"Driving forward the digitization of TUM"

Dr. Alexander Braun researches at the Chair of Computational Modeling and Simulation at TUM and as chief informations officer he takes care for the digitization of the university. Photo: Uli Benz/TUM

Alexander Braun, an IT expert with a PhD in civil engineering, is the new executive vice president for digitization and IT systems at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). The University Council elected him to the Presidential Board for a three-year term at the end of 2021. Braun thus assumes the role of Chief Information Officer (CIO): "On the one hand, it's about ensuring the operation of our IT infrastructure and scaling and developing it for future requirements," says the new CIO, describing his duties. "In addition, I'm in regular exchange with our schools and faculties in order to take their needs for teaching and research into account in our IT strategy in a meaningful way." Braun is a true "Münchner Kindl", studied civil engineering at TUM, earned his PhD on digitization in civil engineering and headed a research group at the Chair of Computational Modeling and Simulation. As CIO, he succeeds Dr. Hans Pongratz, who was appointed professor at TU Dortmund and moved to the Stiftung für Hochschulzulassung as managing director in fall 2021. As an executive, Braun has helped develop the digitization of TUM's administration in numerous projects and knows the university's internal processes. As CIO, he will work closely with the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ). "My biggest challenge as CIO at the moment is to drive forward the digitization of TUM and its associated administration," he says. "At this point, the LRZ is of course also a reliable partner for network operations and the many other services in the area of the web, high-performance computing and more." Meet TUM's new CIO in our interview.

Congratulations on your new role - what does the CIO of TUM do? Dr. Alexander Braun: Thank you very much! As CIO, my tasks are very diverse. On the one hand, it's about ensuring the operation of our IT infrastructure, i.e. workstations, servers, TUMonline, SAP and more, and scaling and developing it for future requirements. In addition, I am in regular contact with our schools and faculties in order to take their needs for teaching and research into account in our IT strategy. This concerns not only hardware but also software requirements, of course. My greatest challenge as CIO is currently to drive forward the digitization of TUM and the associated administration. This point is also part of our TUM AGENDA 2030 and, for me, one of the most important levers for advancing TUM as a university fit for the future.

You are also Senior Vice President at TUM, lead the "Digital Twinning" research group at the Chair of Computational Modeling and Simulation, and pursue your own projects: How do you reconcile these tasks? Braun: None of this works without the great support and input of my many colleagues. At the IT level, I have our IT service centre, which helps drive operations, support and strategy. Of course, the LRZ is also a reliable partner for network operations and the many other services in the areas of web, high-performance computing and more. For all committee work in the university presidium, I have the support of the presidential staff, without whose assistance I would very quickly lose track of the many appointments and meetings. I would like to continue my research activities; I did my doctorate on the digitization of the construction industry because I was interested in it, and I find this to still be an exciting topic. So, I am happy to invest additional time to be able to continue researching here.

Corona has also forced universities to become more digital - online courses, online lectures, in some cases even online exams, group work in the digital anyway. What will remain in which situations is it more effective to do things face to face? Braun: It is impressive how quickly opportunities arise, especially in the area of digitization, when there is a certain compulsion. That has positive effects, but also negative ones. In my experience, digital lectures don't bring only negatives. The asynchronous and location-independent recording of lectures is often praised and actively demanded by students, as it also supports exam preparation. Nevertheless, as a lecturer I was very happy to be back in the lecture hall and experience direct feedback and interaction with students. I therefore assume that we will experience a hybrid model in the future: classic lectures with recordings or also completely digital, but the associated seminars and exercises in presence.

Where does digitization stand at TUM and what are the next steps? Braun: There are already good approaches to digitization in many areas. However, it is clear that as a large state institution, we historically have many processes that are purely analog. Therefore, we still have some homework to do here in order to lift our administration into the purely digital age. At the research level, TUM is already doing very well. However, there is potential for improvement here as well, which will have to go hand in hand with centralization in view of growing demands on resources.

How is the LRZ supports you with this? Braun: We already make intensive use of the LRZ's diverse services. Whether it's the Munich Science Network or high-performance computing. TUM is very satisfied with the services, and we want to further intensify this cooperation. We are currently talking in particular about expanding graphic processing units or GPU resources for machine learning applications, as well as expanding storage space for research data. Reliable hosting in particular is an important aspect for us as users, but sustainable and efficient operation is also becoming increasingly important in today's times.

Do you also have a personal project that you would particularly like to advance as CIO? Which one and why? Braun: I have held many different positions in my career at TUM - starting as a student and now as Vice President. As a result, I know many - but still not all - perspectives on the various processes within our university. My personal goal is therefore to advance the digitization of processes and, as far as possible, to bring all colleagues along with me. In doing so, I always want to take my time and actively participate in programming new solutions. (Interview: vs)