Jonas Maibaum has been a new research assistant at our department since 15 March. In this interview, he tells us what he has been working on so far, what his research focus is and what excites him.

Jonas Maibaum is from Recklinghausen and completed his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in civil engineering at the RUB. Unfortunately, at that time the specialisation Digital Design and Construction was not yet offered, so he chose Transport Engineering - Infrastructure as his specialisation. He was particularly interested in digital construction planning and the associated application of digital tools. Above all, the content taught in the BIM course ensured his increasing interest in computer science in the construction industry. After listening to the lectures on simulation technology and geometric modelling and visualisation, he decided that he wanted to move further in this direction. He laid the foundation for this with his Master's thesis "Resource-efficient design of the life cycle of roads: Holistic approach to semantic and geometric cross-sectional modelling" supervised by Marlena Block. Now he continues his research with us as WiMi.

What does your research deal with?

Jonas: In line with the Master's thesis, one of the projects I am involved in is RekoTi (resource plan for municipal civil engineering). The joint project, which takes place in cooperation with the city of Münster and IWARU (Institute for Infrastructure - Water - Resources - Environment) at FH Münster, deals with a systemic approach to increasing resource efficiency by closing mineral material cycles in municipal civil engineering. Besides the basic interest in the topic, I also find it nice to be able to make at least a small contribution to environmental protection. Resource efficiency, life cycle design and sustainability considerations are essential topics in the construction and infrastructure sector. I'm not sure yet whether my doctorate will also move in this direction, but that will only become clear in the course of the year. Now it's time to arrive and get used to the work.

Is there anything you are very enthusiastic about?

Jonas: I'm particularly enthusiastic about road cycling, even if I like longer distances. One tour, for example, went from my hometown to Amsterdam. Depending on the trip, I'll meet my brother, for example, at intermediate stops or go straight out for 3-4 days with just a travel bag. Apart from that, I've resolved to go to football more often again and invest time in smaller inventions like 3D printing.