Stefanie D. Krämer receives the Golden Owl

On a Tuesday, shortly after ETH Day, two colorful coffee cups flank the Golden Owl on Professor Stefanie Dorothea Krämer's table. Luca Dahle, the President of VSETH, has just handed it over to her and stayed for coffee. Before he leaves, he thanks her for the interesting conversation. Such a personal exchange with students is the most important to Stefanie D. Krämer as a lecturer and researcher at ETH. This is probably one of the reasons why the Golden Owl is now on her table, since it is an award given by students to honor those particularly committed to teaching. She would have never expected that, says Krämer with a laugh. Especially not when she thinks back to her turbulent start here.

In 2000, Krämer came to ETH Zurich as a senior assistant. After a while, she took over the lectures of the former Rector Heidi Wunderli-Allenspach. "Although I tried so hard to do my best, the first evaluation was so bad that I had to discuss this with the head of the department," Krämer recalls. At these times, she simply used the wrong method to teach and was too fast when explaining things. "But apparently, I've improved over the years – even though I'm still quite fast sometimes."

Krämer teaches biopharmacy and drug metabolism and tries to explain how drugs behave in the body and what your organism does to the drugs – e.g., under which conditions a drug accumulates when taken repeatedly or is transformed to toxic metabolites in the liver. Her aim is to pass on her research knowledge so that students can benefit from it. Indeed, Krämer has a broad range of expertise: together with her group, she is currently investigating towards more tolerable fat emulsions for parenteral nutrition, developing tracers for imaging to gain more information about the immune state of our tissues, and is very much involved in applied pharmacokinetics.  

The secret of good teaching

"To be honest, I don't have any special methods. I work with Power Point, but beyond that I don't care much about new media. I'm all the more surprised that it is still well received. For me, communication and interaction with students is the most important thing – no matter what medium is used to achieve that," Krämer emphasizes. However, a fine instinct is needed. "If there are, for instance, many people in the lecture hall, there is often a barrier when it comes to answering questions. In this case, I offer alternative answers from which the students can choose. In general, a certain amount of trust is needed between teachers and students in order to establish a dialogue. I’m extremely happy every year, when I feel that I’m succeeding – for instance, when they come forward during the break and ask questions or when they spontaneously invite me to have a glühwein with them, when I just pass by."  

And what about the teaching environment at ETH Zurich? "I really like it here – the infrastructure is great and you are well supported, as this years switch to online teaching showed. It is also an advantage that teaching and research are connected – one is much more enthusiastic when one’s results or projects can be incorporated into teaching". Her advice to prospective lecturers is simple: don’t copy a role model, just be yourself. That is the only way to be successful, Krämer says. As for her own teaching, she will remain committed and hopes for even more interaction with students.