Chemnitz University of Technology Awards Prizes for Outstanding Achievements in Teaching, Research, and Transfer as well as Special Prize for Special Voluntary Commitment

Innovative teaching concepts, successful project acquisition from DFG and industry funds, professional science communication, and successful introduction of continuing education courses as well as voluntary commitment in the Covid-19 pandemic were honored.

This year, Chemnitz University of Technology awarded three teaching prizes, two research prizes, two transfer prizes, and a special prize for special voluntary commitment. The teaching awards serve to promote the culture of teaching and learning at Chemnitz University of Technology, focus on individual courses, and aim to recognize outstanding commitment accordingly. The transfer awards honor outstanding transfer activities in the field of science communication as well as in continuing education. The research awards honor a successful initial application to the German Research Foundation (DFG) as well as the successful initial application of an industry-funded research project. All prizes are endowed with 1,000 euros each.

"Since 2018, we have wanted to promote the teaching and learning culture at our university with the teaching prizes awarded at Chemnitz University of Technology, to recognize the research competence of postdoctoral researchers in particular with the research prizes, and to make the extensive transfer activities at Chemnitz University of Technology even more visible with the transfer prizes. In addition, this year we honor the special voluntary commitment during the Covid-19 pandemic with a special prize," says Prof. Dr. Gerd Strohmeier, President of the Chemnitz University of Technology, and adds: "I congratulate all award winners very warmly, thank them very much for their outstanding commitment, and wish them all the best and much success in the future!"

Teaching award for the use of digital technologies to promote learning

Philipp Wabnitz, research assistant at the Professorship of Assembly and Handling Technology at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, received the Teaching Award for the Use of Digital Technologies to Promote Learning for his application. The award honors his development of a digital exercise teaching concept for the course Assembly and Handling Technology/Robotics, from which students in several master's degree programs benefit. In addition, Wabnitz has passed on knowledge content to many interested parties in the highly demanded LiT.Webinar ,,Ad hoc Lehrdigitalisierung - Ein Einblick in Praxisbeispiele mit OPAL und ONYX" (“Ad hoc digital education – a look into practice with OPAL and ONYX”). Through this transfer to other courses at the university, other teachers and students were able to benefit from the successful combination of many digital tools, which combine the teaching, application and testing of content and skills. The teaching award was sponsored by msg systems ag.

Teaching award for innovative teaching concepts

The Teaching Prize for Innovative Teaching Concepts was awarded to Prof. Dr. Dagmar Gesmann-Nuissl, holder of the Professorship of Private Law and Intellectual Property Rights (Law II) at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, for her concept of the online seminar Labor Law and Mediation, which is aimed at students of different fields of study at Chemnitz University of Technology who are interested in practical labor and labor organization law. The online seminar, which takes place on OPAL, impresses with its exemplary linking of different learning contents and methods as well as the simultaneous maximum flexibility in the processing of a labor law problem by the students. It is a successful enrichment of the jurisprudential teaching. The concept of cooperative controversy promotes academic discourse and transfer to practice through the construction of conflict (law) and subsequent resolution (mediation). This teaching award was sponsored by GPP Chemnitz - Gesellschaft für Prozessrechnerprogrammierung mbH.

Teaching Award for Teaching Young Scientists and Academics

This year, the Teaching Award for Young Scientists Teaching was awarded to Franziska Schreiter, former research assistant at the Centre for Teacher Education, for the development and implementation of the teaching concept for the seminar Common Teaching - Living Diversity in the degree program for teaching at elementary schools. This seminar is characterized in particular by its broad approach to the topic of inclusion. Accordingly, the concept of "reflexive inclusion" takes into account categories of difference such as gender, ethnicity or milieu as well as disability - and does so in a systematic, non-hierarchical and intersectional way. In this context, the inclusion of sexual education should be emphasized, which also includes the discussion of sexualized violence in schools. The seminar combines innovative forms of teaching and brings students closer to a topic of high socio-political relevance in a special way.

