DTU Commemoration 2026

Professor Maria Montanucci named DTU Teacher of the Year

For the second time, students at DTU have named the newly appointed professor from DTU Compute as their Teacher of the Year. Such a distinction is highly unusual and has occurred only a few times before at DTU. It testifies to Maria Montanucci’s outstanding ability as a communicator and educator.

Friday 24 April 2026

Hanne Kokkegård

At DTU Commemoration 2026 on Friday, 24 April, Professor Maria Montanucci from DTU Compute was named Teacher of the Year by the student organisation at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Polyteknisk Forening (PF). Students themselves nominate their lecturers, after which all students at the university have the opportunity to vote for the candidates.

Students highlight, among other things, Maria’s ability to make complex mathematics understandable. She is exceptionally well prepared for her teaching, provides thorough feedback on assignments, and is highly skilled at giving concrete examples of how mathematics is applied in practice.

This is, in fact, the second time that Maria Montanucci has received the Teacher of the Year award. The prize in itself is a major recognition, but winning it twice is truly unique, as this has only happened a few times before at DTU, says Peter Beelen, Professor and Head of the Mathematics Section, where Maria Montanucci is employed.

“One might say that it is extremely rare for lightning to strike the same place twice. But that is essentially what has happened with the award to Maria Montanucci. The prize demonstrates her formidable ability to communicate and teach.” The text continues below the video.

Watch the video on YouTube where Maria's students explain the reasons for where the students explain why they have nominated Maria for the Teacher of the Year award.

Maria Montanucci is an exceptional talent, gifted in many areas. Before beginning her studies in mathematics at university in Italy, she completed a master’s degree in flute performance at the Conservatory of Music in Perugia, where she was admitted at just 13 years of age.

Maria Montanucci joined DTU on 1 April 2019 and, at a remarkably young age, was recently appointed full professor.

Her research focuses on algebra with applications in coding theory – a field of mathematics that develops error-correcting codes to ensure that information can be read correctly even when errors occur. This is relevant, for example, in satellite communication or storage media such as Blu-ray, where scratches on a DVD would otherwise interrupt playback.

“Maria Montanucci is very much a role model for women in mathematics. She attracts students of both genders to her teaching, but one can clearly see that more women are now applying within her research area than before. This shows that it matters to have a woman at the forefront who demonstrates how fascinating the field is and how strongly she herself is engaged in it.”

This marks the fourth consecutive year that a lecturer from DTU Compute has been named Teacher of the Year.

Maria Montanucci also won the award in 2023. In 2024, Professor Inge Li Gørtz from the Algorithms, Logic and Graphs (AlgoLoG) Section received the title, while in 2025 the award went to Teaching Associate Professor Ulrik Engelund from the same section as Maria Montanucci.

At the Annual Celebration in 2026, Alexander Simon Thrysøe from DTU Physics was also named Teacher of the Year.

Congratulations to the two of them!

Contact

Maria Montanucci Professor marimo@dtu.dk