Welcome to SimTech

What does SimTech do?

How do pollutants spread through soil? How can we make materials more lightweight but still stable? How does medication affect our bodies? And what is an ergonomic workplace?

These are the kinds of fascinating questions we explore at SimTech – the Cluster of Excellence for “Data-Integrated Simulation Science” at the University of Stuttgart.

One of Germany’s 57 Clusters of Excellence, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), we are active in basic research. Since 2019, more than 250 scientists have been working as part of SimTech to create, evolve, and systematically combine various approaches and methods for modeling and simulation. Simulation is therefore not merely a research method – it’s also the subject of the research we do.

Our experts come from a wide range of departments and almost all the faculties at the University of Stuttgart–Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, and Sociology to name but a few.

What's our core focus?

Our work focuses on combining simulation science and data science. In the past, simulations were based on models derived from observations and known laws, which constantly had to be checked against reality. SimTech, on the other hand, has always used the ever-growing volume of data available. Our models learn with real data, continuously enhancing their accuracy, and drawing from scientific and engineering principles.

The results of our research are used in multiple fields: from musculoskeletal symptoms to the development of materials and artificial limbs to tailored medications.

Simulation science has grown to become a crucial component of research and development in a wide variety of areas and plays a key part in the technological advancement of our society.

Simulation Technology - Bachelor's and Master's Program

Got your high school diploma or just about to graduate from high school?

You’re into math, computer science, engineering, and science, but you aren’t sure yet which area you’d like to specialize in?

Since 2010, we’ve been running an interdisciplinary study program called “Simulation Technology” for people who are interested in a wide range of topics, want to explore new scientific horizons, and enjoy bringing together theoretical questions and practical applications.

And, by the way, you don’t actually have to decide on an area of specialization until the third semester of the Bachelor’s program. Plus you can follow the Bachelor up with a Master’s program, which we launched in 2013. The curriculum draws on courses offered by various departments, faculties, and institutes. That means you study math with the mathematicians and programming with the computer scientists – not in separate classes. 

Graduate Academy

SimTech’s Graduate Academy provides an opportunity for students who have completed their studies to do a doctorate. Students looking to move on from academia can find employment in industry, for example in corporate research.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the UNIverse

Think the SimTech program sounds interesting? We could tell you a lot more but we think the best way to get a feel for the program is to experience it hands on. That’s why we’ve created our “Hitchhikers’ Guide to the UNIverse” – your unique chance to become a SimTech student for one day, attending lectures and tutorials with a student as your guide.

The world of science has changed drastically in the last few decades. Many experiments are now simulated on a computer instead of actually being conducted in real labs. Research as we know it today is virtually impossible without simulation. Be it medicine, bioscience, physics, materials science, or engineering, numerous research disciplines use computer simulation to shine a light into areas that would otherwise remain obscured to us. 

SImulation is used when...

1. ...a system is very large or very small.
   Outer space, for instance, is so vast that conducting experiments there is often quite challenging. And simulation is common at the small end of the scale too–at the atom and molecule levels.
2. ...experiments are too expensive.
   Real-life tests to explore things like machine behavior are very expensive and time-consuming. Using crash test simulations means fewer real cars have to be destroyed, saving resources and a whole lot of effort.
3. ...the system doesn't really exist yet in the real world.
   Simulations also provide predictions about systems that don’t even exist yet. So the properties of new materials can be simulated before they are actually produced in the lab.
4. ...real-life experiments wouldn't be ethical.
   Some experiments cannot be carried out for ethical reasons. This happens in medicine, for instance, or when there is a hazard for others. That’s why pilots train in flight simulators before taking to the skies in reality.
5. ...experiments are too dangerous.
   Some experiments are far too dangerous to carry out in the real world. Examples are nuclear meltdown experiments or experiments on processes that are conducted in our environment, such as carbon sequestration (capturing carbon dioxide in the ground).
6. ...processes are very fast or slow.
   It takes millions of years for galaxies to be born or to die, for instance. But a supernova explosion is very fast. Computer simulation allows us to adjust time virtually.

The case

In 2008, Lieselotte Kortüm was found dead in her bathtub. Manfred Genditzki, the caretaker at the retirement home where she lived, was suspected of killing her. He was able to demonstrate that he had not stolen money from her, as was initially alleged, but was still found guilty of murder nonetheless. The fact that the deceased had two bruises on her head led to the assumption that she and Genditzki had come to blows. Genditzki continued to claim his innocence though.

Retrial

In August 2022, having heard the expert witnesses, the Munich I regional court ruled that there were grounds for a retrial. Genditzki, who by then had spent more than 13 years in prison for murder, was immediately released as there was not sufficient reason to suspect him of committing a crime. The main reason given for the court’s decision was the new evidence arising from the biomechanics report produced by Syn Schmitt and the thermodynamics report by Niels Hansen, both simulation scientists in the SimTech Cluster of Excellence. Hansen’s research work deals with technical thermodynamics and thermal process engineering and helped to narrow down the probable time of death to a period for which the caretaker was able to provide an alibi. Schmitt’s research in the SimTech Cluster of Excellence is concerned with the simulation of biomechanical systems.

The science

Syn Schmitt’s team carried out numerous simulations to reconstruct possible scenarios for what happened in the bathroom. Using biological data like the deceased’s size, weight, bone length, and specific weight distribution in elderly people, the scientists created a person-specific model and reconstructed the incident. The question was whether from a given initial situation (a woman standing in front of a bathtub) a fall not involving foul play could result in a situation corresponding to what was found when the body was discovered, i.e., a corpse lying in the bathtub with two bruises on her head and her shoes and walking stick in front of the tub. All the simulations produced the same result: It was probable that no foul play was involved in the fall, which meant that it could have been an accident.

Niels Hansen’s experiments and theoretical calculations to determine the water temperature at the time when the body was discovered also helped acquit Genditzki. An established method for temperature-based estimation of time of death was used in combination with his findings to ascertain that the probable time of death was very different to what had been assumed.

The Digital Human Model

Thanks to simulation science, we can gain a completely new understanding of the human body today. Taking the intersection between biomechanics and system biology as its starting point, the Digital Human Model explores tomorrow’s personalized medicine, new treatments for rare diseases, and neuroprostheses.