Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
There is a strategy executive at the IT Center, namely the Chief Technology Officer. The main responsibility of the CTO is to investigate new IT technologies and assess their suitability for use at RWTH Aachen. Furthermore, he or she makes recommendations as to how the IT infrastructure and services best can support the implementation of the University's institutional strategy. The CTO has responsibility for the IT Center's technological development and its external funding strategy.
Chief HPC Officer
The “Chief HPC Officer” defines the strategy of the IT Center in High Performance Computing (HPC) for RWTH Aachen University and as a service provider for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the NHR Alliance. He manages the implementation in IT infrastructure and systems and the further development of the associated services. The CHO coordinates the corresponding third-party funded projects and applied research activities in HPC at the IT Center and reports to the Director. He also acts as a representative of the Director of the IT Center in relevant committees and networks in this area and maintains cooperation with other universities, research institutions and companies in the HPC field.
Management HPC Offices
In addition to its original tasks, the IT Center increasingly sees itself as a member of state or nationwide projects and consortia. These consortia are characterized by the fact that a project-based governance structure is often predominant. In addition to project management, steering groups, advisory boards, etc. are available. For the administrative, organisational and communicative tasks within the framework of these projects, coordination offices are set up, for sustainably established structures, branch offices.
The HPC offices are responsible for the overall coordination of HPC joint projects. These currently include the HPC.NRW competence network as well as the cooperation with Forschungszentrum Jülich within the framework of the JARA Center for Simulation and Data Science. The HPC offices assume the classical tasks of science management such as coordination of the internal organization of the project, fund management, external presentation and reporting to the funding agency. In addition, together with the project management, they develop strategies for the further development of existing and for the application of new cooperation projects.
The head of the HPC offices reports directly to the director of the IT Center and represents the HPC cooperation projects on his behalf also externally.
Management NFDI4Ing Office
The National Research Data Infrastructure for Engineering Sciences (NFDI4Ing) brings together all engineering research communities and fosters the management of their research data. Under the leadership of RWTH Aachen University, eight university and three non-university research institutions are joining forces in a dedicated consortium that is open to outsiders. The consortium's administrative office is located at the IT Center in Aachen and at the University Computing Centre (HRZ) in Darmstadt. Tasks include internal project organization and committee work, external communication, strategic development of the consortium, the management of funds and reporting to the funding agency. Funding is based on an agreement between the federal government and the states (Note: only available in German).
The administrative office assists the consortium's team of spokespersons. The team consists of the spokesperson, Prof. Robert H. Schmitt, from RWTH Aachen University, and his deputy, Prof. Peter F. Pelz, from Technische Universität Darmstadt.
Staff Position Building and Data Center Management
The staff unit Building and Data Center Management reports to the Managing Director of the IT Center and is the central contact for the topics Data Center Infrastructure and Energy Management, both internally and externally (for departments 10 and 11 as well as for building and property operations). The staff unit is particularly responsible for the development and anchoring of energy efficiency and resource conservation in the operational concept. It is also responsible for office and room planning in all IT Center buildings.