About us
The Department of Mechanical Engineering is part of KIT's Area 3 "Mechanical and Electrical Engineering" together with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, four Helmholtz programs, and eight institutes of the large-scale research area. The department consists of more than 20 institutes with about 1,000 employees, including about 40 professors, 460 scientific employees, and 200 employees in administration and technology. In addition, there are several hundred tutors and scientific assistants.
As the highlight of the winter semester, the KIT Department of Mechanical Engineering celebrated its Department Festival Colloquium on 14.02.2025 in the Tulla lecture hall in Building 11.40. The keynote speech was given by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Martin Cichon from the FAST Institute of Railway Systems with the title "Redtenbacher - or why the railroad can't go straight ahead". In this festive setting, this year's Manfred Hirschvogel Prize for the best dissertation in the field of mechanical engineering / economics with innovative, trend-setting results for practice and research was awarded to Dr. Michael Baranowski. The prize for student commitment went to Clara Lickert from the MACH/CIW student council.
Impressions and the joint "cap picture" of all graduates can be found in our picture gallery.
According to estimates by the Federal Environment Agency, at least 100,000 tons of tire abrasion are produced annually in Germany when tires come into contact with the road surface. This corresponds to around a third of the microplastic emissions released annually in Germany. Due to their higher weight, vehicles with electric drives often cause more tire abrasion than those with combustion engines. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics are investigating the amount of abrasion caused by electrified vehicles in the RAMUS project (which stands for: tire abrasion measurement and simulation). In order to develop a prediction model for tire wear, they are testing tires on a test bench in operating cycles that represent real usage behavior in a condensed form.
The annual Professors' Café for first-year students of Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics and Materials Science and Engineering is taking place today in the "Festsaal of the Studierendenwerk" (located between the Mensa and Bib on Adenauerring). Professors, the student council and the InSL staff (Information and Services for students) will be there to answer all your questions about starting your studies. There will also be good coffee and delicious cookies - even for last-minute visitors.
The doors are open until 1:00 pm.
Directions to the Festsaal of the Studierendenwerk
This year, the KIT Department of Mechanical Engineering is once again holding its first-semester welcome ceremony at Europa-Park, the largest theme park in Germany. Early this morning, our first-year students started their journey together to experience an unforgettable day at Europa-Park. The program includes a construction team competition, a backstage tour and, of course, intensive exploration of the more than 100 attractions and shows.
We wish all participants a successful start to their studies.
Impressions and the group picture for download can be found in our .
In order to produce battery cells more flexibly, KIT researchers have set up agile battery cell production. Using highly flexible robot-based automation, they have achieved a degree of flexibility that was previously only possible in manual cell production. This enables companies to adapt more quickly to new technologies and volatile markets and strengthen Germany's competitiveness as an industrial location. "The opening of the world's first agile battery cell production [...] shows how we can differentiate ourselves from the global market with highly flexible and resource-efficient production and specifically address the high-margin premium segment and niche markets," says Prof. Fleischer, Head of the wbk Institute for Production Technology. Press release
The German Society for Metallurgy has awarded Michael Hoffman, Professor retired of the Institute for Applied Materials, with its honorary membership. With the award of "Honorary Membership of the German Society for Materials Science", the DGM recognizes members who have rendered outstanding material or non-material services to the society. Alexander Kauffmann, also from the Institute for Applied Materials, receives the Masing Memorial Prize from the DGM. The Masing Memorial Prize honors independent scientific research work by young DGM members in the field of materials science and materials engineering.
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