At the annual conference of the Fraunhofer Society on May 8, 2012, in Stuttgart, Germany, the following prizes were awarded:
Stifterverband Science Prize
This prize is awarded by the Stifterverband (Association for the Promotion of Science and Humanities in Germany) in recognition of outstanding joint applied research projects, on which Fraunhofer institutes work together with businesses and/or other research organizations. It comes with a prize of €50,000.
The team receiving this year’s prize is a cross-location, multidisciplinary collaboration led by Dr. Peter Rußbüldt, Dipl.-Phys. Marco Höfer, Dipl.-Ing, Dipl.-Wirt. Ing. Martin Traub, Dipl.-Ing Matthias Winzen, Dipl.-Ing. Guido Rotarius at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT, Aachen, Germany. They are recognized for their work on a laser platform capable of producing ultra-short laser pulses with high power.
Joseph von Fraunhofer Prize
This prize is awarded annually by the Fraunhofer Society for outstanding scientific work by members of its staff leading to the solution of application-oriented problems. This year, four prizes will be awarded – each valued at €20,000.
The winners are:
- Dr. Jörg Ihde and Dr. Uwe Lommatzsch, Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM, Bremen, Germany, for their development of a resource-efficient process for the high-rate deposition of functional nano-layers.
- Dr. Peter Eisner, Dipl.-Ing. Andreas Malberg, and Dr. Michael Menner, Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, Freising, Germany, for the mineral oil-free lubricant made of aqueous biopolymer solutions for use in metalworking applications, which is being distributed by Carl Bechem GmbH under the product name of BERUFLUID.
- Dr. Klaus Bergmann, Dr. Stefan Braun, and Dr. Torsten Feigl, Fraunhofer Institutes for Laser Technology ILT, Aachen, Germany, for Material and Beam Technology IWS, Dresden, Germany, and for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF, Jena, Germany, respectively, are recognized for the development of elements for EUV lithography such as light sources (ILT), collector optics (IOF) and illumination and projection optics (IWS).
- Dr. Heinrich Höfler and Dipl.-Ing. Harald Wölfelschneider, Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM, Freiburg, Germany, for their fast, precise, and eye-safe 3D laser scanner that has already been marketed and used successfully all over the world for rail traffic safety.
Hugo Geiger Prize
This prize is awarded for outstanding, application-oriented doctoral theses or dissertations. The prizewinning papers are selected on the basis of scientific quality, industrial or economic relevance, novelty and an interdisciplinary approach. This year, the first-placed winner received €5,000 in prize money, the second winner €3,000 and the third €2,000.
- Sven Rademacher, Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measuring Technology IPM, Freiburg, Germany, developed a mobile, infrared optical filter photometer as part of this Master‘s thesis. Unlike commercially available systems, it detects several gases at the same time.
- Dipl.-Chem. Harry Kummer, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Freiburg, Germany, developed a highly promising coating system for the use on heat exchangers integrated in adsorption chillers in his diploma thesis. His coating system is flexible and suitable for new and optimized adsorption materials.
- Anna Marie Kruspe, Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT, Ilmenau, Germany, developed an automated classification process for non-Western music genres in her thesis. Using this process, she achieves an accuracy of 70 %. This is equivalent to the existing systems for classifying Western music.
- Fraunhofer Prize Award 2012, Fraunhofer Society, Munich, Germany