Research Award in the DFG - Successful DFG Initial Application Category

Dr. Thomas Mehner, research associate at the Professorship of Materials and Surface Engineering at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, received the Chemnitz University of Technology Research Award in the DFG - Successful DFG Initial Proposal category for the DFG-funded project "Macromechanical Model for Predicting Susceptibility to Acid Corrosion and Hydrogen Embrittlement of Austenitic Thin Sheets and Foils after Complex Forming Processes." This is one of several sub-projects to investigate corrosion behavior at the Professorship of Materials and Surface Engineering (Prof. Dr. Thomas Lampke). This research award was sponsored by wohnen in chemnitz gmbh.

Research award in the Industry - First successful acquisition of an industry-funded research project category

The Research Award 2020 of the Chemnitz University of Technology in the Industry - First successful acquisition of an industry-funded research project category was awarded to Jun.-Prof. Dr. Danny Kowerko, holder of the Junior Professorship of Media Computing at the Faculty of Computer Science. Kowerko received the award for the project "OphthalVis 2.0 - Development of individual therapy approaches for AMD, DME and RVV by analyzing processed mass data with machine learning methods." In particular, the project focuses on eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic macular edema (DME) and retinal vein occlusion (RVV). This research award from Chemnitz University of Technology was sponsored by AKKA Technologies.

Transfer Prize in the Science Communication category

The transfer prize in the Science Communication category was awarded to Dr. Andreas Bischof from the Faculty of Computer Science for conception, organization of funding, and coordination of the production of the TUCscisast, the innovative science podcast from Chemnitz University of Technology, to communicate current research results and university personalities to society. The TUCscicast complements the media portfolio of the press office and cross-media editorial office at Chemnitz University of Technology. The production is carried out audio-technically, graphically, and editorially on the highest level. Responsible for this, in addition to the press office and cross-media editorial office, are moderator Lara-Lena Gödde and editor Pascal Anselmi from the contractor BeBe Medien GmbH. In addition, the podcast, which is aimed at the general public, is offered on all common platforms for on-demand audio, such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Deezer, in addition to the Chemnitz University of Technology website, and is promoted via various communication channels, resulting in very high call-up figures. This transfer award was sponsored by TUCed - An-Institut für Transfer und Weiterbildung GmbH.

Transfer Award in the Continuing Education, Lifelong Learning and Other Socially Relevant Contributions category

The Transfer Prize in the Continuing Education, Lifelong Learning, and Other Socially Relevant Contributions category was awarded to Prof. Dr. Udo Rudolph, Annett Meylan, and Tina Hahnemann from the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences for the successful introduction of the part-time (continuing) education courses Prevention Management - Competencies for Social Interventions (Bachelor and Master). The two extra-occupational courses of study, which are unique in Germany, enable practitioners in professional life to acquire overarching and network-related competencies in prevention work that is highly relevant to society, and thus to gain further professional qualifications. The focus is on topics such as interviewing, conflict resolution, and systemic work in small groups. This transfer award was sponsored by TUCed - An-Institut für Transfer und Weiterbildung GmbH.

Special award for special voluntary commitment

The outstanding volunteer commitment of Michael Storz (Faculty of Computer Science) and Coretta Storz (Faculty of Humanities) for the local coordination of the international initiative Makers vs. Virus and for the organization of the volunteer production of personal protective equipment against Covid-19 infections in Chemnitz and the surrounding area was recognized with a special award. The award winners have been contributing their expertise from their departments for several months to coordinate a group of 3D printer owners outside and inside Chemnitz University of Technology and to serve requests from the community for protective equipment. They used both university technologies, including prototyping technology from the Professorship of Media Informatics, and professional skills associated with the Professorship of German as a Foreign and Second Language. The special prize was sponsored by TUCed - An-Institut für Transfer und Weiterbildung GmbH.

A decision on the Study Program Teaching Award 2020 is expected early next year.

(Authors: Mario Steinebach, Matthias Fejes/Translation: Chelsea Burris)

Matthias Fejes
15.12.2020

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