Newsmail #30, 2022-06-15

Dear all,

Today and tomorrow the ITM school holds our annual leadership conference, a meeting with all managers on all levels. This year we’ll discuss and compare the departments RAE action plans and development plans, we’ll discuss IRIS with the IRIS coordinators and the interaction between IRIS and the departments. The second day is completely devoted to gender balance issues, equal treatment and diversity.

Next week I’ll be visiting Stanford University in California. I spent a semester there a long time ago, a brief post-doc, and I’ve tried to maintain good relations ever since. We currently have no less than three Mechatronics staff members active in the area, and I look forward to meet all three as well as my old Stanford colleagues. The week after that, I’ll join a conference in Minneapolis focused on Engineering Education (www.asee.org). This year’s theme is Diversity, which I look forward to. I have joined this conference since 2009 and it’s important for me to be part of this community.

Anyhow, none of these three activities were possible during the pandemic, and it’s amazing how easy it is to fall back into old habits. Even though it’s efficient to meet in zoom, it’s amazing how much these physical meetings means in terms of quick problem-solving, creativity and hope for the future.

When I return on July 3, I’ll go directly on vacation, so with this email I also want to extend my deepest gratitude to all colleagues who contributes to our fantastic working environment at MMK and wish everyone a good vacation.

Best,

Martin