AlabamaGermany Partnership

The preparations are in full swing for the AlabamaGermany Partnership 27th Annual Celebration Dinner. Me and the AGP chair Michael Brooks are checking out the venue for Thursday, March 6, 2025. Stay tuned for more info soon but in the meantime SAVE THE DATE!

Thank you to everyone that came out last night for the AlabamaGermany Partnership East meets West event in observation of the German Unity Day. A special thank you to Dr. Angela Dionne Ferguson, Ph.D. for opening the conversation and sharing the political trends starting in former East and West Germany up to today's Germany. Dr. Ferguson moderated the conversation about the construction of the Berlin wall, the tearing down of the wall and reuniting Germany. The panelists Jana Woodruff , Lucas Gockel and Trudy Clements gave great insights and perspectives with their personal stories. Several in the audience could also share personal experiences.

The last visit for this year's "AGP Study Trip to Germany' delegation took place at the Münster Electrochemical Energy Technology (MEET) at the University of Münster. Dr. Adrienne Hammerschmidt and her colleagues gave us a warm welcome and a very informative presentation of the Battery Research Center that covers the optimization of the market-dominant lithium-ion technology and new approaches such as solid-state batteries and lithium-free battery concepts.

We kicked off our last day with the "AGP Study Trip to Germany" at Steinfurt campus of the FH Münster University for Applied Science. The university have 14,700+ students including 1200+ international students and 293 university partnerships worldwide. 57 degree programs.

The second visit with Miele for the 'AGP Study Trip to Germany' delegation - took us to the HQ in Gütersloh. 92% of Germans know of the brand. If you buy an appliance from Miele you can expect it last way past 20 years. The company is celebrating 125 years and is still owned by the same two families that started the business. Miele employs 22,700 worldwide. We were honored to get to meet with Executive Member Dr. Stefan Breit. It was followed by a visit to the Miele apprenticeship program. Miele has 450 apprentices and 250 of them in Gütersloh within the area of Business and Technical. They offer 25 different apprenticeship and dual study programs. Most will continue to work at Miele after they graduate. Again, a big thank you to our hosts Dr. Uwe Brunkhorst, Rouven Vierfuß , Dr. Stephan Rosenthal and Ulf M. Kranz being such great hosts and sharing so much information with the delegation. We are proud to have Miele represented in Opelika, Alabama and have them as members of AlabamaGermany Partnership.

The AGP Study Trip to Germany delegation had a very informative and interesting visit with Winkelmann Flowform Technology that one if the five business units under the Winkelmann Group. The company was founded by two families in 1898 and is still 100% family owned. Today only one family is running the company (Winkelmann). We learned about the fascinating cold flow forming process of metals. A process that thins the metals and make it stronger. You can find many flow formed components by Winkelmann in the aviation, space and defense industry to name a few. One of the other business units is Renewable Energy. They are working on getting closer in reaching the company's goal of being 100% self sufficient in renewable energy. Big thank you to Sebastian Thöle and his team for hosting us. We are proud to have Winkelmann Flowform Technology represented in Auburn.

This Saturday, the Young Professionals Group of the AlabamaGermany Partnership (AGP) had a fun adventure at Montgomery Whitewater, experiencing Class II-IV rapids! The Montgomery Whitewater Center was the host of Team USA Olympic Trials for Canoe and Kayak events earlier this year. Be sure to pay it a visit! Thank you to Stacey Hepp for the photos. Link to Montgomery Whitewater: montgomerywhitewater.com Link to AGP Young Professionals Cullman Oktoberfest: https://lnkd.in/ecMd5zyA