iL‒ALUMNI
December 19, 2023
iL–Alumnus Ralph Eckstein:
“Excellent Team Spirit”
In the second installment of our Alumni series, we feature former iL doctoral candidate Ralph Eckstein. Born in Karlsruhe on September 28, 1984, Eckstein conducted research at InnovationLab for five years, between 2012 and 2017. His doctoral thesis is titled "Aerosol Jet Printed Electronic Devices and Systems." At the time, Ralph was professionally supervised by Professor Uli Lemmer, now Scientific Director at iL, and by the then Group Leader Dr. Gerardo Hernandez–Sosa of the Light Technology Institute (LTI) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Since November 2017, he has been working for the world's largest manufacturer of dental products and technology. Dentsply Sirona is located in Bensheim on the Bergstraße and is listed on the US stock exchange with its parent company based in Charlotte/North Carolina.
Ralph has two reasons for a brief visit to Speyerer Straße 4. Firstly, a barbecue was held to celebrate Gerardo Hernandez–Sosa's professorship, and secondly, Ralph specifically came to Bahnstadt to discuss his past experiences at iL and his professional career.
Memories of iL are predominantly positive. "It was incredibly great back then with the clusters and these university teams," Ralph recounts with a subtle yet telling smile, "we always helped each other out and would even say, 'please do this measurement for me,' for instance, when it came to surface analyses or results in scanning electron microscopy."
The interdisciplinary working atmosphere was a unique characteristic that everyone valued.
Door to Door, Hallway to Hallway
The universities from Karlsruhe, Braunschweig, Darmstadt, Heidelberg, and Mannheim work and live side by side, sharing laboratories and office spaces. An inspiring exchange inevitably takes place. "There was an excellent team spirit, a strong sense of camaraderie. We didn't view each other as competitors but as complementary," Ralph recalls of iL's early days, "for that phase of my life, everything was perfect." Naturally, they also celebrated together. Ralph was a member of a band for a while, which really livened up parties.
The doctoral and subsequent post-doc phase was exceptionally interesting. It was instructive, intensive, involved countless ten-hour days, broadly diversified, and, with its connections to industry, simply incredibly exciting. "Photodiodes were my focus. There was an immense amount to do, such as setting up measurement laboratories. Also, the question of how to combine inkjet with aerosol jet printing," Ralph explains, offering insights into the research areas of printed and flexible optoelectronics, which his dissertation also addressed. He had found the topic together with lighting expert Gerardo. "There were infinite possibilities," Ralph concluded, "we truly had freedom, and the main challenge was to justify our desire to print digitally, transparently, and flexibly."
Contact with iL and KIT remains unchanged: Ralph Eckstein (left) and his former scientific supervisor Gerardo Hernandez-Sosa (right) during a joint restaurant visit in Bahnstadt. Image: InnovationLab
Ralph Eckstein: Overview
Career Milestones
Since 03/2021:
Product Owner at Dentsply Sirona in Bensheim
11/2017 – 02/2021:
Project Manager at Dentsply Sirona in Bensheim
09/2017 – 10/2017:
Application Engineer at Allegro Microsystems in Heidelberg
2016/2017:
Postdoctoral Researcher at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) at InnovationLab
2013 – 2016:
Graduate Program at the Karlsruhe School of Optics & Photonics (KSOP)
2012 – 2016:
Doctoral Thesis “Aerosol Jet Printed Electronic Devices and Systems” at KIT (Professor Uli Lemmer, Dr. Gerardo Hernandez-Sosa), KIT and iL site Heidelberg
2010/2011:
Six-month industrial internship in Santiago/Chile
2009:
Erasmus Mundus, semester abroad in Material Science at the Universidad Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona
2005 – 2012:
Studies in Electronic Engineering and Information Technology at KIT, Diploma degree, Diploma Thesis “Investigation of hybrid tandem solar cells based on CIGS and PH3HT:PCPM”
2004:
Abitur at Humboldt-Gymnasium Karlsruhe
Personal Details
Ralph Eckstein, born on September 28, 1984, in Karlsruhe.
He lives in Dossenheim with his wife Claudia, who is from Chile, and their two children, Emilia (8) and Luca (2). Claudia is a qualified industrial engineer who works at the Physical Institute of Heidelberg University. The couple met in Barcelona, initially maintained a long-distance relationship, and married in December 2012.
Ralph's Hobbies:
Music (drums and guitar), sports (running, cycling), woodworking.
“Not Always Being the Specialist”
However, at some point, a phase arrived when industrial partners like Merck or BASF gradually withdrew from topics such as OLEDs or liquid production in general. Industry interest waned. Additionally, he had spent a long time in the cleanroom wearing a full-body suit during his main studies, as a doctoral candidate, and as a post-doc. "I wanted to change this condition for myself. I didn't always want to be the specialist; instead, I wanted to broaden my horizons and seek something new," Ralph explains, detailing the thoughts that occupied him at the time.
