Milestone: Department of Computer Science awards 1000th doctoral degree
On average 40 dissertations per year
2023/11/22
On 21 November 2023, the Department of Computer Science at Technical University Darmstadt awarded its 1000th doctoral degree. This milestone 50 years after its foundation illustrates the remarkable development of the department over the years.
On 9 May 1975, three years after its foundation, the department awarded its first doctorate in computer science to Wolfgang Coy for his dissertation on “The Test Complexity of Circuits”. Coy is now Professor (retired) of Computer Science in Education and Society at the Humboldt University in Berlin.
Since the first doctoral degree was awarded in 1975, the number of doctoral awards per year remained mostly in single digits until 1991 due to the small number of professorships.
Until 2012, the number of PhDs awarded per year rose steadily to between 10 and 30, and since then there has been an average of 40 PhDs per year in about 20-25 subject areas. Recent appointments have increased the number of disciplines to 31 – and the number of PhDs is expected to increase further.
The doctorates were supervised by more than 90 different professors in the department, each with one or two co-supervisors. They have each led up to 150 people to graduation (see also infobox below). These figures demonstrate our commitment to high quality education and the promotion of an attractive learning and research environment.
The doctoral degree opens many doors to successful careers for our graduates: many are now professors in Germany, Europe and all over the world, or experts in companies such as Merck KGaA, Siemens AG, Google or Boston Dynamics.
The Department of Computer Science would like to thank everyone who has been part of this incredible journey. From current and former faculty members to postgraduate students, everyone has made a valuable contribution.
We look forward to a bright future where we will continue to inspire and enable the next generation of computer scientists to develop innovative solutions and make a positive impact on society.
Research groups with more than 25 Ph.D. graduates
Current Research Groups
- Prof. Dr. Max Mühlhäuser, Telecooperation Group: 69 Dissertations
- Prof. Dr. Dr. eh. Dieter Fellner, Interactive Graphics SystemsG roup: 37 Dissertations
- Prof. Jan Peters, Ph.D., Intelligent Autonomous Systems Group: 34 Dissertations
- Prof. Dr. Iryna Gurevych, Ubiquitous Knowledge Processing Group: 32 Dissertations
- Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Mira Mezini, Software Technology: 31 Dissertations
- Prof. Dr. Oskar von Stryk, Simulation, Systems Optimization and Robotics: 27 Dissertations
- Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Ralf Steinmetz , Multimedia Communications Group at the of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Professorship by courtesy at CS Department): 25 Dissertations
Former Research Groups
- Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Dr. E.h. Hon. Prof. mult. José Luis Encarnação, Interactive Graphics Systems Group: 150 Dissertations
- Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Johannes Buchmann, Theoretische Informatik – Kryptographie und Computeralgebra: 59 Dissertations
- Prof. Alejandro P. Buchmann, Ph.D., Datenbanken und Verteilte Systeme: 33 Dissertations
- Prof. Dr. techn. Erich Neuhold Integrierte Publikations- und Informationssysteme: 31 Dissertations
- Prof. Dr. Sorin Huss, Integrierte Schaltungen und Systeme: 30 Dissertations
As of November 21, 2023
