally and at the same time regionally attractive university location. To achieve this, he strives for a good and intensive cooperation with local politics as well as with the companies in the region. His systematic, disciplined and consistent manner, without losing his composure, will certainly be helpful.

In order to remain calm even when the situation gets hectic, Prof Wittmann likes to be physically active in his free time, preferably doing handicrafts on his own house or, if time permits, mountain biking. But he is also happy to be found with a good book in his free time.

Bild (DIT): Prof Jürgen Wittmann brings international experience and determination with him.