Be that as it may: The remarkable chapter at InnovationLab concludes in the summer of 2017. Dr. Ralph Eckstein, Magna cum Laude, sought a position in established industry and joined Allegro Microsystems in Heidelberg as an Application Engineer. This developer and manufacturer of integrated circuits primarily operates in the automotive sector, specializing in high-performance sensor ICs, such as Hall-effect sensors, for the automotive industry. After two months, a turning point occurred. Why? “I was involved in analyses for feasibility studies – which meant a lot of simulation and excessive lab work. I consider it a valuable experience.”
Starting in November 2017, he joined Dentsply Sirona, a major dental company with approximately 16,200 employees worldwide. The merger between Dentsply, founded in 1899, and the former Siemens subsidiary Sirona Dental Systems was officially completed in February 2016. Ralph is one of approximately 4,000 employees and developers at the Bensheim site, where he served for nearly three and a half years as a Project Manager for extraoral X-ray devices used to examine teeth, occlusion, tooth roots, nerve canals, etc. This includes 3D panoramic images of the dentition. Dentsply Sirona operates its own production line in Bensheim, and in addition to production, Ralph interacts with product and risk management, hardware and software development, regulatory affairs, controlling, and approval authorities. “You deal with various types of people, from production staff to software developers, and you try to bring all threads together to ultimately launch a product,” Ralph describes his multifaceted role.
Strategic Reorientation at Dentsply Sirona
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company decided on a strategic realignment. New development methodologies are being introduced, leaving “no stone unturned.” This also entails significant changes in domains and roles. The former company is essentially transforming into an agile matrix organization with a focus on cloud applications. “To put it bluntly, such an organization no longer has traditional project managers,” says Ralph.
In the course of the aforementioned restructuring, he takes on a new challenge as Product Owner. In agile, incremental development, a product is never truly finished. Product development is continuously challenged, incrementally improved, and planned on a short-term basis to enable rapid response. “Currently, it involves a cloud-based service application, meaning data that we use for device status and service optimization,” we learn about his daily work. Whether X-ray machines, grinding machines for crowns, scanners for digital dental impressions, or 3D printers – the dental company from Bensheim offers a wide range of capabilities. And there is a very high probability that you will be sitting in a Sirona chair as a treatment unit at your trusted dentist.
Time off from the demanding job at Dentsply Sirona: Ralph most enjoys spending time with his family of four and his dog, “Charlie.”
Image: InnovationLab
A Touch of InnovationLab
Dentsply Sirona also supplies laboratories, dental associations, and umbrella organizations, particularly in the USA; ultimately, however, dentists are the end-users. Given the extensive in-house development processes, one could playfully assert: a touch of “InnovationLab” is embedded within Dentsply Sirona's portfolio.
From his current perspective, what advice can someone like Ralph Eckstein offer his successors at iL in Heidelberg? He can only “highly recommend” the talent incubator to everyone. Additional qualifications and soft skills, such as project management, teamwork, conflict management, and planning strategies, are immensely important – all these puzzle pieces are integral and interlock for a future professional career. Ralph considers the simple and fundamental questions a central aspect: How is the project progressing? Who and what do I need for it? Which materials am I working with? How much time and how many repetitions do I require? What do I intend to achieve with it? Thinking from the desired outcome or the anticipated goal is never wrong. Just like with a classic project.
What more and differently could iL implement at the site?
And what more and differently should and could iL do at the site? The provision of infrastructure, as it was then, will undoubtedly remain fundamental in the future. “In my opinion, it is crucial for iL to support young people and position itself as a coach. Especially regarding soft skills like presentations, seminars, and expectation management, it's important to look closely and always maintain a broader perspective.” This is constructive criticism that Ralph offers retrospectively. “It would have been great to get to know the iL world even better. On the other hand, networking beyond purely technical topics always worked wonderfully here. I would do it again. This spirit and learning process among people of the same age who develop ideas – that’s what counts,” Ralph summarizes a stage in his life that brought him together with what felt like “eternal” iL employees such as Tanja Benedict, Michaela Sauer, Janusz Schinke, and “regular guests” like Uli Lemmer, Gerardo Hernandez-Sosa, Marta Ruscello, and Tobias Rödlmeier.
Memories of his iL days between 2012 and 2017: Ralph at the ever-popular foosball table. Image: InnovationLab
The man who was "always drawn further north"
An advantage for the amiable Ralph: The 39-year-old resides in Dossenheim with his Chilean wife Claudia, a qualified industrial engineer, and their two children, Emilia (8 years old) and Luca (2). The children are growing up bilingual, speaking German and Spanish. Luca now speaks fluent "Esperanto," but that is an entirely different story.
Ralph, the native of Karlsruhe, who, as he humorously notes, was "always drawn further north" via Karlsruhe, Barcelona (where he met Claudia), Chile (industrial internship), Heidelberg, and Bensheim, is always welcome with his family at InnovationLab. The distances are short, and the memories are enjoyable and worthwhile for everyone…
Joachim Klaehn
Head of Communications
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