Vincent Lorentz becomes Chair of Electrical Energy Storage Electronics

French-born Vincent Lorentz earned his first university degree at Télécom Physique engineering college in Strasbourg. This was followed in the same year by a master's degree in microelectronics at the University of Strasbourg. He pursued his binational doctorate in electrical engineering at the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the University of Strasbourg, completing it in 2008. He has been working on electronics for lithium-ion batteries at Fraunhofer IISB in Erlangen since 2003 and initiated the foxBMS® open source battery management system platform in 2015.

"After almost 20 years of practical experience, I would now like to pass on my knowledge in the field of electronics and battery systems to students," says Prof. Dr. Vincent Lorentz in an interview with UBTaktuell. "I have supervised students time and again and have seen how many of them are thrown in at the deep end after graduation," he explains. "I wish to help make their transition into the working world easier for them." Lorentz is already busy planning his first course. 

But teaching is not the only major concern of the graduate engineer. "I'm also just looking forward to getting back into the subject matter in greater depth." Currently, Lorentz heads the Intelligent Energy Systems department at Fraunhofer IISB in Erlangen – slightly removed from the practical side of things. "Especially because of coronavirus, I only had management tasks to do most of the time," he recalls. His additional master's degree in Business Administration and General Management (graduating from FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg in 2013) certainly helped him with that.

"But now it's time for me to try out new ideas," he says. He is particularly looking forward to seeing how an idea is worked upon, revised, and rethought in a team and thereby continues to develop.

However, Prof. Dr. Vincent Lorentz is not turning his back on Fraunhofer IISB completely. He will continue to work for Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft at Fraunhofer IISB in Erlangen for one day a week, and is keen to promote cooperation with the University of Bayreuth.