Female role models are important. They point out possibilities, help us to define our own goals and we can learn from their experiences. Today she talks to Prof.
I meet the recently appointed KIT professor Dr. Ina Schaefer in the main computer science building at KIT. Finding her office in this large building turns out to be more difficult than I thought β and I ask a young student for directions. I am greeted warmly by Ina Schaefer, who is still in a call. I start our interview and immediately notice the relaxed, informal and casual atmosphere. We are immediately on a first-name basis β almost standard with the DigiWomenKA.
Then I notice the fresh flowers in the office. I also notice the colorful posters with cool slogans on the whiteboards β I know them from the CyberForum. The native East Frisian was born in Emden, the daughter of a pastor and a teacher. That, she tells me, was another reason why she went into IT. She completed her doctorate at the TU Kaiserslautern in She also received a scholarship for Sweden. Back in Germany, she was promptly offered a deputy professorship at TU Braunschweig.
I want to know what drives this woman. By that she also means inventing mathematical theories and then proving them. Creativity is very important to them. She is also at the forefront when it comes to giving her students room to develop and grow.
She believes that the right environment brings the right results. Ina Schaefer is involved in political consulting alongside her work at the university and also works on improving software. Her specialist areas are software engineering and formal methods. Schaefer sees the improvement of software as the main purpose of her work. Software development for quantum computing is currently one of her most important projects.
