Other award winners at the UDE in 2006

Prof. Dr. Reint de Boer
Honorary Doctorate from Stuttgart.

Reint de Boer was Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering at the former University of Essen until his retirement in the spring of 2001. He has now been honored by the University of Stuttgart with the honorary title of Dr.-Ing. The university recognizes de Boer’s outstanding service in his field, above all his work related to the “Theory of Porous Media”, which was significantly shaped by de Boer and his students. Using this theory, flow and diffusion processes in fluid- and gas-saturated, elastic-plastic deformable solids with porous microstructures can be analyzed mathematically and described numerically. This makes it possible to solve a multitude of complex problems whose scope extends from the consolidation problems of geotechnics to the biomechanics of soft tissue. Reint de Boers has cultivated close contact with the engineers at the University of Stuttgart and has significantly influenced their work on “porous media”. With the honorary doctorate, the University of Stuttgart honored this relationship as well as de Boer’s work on the history of mechanical engineering.

Dr. Cedrik Meier
receives the NanoFutur Prize from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

The Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) presented one of the coveted NanoFuture prizes to physicist Dr. Cedrik Meier. The young researcher persevered for the second time in the national competition with his project “NanoPhOx - Nanophotonics with Oxides”. With the help of nanotechnology and zinc oxide, Meier wants to change the properties of light to make it possible to produce new building blocks for optoelectronics. For a period of five years, the BMBF will fund NanoPhOx with approximately €1.7 million Euro. The money goes toward developing a group of young researchers and financing positions for one postdoc position and two doctoral candidates. “This project deals with two current and relevant topics that have caused much sensation in the past few years: nanophotonics and the transparent oxide semiconductor zinc oxide (ZnO),” says Meier, “Nanophotonics means being able to control and tailor the properties of light using nanotechnology”.

PD Dr. Claudia Derichs
receives Heisenberg Scholarship from German Research Foundation.

The €150,000 Heisenberg Scholarship from the German Research Foundation (DFG) has been presented to political scientist Dr. Claudia Derichs of the University of Duisburg-Essen. In addition to recognizing outstanding scientific service, the three years of funding go to help the recipient prepare for a leadership position. The 41-year-old expert on Asia wants to research a highly-relevant social topic: the role of women in changing Islamic society. With a special look at Muslim women, Dr. Derichs’s research project investigates how elites and civil society can change politics.

Prof. Dr. phil. Dr. phil. h.c. Carl Friedrich Gethmann
receives the Federal Cross of Merit.

On September 5th, 2006 in the presence of University Rector Prof. Dr. Lothar Zechlin, Premier Jürgen Rüttgers presented Professor Carl Friedrich Gethmann with the Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Professor Gethmann is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Duisburg-Essen and Director of the European Academy for the Study of the Consequences of Scientific and Technological Advance Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler GmbH. The award recognizes his outstanding and continuing service for the general good. The focus of his scientific work is applied philosophy, in particular in the fields of technology, environment and medical ethics.

Prof. Dr. Heinz Fissan und Prof. David Pui
receive Fissan Pui TSI Award.

The $10,000 Fissan Pui TSI Award, presented in 2006 for the first time at the International Aerosol Conference in Minneapolis, went to an outstanding international team of scientists. The award endowed by the measurement technology firm TSI recognizes the exemplary international research work of particle researcher Professor Heinz Fissan of the University of Duisburg-Essen, who for three decades engaged in fruitful academic collaboration with his American colleague Professor David Pui of the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Alexander Schramm
receives the Kind-Philipp Research Prize.

This year the most coveted award in pediatric oncology in the German-speaking world, the Kind-Philipp Prize, went to Dr. Alexander Schramm of the University of Duisburg-Essen. Each year, the Kind-Philipp Foundation for Research on Leukemia awards the best scientific work in the field of pediatric oncology research. The researcher contributed with his work to the improved understanding of the development of neuroblastoma, the second most common tumor in children. His research findings are expected to aid the development of new therapies for diseased patients.

Phùng Hô Hai
receives the G. D. Baedeker Prize.

In 2006, the €5,000 Euro Gottschalk Diederich Baedeker Prize went to mathematician Dr. Phùng Hô Hai for his dissertation at the University of Duisburg-Essen. In his work, Dr. Hai investigates the representation theory of quantum groups - an extension of the term “group”, which, in mathematics, stands for the concept of symmetry. The Gottschalk Diederich Baedeker Prize recognizes outstanding doctoral or professorial dissertations in the fields of natural science or engineering. The G. D. Baedeker Foundation, located in Essen, promotes cultural and scientific projects and is funded by the Sutter-Group.

Prof. Dr. Bodo Levkau
receives the Paul Martini Prize.

In 2004, 368 thousand people in Germany died from heart disease, the country’s leading cause of death. That number would be even higher if the body didn’t have the means to protect the heart when it receives too little oxygen. A previously unknown mechanism was discovered by Prof. Dr. Bodo Levkau of the University of Duisburg-Essen along with his associates: high-density lipoproteins that circulate in the blood and can initiate the dilation of blood-vessels act as “guardian angels” for the heart. The 40-year-old medical scientist has been presented with the €25,000 Paul Martini Prize for his research. The Paul Martini Foundation, located in Berlin, presents the award each year for outstanding service in clinical and therapeutic pharmaceutical research.