IUB Welcomes President Joachim Treusch

On July 1, 2006, Prof. Dr. Joachim Treusch assumes the presidency of IUB. The renowned science manager and physicist, at present still chairman of the board of directors of the Research Center Jülich until September 30, succeeds Dr. Fritz Schaumann, founding president of IUB. Treusch’s initial term as IUB president is for five years.

[ Jun 30, 2006]  Joachim Treusch was a member of the IUB Board of Governors since January 2003. Due to this, he knows the institution thouroughly. He is delighted to take office as president: “IUB is an outstanding contribution to the modernization and internationalization of higher education in Europe and is unique in Germany. With respect to IUB’s successful and dynamic development, I can only congratulate my predecessor, Fritz Schaumann. I am very much looking forward to my task to carry on and further develop this exciting project. One important aspect of my work will be to promote the intensive scientific and business networking of IUB in Germany as well as internationally. At the same time we will place an even greater emphasis on research and strengthen our research profile in those areas in which we are able to deliver long-term outstanding performance on an international basis.”

Treusch, born in Dortmund (1940), enjoys an international reputation and is one of the pre-eminent driving forces behind research development in Germany. He assumes his new duties at IUB after more than 40 years in research, teaching, and science management. He studied physics in Marburg and Berlin; following completion of his habilitation in Marburg, in 1970 he was appointed professor at the University of Frankfurt. From 1971 to 1987 the expert on semiconductor physics held a position as full professor of theoretical physics at the University of Dortmund, where he also served as dean, deputy vice-chancellor, and as a member of the university senate. He subsequently served for almost 20 years on the Board of Directors of the Research Center Jülich, and was appointed chairman in 1990. His responsibilities included the divisions “Basic Physical Research and Information Technology” and “Environment and Life Sciences.”

Treusch is the author of more than 250 publications, articles, and lectures, and was editor or co-editor of several physics journals. In the past decades, Treusch has been active in numerous scientific and research steering committees, among others as president of the German Physical Society, chairman of the board of directors of the Hermann von Helmholtz Association of National Research Centers, member and chairman of various federal expert advisory councils for education and research, including the Federal Chancellor's Technology Council, and more. He has been a senate member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina since 2000, as well as being director and co-founder of “Science in Dialogue” (WiD), an initiative by leading German science organizations and institutions dedicated to public dialogue and Public Understanding of Sciences and Humanities (PUSH). He will leave WiD in October 2006 after two terms of office.