Prof. Dr. Thomas Kriecherbauer honoured with “Prize for Good Teaching”
With its “Prize for Good Teaching”, the Bavarian Ministry of Science honours the work of the best university teachers at the Free State of Bavaria.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Kriecherbauer is Chair of Mathematics VI Nonlinear Analysis & Mathematical Physics at the University of Bayreuth. Along with 14 other university teachers at state universities in Bavaria, the Bayreuth mathematician has been awarded the 2019 “Prize for Good Teaching” by Science Minister Bernd Sibler. The presentation of the award certificate had to be held in 2021 due to the pandemic. In announcing the award winners at the end of 2020, the Minister of Science said: “Your work is decisive for the academic success of students, and thus for the education of the bright minds who will shape our future.”
The award winners are nominated by their home university, and the students themselves are deeply involved in this process. The prerequisite for receiving the award is outstanding teaching performance over the course of at least two academic years at a university in Bavaria. Each award comes with € 5,000 in prize money. Awarded for the 22nd time in 2020, the event usually takes place at one of the nine state universities in the Free State of Bavaria. The presentation of the 2019 award certificate, however, had to be postponed until 2021 due to the pandemic.
Dear Professor Kriecherbauer, our campus magazine congratulates you most heartily on this award! The “Prize for Good Teaching” – how did you learn about this honour?
Two members of the MPI student council came to my office and told me that the University of Bayreuth was nominating me for the award.
What does this award mean to you? After all, only one University of Bayreuth teacher per year receives the “Prize for Good Teaching” from the Bavarian Ministry of Science.
This recognition means a lot to me, and has given me great and lasting pleasure. I see teaching as a very central aspect of my profession, about which I think a lot, and in which I always try to do a little better every day. The fact that my efforts were considered worthy of an award by my students makes me very proud and will definitely spur me on.
What do you think it is that you do that is different from your colleagues? What distinguishes a really good teacher?
I don’t know, and there is probably no universal answer to the second question. Good preparation of the courses and subject-didactic considerations are certainly helpful and necessary. For me, evaluations and discussions with students that are as informal as possible are all important feedback that influences my teaching. One decisive factor is certainly your own enthusiasm for the content being taught, and the urgent desire to pass this enthusiasm on to students. The general working conditions here also play a role, and, in my view, they are absolutely ideal at the University of Bayreuth. We have a beautiful campus and great students, with whom I enjoy working, almost without exception!
Moving on to a bit of numerical data: You have been Chair since 2010. Approximately how many students benefit from your teaching per year? How many bachelor’s/master’s/doctoral theses have you supervised as Chair so far?
I don’t keep those sort of records, and would prefer to avoid the question. But as an estimate, there are 100-150 students in lectures and seminars per year (but that number can vary greatly from 30 to 400), 30-40 bachelor’s/master’s theses, and two PhD students.
What qualities do you particularly appreciate in a student?
There is no single quality. Of course, I appreciate it very much when students have a deep interest in mathematics and work hard to overcome the difficulties and frustrations that are usually associated with the study of mathematics (for me, too). But even if the interest is not quite so deep, I take great pleasure in accompanying young people as they enjoy the freedoms of student life to further develop their personality, interests, skills, and knowledge.
What would be your advice to students in general?
Use the freedom of student life to further develop your personality, interests, skills, and knowledge. This may include taking some wrong paths ... just recognise them as such in time.
Would you please explain briefly (and in simple terms) what you deal with at “Mathematics VI Nonlinear Analysis and Mathematical Physics”?
I develop and sharpen tools from the mathematical tool kit that can help in understanding physical phenomena. This tool kit is huge, and I have specialised in just one corner of it that uses differential and integral calculus and also a little probability theory. What is fascinating to me is how universally applicable these tools are. For example, I was involved in the development of a method that allows a detailed analysis of the propagation of signals in certain non-linear media. Later, it turned out that this method can also be used to describe the fluctuations of energy states in high-energy atomic nuclei, and the growth of crystals.
How did you personally get into mathematics?
I guess mathematics came to me. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had fun puzzling over maths problems.
What does Professor Kriecherbauer do when he is not doing mathematics – what are your hobbies?
I don’t have any particular hobbies. I
like to walk in the mountains and play a bit of tennis and badminton, although
all of that has been far too rare lately. Apart from that, I am interested in
the history of Europe and Christian theology, and I occasionally read popular academic
books and articles on these topics.