Back at TUM: Stefan Michael Fiegle (back, left), Dr. Christoph Rapp (back, right), Dr. Stephanie Rapp and Prof. Dr. Robert Rapp (Image: Jooß/TUM).

Back at TUM: Stefan Michael Fiegle (back, left), Dr. Christoph Rapp (back, right), Dr. Stephanie Rapp and Prof. Dr. Robert Rapp (Image: Jooß/TUM).

TUM Families
A family of construction engineers
“We belong together”
29. Jun 2018
Reading time Min.
There are many families within the TUM family that are full of TUM alumni. Just like the family of Robert Rapp, whose children followed in the footsteps of the successful construction engineer.
A whole family of passionate construction engineers: Prof. Dr. Robert Rapp (diploma 1969), his daughter Dr. Stephanie Rapp (diploma 2000), and his son Dr. Christoph Rapp (diploma 2002) all studied at TUM – and all of them Civil Engineering. This is not very surprising, as father Robert started to take his children along to the construction sites of his large-scale projects at an early age – even to Saudi Arabia for a period of two years. “This really is a great, exciting, and diverse profession,” Robert Rapp says today. Thus, it seems natural that he passed on his enthusiasm in the family.
In the first semester I ordered my grandfather’s doctoral thesis from the library.

Stephanie Rapp also got to know her husband at TUM. Stefan Michael Fiegle (Diploma 1999) is – how could it be otherwise – a civil engineer as well: “What I like about the profession is that it is sustainable. When you finished your work, you can actually see what you achieved.” But that’s not the end of the family’s impressive TUM genealogy: in the early twenties, grandfather Dr. Erich Espermüller was a student in Munich as well, when TUM was still the “Technische Hochschule” – however in a different course of studies: Electrical Engineering. Nevertheless, the grandchildren were curious about his research: “In the first semester, I even borrowed my grandfather’s doctoral thesis from the library. His research was about semiconductors, which was quite an innovative thing back then,” says Stephanie Rapp.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Robert Rapp

Diploma in Civil Engineering 1969
completed his doctoral studies at the Bochum Ruhr University and started a career as an advisory engineer in the fields of civil engineering and hydraulic engineering. In 2000, he was appointed honorary professor at the Bundeswehr University in Munich. After retirement, in 2001, he founded his own engineering office. Now, he provides advice in the area of constructive water engineering.

Dr.-Ing. Stephanie Rapp-Fiegle

Diploma in Civil Engineering 2000
also obtained a diploma in Industrial Engineering at TUM. In 2006, she then completed her doctorate at the Bundeswehr University in Munich. She worked at the TUM’s Chair for Urban Water Management and is now working for a water and wastewater association.

Dr.-Ing. Christoph Rapp

Diploma in Civil Engineering 2002
completed his doctorate at TUM and was a laboratory manager in the field of Hydromechanics at TUM for several years. For his doctoral thesis, he was awarded with the Johannes B. Ortner Prize in 2009, and he received the Ernst Otto Fischer Award in 2011. Since 2012, he has been working for the municipal works in Munich – as Managing Director of the Praterkraftwerk, among other things.

Dipl.-Ing. Dipl. Wirtsch.-Ing. Stefan Michael Fiegle

Diploma in Civil Engineering 1999
also obtained a diploma as an Industrial Engineer, in 2005, just like his wife. After three years as an employee of the TUM’s contact point Science and Commerce at TUMForTe, he joined BayWa AG in 2013, where he is now Head of Portfolio Management.