TUM bolsters forward-looking agricultural sciences program
New building for Hans Eisenmann-Zentrum at the Weihenstephan campus
TUM President, Prof. Wolfgang A. Herrmann, sees the new lab building as the next logical step in the campus development journey: “Food supplies, the cultivation of land and the environment are among the most pressing issues of our time and thus inform the agricultural sciences. Our systematic, deep-reaching reform policy has created a competence base of exceptional depth, extending from basic molecular biology in agriculture to modern nutrition research. Weihenstephan is now an international player in this field.”
Together with the International Beverage Research Center (iGZW) in Weihenstephan, opened in April 2013, the newly inaugurated research building is the most recent installment in the reform policy that began 15 years ago at TUM’s Life Sciences Campus. Earlier additions include the central library, the “Research Center for Nutrition and Food Sciences” and the relocation of the biology and food chemistry faculties to this campus. More than EUR 150 million was invested in buildings along under the umbrella of this wide-ranging structural reform.
The Hans Eisenmann-Zentrum was founded in 2008 as a cross-regional cluster aimed at strengthening the agricultural sciences. As a hub for sharing knowledge and technology in the agricultural sciences, the center has 29 specialist professorships spread across a range of disciplines, including veterinary and horticulture, ecology, ecosystem management, agricultural economics and consumer research.
Unique site for research and teaching
Through expert symposiums and further education events, TUM has created a unique forum for scientists, landholders and educators to network and share their ideas. According to the Bavarian minister for science, Dr. Wolfgang Heubisch: “Since its foundation, the Hans Eisenmann-Zentrum has provided valuable momentum in this field. With its three new international professorships (*), TUM’s Weihenstephan campus now offers the highest density of study opportunities for agricultural sciences in Germany.”
The new building, which cost around EUR 20 million, was financed by the sale of the former TUM research farm, Hirschau. The center was named after TUM alumnus and former Bavarian minister for agriculture, Hans Eisenmann, who was one of the main driving forces behind the new Weihenstephan campus during the 1970s. The new 3,200 or so square-meter building houses laboratories, seminar rooms and offices.
The Chairs of Animal Nutrition (Prof. Wolfgang Windisch), Organic Agriculture and Agronomy (Prof. Kurt-Jürgen Hülsbergen) and Plant Breeding (Prof. Chris-Carolin Schön), as well as associate professorships in biostatistics (Prof. Donna Ankerst) and population genetics (Prof. Aurélien Tellier) are all based in the new building. It is also the main office of the Hans Eisenmann-Zentrum.
(*) New professorships:
- Agriculture and Food Economics: Prof. Justus Wesseler
- Biotechnology of Horticultural Crops: Prof. Brigitte Poppenberger
- Economics of Horticulture and Landscaping: Prof. Vera Bitsch