Queen and Prince Consort attend DTU Commemoration Day 2015

Photos by Thorkild Amdi Christensen.

With the red carpet in place, flags flying, guests in gala dress, and abundant floral displays, the scene had well and truly been set for DTU’s Commemoration Day festivities on 8 May and for receiving a host of special invitees. These included HM The Queen and HRH The Prince Consort, who were there for the awards party. The proceedings started with songs and speeches.

President distances himself from talk of lazy students

The first speaker was President Anders Overgaard Bjarklev. In his speech, the President strongly dissociated himself from the current public debate on the poor work ethics of university students.

“The debate paints a picture which we at DTU do not recognise at all. So let me make it perfectly clear: I strongly disagree with the debaters’ condescending tone towards students in Denmark, and in particular towards students at DTU.
Dear DTU students, you are doing well!”

Critical students

The next speaker was DTU student Caroline Tromer Dragsdahl, who took the floor in her capacity as chairman of the student association Polyteknisk Forening (PF). Caroline Dragsdahl took the opportunity to criticize, in particular, the study progress reform, which she described as both harmful and destructive for students wanting to seriously involve themselves in innovation, opt for particularly challenging courses, or engage in project cooperation with companies.

For example, such projects do not always develop as envisaged from the outset, nor do they always fit into the standard term structure. This is what makes working with companies so exciting and rewarding, but it also calls for a high degree of flexibility. The study progress reform does not accommodate such flexibility,” Caroline Tromer Dragsdahl said.

Then followed the presentation of DTU’s prizes and awards to researchers, lecturers, entrepreneurs, and front runners, who have distinguished themselves through their extraordinary efforts.

Honorary doctorates for three distinguished researchers

The academic highpoint was the conferral of three honorary doctorates. The honorary doctorate (doctor technices, honoris causa) is the University’s highest academic honour. This year, DTU conferred the degree on three distinguished and highly profiled international researchers who play a particularly important role for DTU’s research in the areas of physics, space research, and indoor climate:

1. Dr John E. Connerney, NASA (far right) 
   DTU has been working with Dr John E. Connerney for about 20 years. Dr Connerney heads the department at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center which focuses on the magnetic fields of planets. Dr John E. Connerney has world-leading expertise in designing instruments for space missions while at the same time using these to explore planets, especially their magnetic fields. In recent decades, Dr Connerney has played a key role in virtually all NASA’s major missions to planets in our solar system, including the Juno mission which is on its way to Jupiter and to which DTU Space has supplied star cameras.

    

2. Professor William W. Nazaroff, University of California, Berkeley (second from right) 
   Professor Nazaroff’s research spans a wide range of fields from indoor climate to global climate problems. With a background in physics and chemistry, Professor Nazaroff is regarded as one of the very best indoor climate researchers in the world; among other things, he has developed advanced mathematical models for the transport of pollution from the external environment to the indoor climate, as well as for previously overlooked chemical reactions in the indoor climate. Most recently, he has extended his field of research and is now strongly committed to the issues of sustainability, climate change and energy efficiency. For almost two decades, Professor Nazaroff has been working closely with DTU’s indoor climate researchers at DTU Civil Engineering, which he as visited on numerous occasions over the years. In 2001 and 2007, he spent long periods at DTU as a visiting professor.

    

3. Professor Anders Nilsson, Stockholm University (second from left)
   Professor Anders Nilsson has distinguished himself through his exploration of materials using state-of-the-art X-ray technology. He has contributed to developing ground-breaking, advanced methods for this purpose, and has used them, among other things, to identify dynamic processes in water, observe fuel cells in operation and explore catalysts. Professor Anders Nilsson has been working with DTU Physics researchers for many years—both on research projects and most recently also through a joint involvement in the new X-ray and synchrotron radiation facilities in Hamburg and Lund.
   
   

Student start-up of the year

As a new initiative this year, DTU has decided to honour the University’s innovative students with a ‘Student Start-up of the Year’ award. The award went to DropBucket represented by the two co-founders Heiða Gunnarsdóttir Nolsøe and Marie Stampe Berggreen. DropBucket is a single-use waste bin made from recycled cardboard and has already proved its worth at several festivals. DropBucket has just received the international Red Dot design award. Read more about this award.

Video on DropBucket with English subtitles:

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Gold medal, International Award, and prize for research-based public sector services

G.A. Hagemann’s gold medal
Professor Thomas Kiørboe (far right), DTU Aqua, received the gold medal for his research on marine organisms. In the justification for the award, the President emphasized Professor Kiørboe’s use of mathematical models and analyses, physical principles and anthropological parallels—which he mixes and matches for the most amazing results. Thomas Kiørboe has a rare ability to add to the larger biological picture through his observations.

DTU’s International Award
Head of Studies Michael Kai Petersen (centre) from DTU Compute receives the award for furthering DTU’s collaboration with DTU’s alliance university Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in South Korea. Michael Kai Petersen has been instrumental in developing a new joint programme which experiments with new types of learning platforms across the globe. Within the framework of an existing, very popular programme, new types of online learning are combined with a one-semester exchange in South Korea; and increasing numbers of students at DTU have been following the KAIST courses online. So both in the real world and the virtual world, a large group of students have encountered a completely different culture as well as the exacting standards of one of the highest-ranking universities in Asia.

DTU’s prize for research-based public sector services
The prize was awarded to Eskild Kirkegaard (left), Chief Fisheries Adviser from DTU Aqua, for his communicative excellence and his ability to enter into dialogue with the whole variety of DTU stakeholders and partners. Eskild Kirkegaard possesses considerable insights into the views of the stakeholder organizations, the conditions on which the various industries operate and the public authorities’ tasks and responsibilities. Insights which are key to translating DTU’s research into neutral and useful scientific advice.

Video on Eskild Kirkegaard's resarch with English subtitles:

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Lecturers of the Year

Each year, DTU’s students name two Lecturers of the Year based exclusively on a vote among the students themselves. 

Lecturers of the Year
Each year, DTU’s students name two Lecturers of the Year based exclusively on a vote among the students themselves.

The students say about Assistant Professor Jakob Munkholt Christensen (left), DTU Chemical Engineering, that he is a fantastic communicator, extremely pedagogical and that he makes a point of ensuring that the students can follow what he says. See more in the video below:

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About Associate Professor Henrik Lehrmann Christiansen (right), DTU Fotonik, the students say that he is always committed and very well-prepared. He is always cheerful—and then a little bit of cake ‘makes the medicine go down’. See more in the video below:

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DTU Safety Award

John Madsen, Head of Operations at DTU Chemistry is presented with the safety award for his dedicated efforts over more than 40 years to ensure a good working environment. Focusing on prevention, cooperation, and a good dose of common sense, John Madsen has successfully prevented serious occupational injuries within a potentially risky field of work. In the past three years, he has brought the same approach to bear on the department’s many renovation and construction projects.

Address marked the end of the awards party

In keeping with tradition, the awards party ended with a gala lecture. This year, the lecture was given by Professor Karsten Arnbjerg Nielsen from DTU Environment. He broadened the horizons of those present with an entertaining lecture on urban water flows.