New chairman

Dr. Kurt D. Bettenhausen (Fig.) is the new chairman of the Society of Measurement and Automation Technology (GMA) of the VDI/VDE. Thus, for three years, he will head the joint specialist society of the Association of German Engineers (VDI) with more than 15 000 members and the Association of Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Information Technology (VDE). Dr. Bettenhausen also worked in many committees of the GMA and NAMUR (working group for standards of measurement and control engineering in the chemical industry). Since 2004 he has been a member of the advisory board of GMA and one of the managers of the conference series AUTOMATION in Baden-Baden. Dr.Bettenhausen is the manager of the business segment Engineering & Consulting-Process Automation at Siemens AG. After his PhD at Darmstadt Technical Universi-ty, he first worked as a project and marketing manager with Hoechst AG and several successor companies before going to work for the Siemens AG in 2003. In his new function as chairman of GMA he replaces Professor Gerald Gerlach, Dresden Technical University.