Dr.-Ing. Peter Sommer is to take up a professorship at the Faculty of Technology and Bionics at Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences from November 2018. With this appointment, the university is recognising his commitment to teaching and to supervising numerous work placements and final-year projects.
Dr.-Ing. Peter Sommer, managing partner of Dr. Sommer Werkstofftechnik GmbH in Issum, has been appointed honorary professor in recognition of his teaching work at the Faculty of Technology and Bionics at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences.
“Through his academic commitment and his specialist expertise in materials engineering, Dr Sommer has been making a significant contribution to practice-oriented engineering education at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences for many years,” said Professor Dr Georg Hauck – Vice-President for Human Resources and Organisational Development, Diversity – explaining the reasons behind the appointment. “It is this valuable practical experience,” says Hauck, “from which our students benefit particularly greatly.” Professor Dr.-Ing. Dirk Nissing, Dean of the Faculty of Technology and Bionics, adds: “We are delighted and grateful to have him on our faculty – a figure who is exceptionally skilled at conveying the technical and interdisciplinary requirements of his subject.” As a lecturer, Dr Sommer is extremely popular with students and is also highly regarded by his colleagues in the faculty.
In addition to his role as a lecturer on the ‘Materials Testing and Failure Analysis’ course, the materials scientist from Issum arranges work placements at his company for the ‘Internship Semester’ – a 20-week compulsory work placement for students of all engineering disciplines. This collaboration is often followed by a Bachelor’s thesis. In 2016, for example, Dr Sommer Materials Technology recruited a former student following the completion of her Bachelor’s thesis. Furthermore, in 2015 the company, together with the university, won the Higher Education Award from the Kleve District Economic Development Agency. Dr.-Ing. Sommer has shared his extensive, long-standing expertise in the field of materials testing with students in various roles at Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences, covering both theoretical and practical aspects.
Dr.-Ing. Sommer has been a managing partner of Dr. Sommer Werkstofftechnik GmbH since 1988 and a certified expert in materials technology and heat treatment since 1992. He is also, amongst other things, a member of the ‘Materials Technology’ advisory board of the Research Association for Drive Technology.
