Congratulations! On May 8, 2026, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang E. Nagel, director of ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig, received the Medal of Honor of TU Dresden (TUD). He was awarded for his outstanding impact on the digital transformation and strategic development of TUD over nearly three decades. His achievements are of lasting value to the university and the German scientific landscape.

“Wolfgang Nagel has contributed in many ways and decisively to the fact that our university today sets national and international standards in digital science. The Center for Interdisciplinary Digital Sciences – CIDS is the masterpiece of his work for TUD, and our successes in the Excellence Strategy are its crowning glory.” – Prof. Dr. Lars Bernard, Vice-Rector Digitalization and University Development and Chief Digital Information Officer of TUD

Outstanding Achievements

• Founding of the Center for Information Services and High Performance Computing (ZIH) at TUD in 2005. Today, it’s a Central Academic Unit at the university with more than 200 employees, an extensive service portfolio, and IT research infrastructure.
• Site specialization in data-intensive high-performance computing (HPC), which began with the introduction of the first HPC/storage complex (HRSK). It made TUD one of the nine sites of the nationwide National High-Performance Computing (NHR) initiative in 2018.
• Founding of ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig, one of five national AI competence centers with federal funding since 2022. Our center now bundles excellent research in the field of AI and data science.
• Founding of the Center for Interdisciplinary Digital Sciences (CIDS) in 2021. CIDS institutionally anchors digitalization as a unifying topic and scientific cross-sectional field at TUD, bringing together researchers from various disciplines in a unique network. Today, Dresden’s side of ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig and ZIH are departments of CIDS.
• All of those achievements contribute to the leading role of TUD in the national initiative NFDI – National Research Data Infrastructure.

Prof. Wolfgang E. Nagel

Curriculum Vitae

• since 2021: Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Digital Sciences (CIDS), TUD
• since 2014: Director of ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig, TUD
• since 2005: Director of the Center for Information Services and High Performance Computing (ZIH), TUD
• since 2001: Chair for Computer Architecture, Department Computer Science, TUD
• 2006-2009: Dean of the Computer Science Department, TUD
• 1997-2001: Professor for High Performance Computing, Faculty of Mathematics, TUD
• 1995-1997: Department Head “Programming Techniques”, Central Institute for Applied Mathematics, Research Centre Jülich
• 1993: PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) in Informatics: RWTH Aachen, Dr. rer. nat., thesis title: “Ein verteiltes Scheduler-System für Mehrprozessorrechner mit gemeinsamem Speicher: Untersuchungen zur Ablaufplanung”
• 1985: Diploma Computer Science, RWTH Aachen

TUD Medal of Honor

The TUD medal of honor is awarded for services to the well-being of TUD rendered by natural or legal persons, inside or outside the university. Being rewarded is regarded as the final recognition of an achievement. Further information on the process and recipients – including Prof. Nagel – is available on the website of TUD.