TUM Student Maria Elisa Magnoni Awarded DAAD Prize as a Role Model for Internationality

One of these faces is Maria Elisa Magnoni’s. Born in São Paulo, she came to TUM in 2020 for a Bachelor’s in Environmental Engineering. She is now enrolled in the Master’s degree program in Ecological Engineering at the Freising campus. Her decision to pursue these subjects and to study in Germany is not least thanks to former Chancellor Merkel, says Maria: “When I was ten years old, I saw Angela Merkel passionately campaigning for environmental protection and nature conservation on television. That was when I realized that I wanted to get the best education to do the same. And that Germany is the right place for that.”

This conviction still drives Maria today. And so it is not surprising that she is not only committed to her studies but also to the university community and society as a whole in many different roles, be it in the student council, in the Brazilian student group BRASA Munique, in the student initiative Plant a Seed, in the Environmental Department of TUM’s Student Representation, or as a delegated student representative in TUM’s Sustainable Campus Development Taskforce.

Interested, committed, and polyglot – not by chance, jury member Juliane Winkelmann, Senior Vice President for International Alliances & Alumni, praised Maria Elisa Magnoni as a “role model for internationality” at TUM and beyond during the award ceremony.

Right now, Maria is spending an exchange semester at the DTU in Copenhagen. “I’m already excited to see what new ideas I’ll be inspired to come up with there, which I can then bring back to TUM,” she smiles.