image: Baden-Württemberg’s Minister for Science, Research, and the Arts, Petra Olschowski, and the Chairman of KIT’s Supervisory Board, Professor Michael Kaschke, presented the chain of office to Professor Jan S. Hesthaven, the new President of KIT. (Photo:Markus Breig KIT)
Credit: Markus Breig, KIT
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Hesthaven, a 58-year-old Dane, noted in his inaugural speech that KIT had a duty to be of service to society and that it faced major changes and challenges. “Increased internationalization will play a key role. We need to ensure that KIT attracts talent not only from Germany but also from around the world,” he said. The President named three challenges confronting society: new health technologies for an aging population, the spread of artificial intelligence, and sustainability. “These are the three areas in which we need to work with our partners to provide solutions,” Hesthaven said, adding that doing so would call for what had characterized KIT over the past 200 years: boldness. In that regard, Professor Hesthaven singled out KIT as a unique place for research and teaching. “No other German scientific organization has a comparable model, and even at the international level there are very few such institutions.”
Cem Özdemir, Federal Minister of Education and Research, congratulated Hesthaven on his new role. “Professor Hesthaven unites an impressive international perspective with a clear vision of KIT’s future as both a university and a large-scale research institution. Not only will his approach of driving innovation and internationality make KIT stronger, it will also make important contributions to Germany’s research landscape. I wish him and KIT all the best for this new and exciting phase.”
Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of Science, Research and the Arts, Petra Olschowski, also praised Hesthaven’s great international experience, saying it would make KIT fit for the future. “As a University of Excellence with national large-scale research responsibilities, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology is a beacon in Baden-Württemberg’s university landscape. I’m very happy that we’ve been able to recruit Professor Jan S. Hesthaven, an internationally recognized scientist and manager, to head this unique university, and I’m convinced he’ll keep KIT on track for further success,” Olschowski said. “One of his goals as president is to continue increasing the research university’s internationalization, making it more attractive to outstanding scientists and talented students from all over the world. I wish Professor Hesthaven strategic finesse and the best of luck.”
In his welcome speech, Professor Michael Kaschke, Chairman of the KIT Supervisory Board, drew attention to the university’s long-term prospects. “KIT’s potential is unique in all of Germany. It’s a potential that obliges us not to stop after achieving something but to keep on improving, to anticipate new circumstances instead of merely adapting to them. I’m pleased that in Professor Hesthaven we’ve found an outstanding scientist and administrator who as president will lead KIT into a successful future in exactly this spirit.”
Professor Otmar D. Wiestler, President of the Helmholtz Association, said: “In his new role as president of KIT, Jan S. Hesthaven will be an immense gain for the Helmholtz Association. With his practical approach to research in the information sciences, he will drive the transfer of pioneering technologies and forcefully address the key challenges of our time. Not only is he an excellent scientist, he also has very good international connections. With his outsider’s perspective, he will provide crucial ideas for the further improvement of research and teaching at KIT. I’m very much looking forward to working with him.”
And last but not least, KIT student representatives conveyed their wishes for a good start, good debates, and good luck with the German bureaucracy, and expressed their expectations of the new president: support for all departments, a no-blame culture, sustainable development of the campus, forceful representation of KIT in dealings with government and the public, and a fair and diverse KIT where everybody feels like part of a team.
Professor Jan S. Hesthaven is KIT’s fourth president. He follows Professor Holger Hanselka, who took the reins at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in August 2023. Professor Oliver Kraft, Vice President for Research, was Acting President of KIT during the interim period.
About Jan S. Hesthaven
Prior to assuming his position at KIT, Jan S. Hesthaven, born in 1965, was Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). His responsibilities included tight integration of research and teaching, all appointment procedures, and close cooperation with the president of EFPL on the university’s strategic alignment. He had been a professor of mathematics at EPFL since 2013. He was on the faculty of Brown University, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the United States, from 1995 to 2013. At Brown, he was founding director of the Center for Computation and Visualization (2006 to 2013) and co-founder of the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics. Hesthaven studied computational physics and earned his doctorate at the Technical University of Denmark in Copenhagen. He is a fellow of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, the American Mathematical Society, and the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics. He is also a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and the Academia Europaea. He received an honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Denmark in May 2024
Being “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 10,000 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,800 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.