Martin Kraska

Professor Martin Kraska is a faculty member at Brandenburg University of Technology in the Department of Technology within the College of Engineering. His office is located in the Engineering Science Center (IWZ), Room 401, at Magdeburger Straße 50, 14770 Brandenburg an der Havel. He teaches core engineering subjects including Technical Mechanics, Materials Science, Product Planning, and Finite Element Method, with specialized Master's level courses in Materials Selection and Component Optimization.

His research spans computational mechanics with a strong focus on finite element analysis, particularly through his work with CalculiX, an open-source nonlinear finite element program. He has developed extensive parametric examples demonstrating various analysis types, which have gained significant recognition with over 350 GitHub stars. His research interests include structured materials properties, metal foams, 3D printed parts, and digital education tools for technical mechanics.

Professor Kraska has made substantial contributions to the CalculiX ecosystem through his GitHub repository 'CalculiX-Examples,' which demonstrates parametrized geometry generation in CGX and meshing with GMSH. His work shows expertise in both theoretical mechanics and practical software implementation, with recent publications covering beam sections, modal analysis, plane stress/strain conditions, and Hertz contact problems. The repository serves as an excellent educational resource for mastering parametric modeling with CGX and CCX.

His scientific activities include development of SMath Studio resources, including German-language documentation and bilingual interactive tutorials. He also serves as an advisor for the 'German Center for Digital Tasks' project, focusing on interactive graphical input tasks in Moodle using STACK-type questions. His work bridges theoretical mechanics with practical educational applications and software development.