Press Release 25/2008

Stimuli for Vehicle Technology

Schoemperlen Foundation Awards Prizes for Scientific Theses

Intelligent antennas, combustion techniques to reduce the emission of pollutants, and material load at the cylinder head: These topics are subjects of theses that will be granted awards by the Ernst Schoemperlen Foundation this year. Prizes will be awarded on Thursday, May 29, 17 hrs at the Rundbau of the Forschungszentrum Umwelt (Adenauerring 20, building No. 50.41, room 145/146).

For excellent scientific achievements in the fields of vehicle technology and vehicle economics, the Ernst Schoemperlen Foundation is awarding prizes to students and scientists of the Universität Karlsruhe every two years. This year, prizes are awarded for the 15th time. Representatives of the media are cordially welcome to attend the award ceremony.

Professor Dr. Detlef Löhe, Prorector for Research at the Universität Karlsruhe, and Wolfgang Ritz, CEO of the S&G Automobil Aktiengesellschaft, will hand over the awards. The laureates will present their research work briefly.

The first prize of EUR 5000 is granted to a young scientist from the Institute of Highest-frequency Technology and Electronics: In her Ph. D. thesis, Dr. Karin Schuler studied multi-antenna systems for near-field radar sensors in cars. In these systems, algorithms are applied for simultaneous digital focusing on various angles in space and two-dimensional or three-dimensional imaging of the environment.

At the Institute for Piston Machines, Dr. Werner Sauter investigated “homogeneous, compression-ignited combustion in the Otto engine”, which represents a possibility to reduce the emissions of pollutants and CO2 by vehicles. For his Ph. D. thesis, he will be awarded the second prize of EUR 3000.

The third prize of EUR 2000 is granted to Thilo Hammers from the Insitute for Materials Research I. In this diploma thesis, he studied crack onset and crack growth at the cylinder head. For example, the component is loaded by strain at high operating temperatures and relaxation during cooling. This load influences its service life.


The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is the merger of the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, member of the Helmholtz Association, and the Universität Karlsruhe. This merger will give rise to an institution of internationally excellent research and teaching in natural and engineering sciences. In total, the KIT has 8000 employees and an annual budget of 700 million Euros. The KIT focuses on the knowledge triangle of research – teaching – innovation.

The Karlsruhe institution is a leading European energy research center and plays a visible role in nanosciences worldwide. KIT sets new standards in teaching and promotion of young scientists and attracts top scientists from all over the world. Moreover, KIT is a leading cooperation partner of industry.

le, May 28, 2008

Contact:

Dr. Elisabeth Zuber-Knost
Press Officer
Kaiserstraße 12
76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
Phone: +49 721/608-2089
Fax: +49 721/608-3658

le, May 28, 2008
Contact:


Monika Landgraf
Chief Communication Officer
Head of Corporate Communications
Chief Press Officer
Phone: +49 721 608-41150
Fax: +49 721 608-43658
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