In his welcome speech, Prof. Manfred Bischoff, Vice Rector for Research and Early Career Researchers, emphasized that the excellent publications reflect the astounding breadth and diversity of research at the University of Stuttgart. He went on to say: "With Research Day, we are aiming to improve the visibility of exceptional Stuttgart publications, especially those by early career researchers." The publication prizes, each worth EUR 2,500, were awarded for the years 2021 and 2022. In addition, an outstanding graduate from the university was honored with the 2022 PRIMA! award. As in previous years, the publications were first praised by the deans of the faculties, before being presented in both an informative and entertaining manner by the award-winners.
Urbanism and discourse
Many submissions were received from across all faculties. "The award has gained in significance," said Prof. Jan Knippers, dean of Faculty Architecture and Urban Planning, who introduced the award-winning work of Prof. Ulrike Böhm from the Institute of Urban Planning and Design and Leo Herrmann from the Institute of Principles of Modern Architecture (Design and Theory). The prize-winning publications included a book that focuses on the surprisingly modern approach of the Brazilian urban planner Francisco Prestes Maia, who united traffic, open space, and architecture in São Paolo as early as the 1930s. And an exploration based on fundamental architectural discourse, inspired by the 50th anniversary of the journal ARCH+, which was used to examine the complex interweaving of innovations in the fields of sustainability, ecology, digitalization, and affordable housing, among others.
On fast animals and stable soils
Dr. Michael Günther from the Institute for Modelling and Simulation of Biomechanical Systems was even on demand on Irish radio. And no wonder, the topic of maximum running speeds for humans and animals has plenty of entertainment value. A biomechanical model was developed to investigate the maximum running speed when running on legs.
Dr. Felix Weinhardt from the Department of Hydromechanics and Modelling of Hydrosystems took on the subject of biomineralization. The award-winner explained, that when applied technically, this offers a sustainable option for stabilizing soils or for remediating leaks in the subsoil.
Degradable fishing nets and special cats
From the Faculty of Chemistry, David Hunger from the Institute of Physical Chemistry introduced his work on the storage of quantum states at room temperature. This relies on organic radicals and uses the example of a "quantum mechanical cat that dreams of being active".
The patent-protected work of Ayla Sirin-Sariaslan from the Institute of Polymer Chemistry, could, for example, contribute to solving the problem of fishing nets made of plastics that degrade in seawater over a certain period of time.
On murder and diving
“I am a mass-murderer” said Dr. Nadine Pollak from the Institute of Cell Biology and Immunology with pride. The scientist hunts the “children” of cancer cells that have inherited resistance to anti-cancer drugs.
During a dive in Egypt, it was a coincidence that led Prof. Franz Brümmer and Dr. Ralph-Walter Müller from the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomolecular Systems and their colleagues from the Biodiversity and Scientific Diving functional unit to a shipwreck containing plastic. But they recognized the potential immediately: "We know the exact date when the ship sank - namely June 29, 1993," explained Brummer. Comparing plastics on the sandy beach with those in the depths of the sea thus becomes much more meaningful.
Intelligible messages and a soccer game
Marvin Geiselhart has taken on the subject of reliable communication. Noisy messages are the métier of this scientist from the Institute of Communications Engineering. He is responsible for decoding them.
To the delight of all soccer fans, Prof. Steffen Staab from the Institute for Parallel and Distributed Systems used a soccer game to explain his award-worthy work, which uses AI to solve graph problems: nodes stood for players, edges for a pass.
In the vortex of black holes
Black holes and their environments are a favorite subject of Aaron Bryant from the German SOFIA Institute at the Institute of Space Systems. His work on this received so much interest in the professional world that he was even asked for a scientific review, revealed Prof. Nico Sneeuw, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering and Geodesy.
Dr. Maren Scheel from the Institute of Aircraft Propulsion Systems received an award for her work on lightweight materials, but was unfortunately unable to attend the event herself.
A world record and depth of field
The industrial sector has already expressed interest, and, after all, it is something like a world record. Daniel Holder from the Institute for Beam Tools has managed to exponentially increase the ablation rate of a high-power ultrafast laser.
Fellow award-winners Simon Hartlieb, Christian Schober and Tobias Haist from the Institute of Technical Optics, presented their new method for high-precision single-image depth measurement.
Top in math and physics
Dr. Teresa Conde from the Institute of Algebra and Number Theory solved several previously unsolved algebra problems, and Prof. Ingo Steinwart, the Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, emphasized that the solution was achieved using specially developed techniques.
The publication on thermodynamic inference is also characterized by the use of many interesting techniques. The award-winners Jann van der Meer and Benjamin Ertel are researchers at the II Institute for Theoretical Physics.
From the ancient Romans to contemporary literature
Dr. Kevin Kempke from the Institute of Literary Studies has taken on the scene of contemporary literature for his work and, using the Frankfurt Lectures on Poetics as an example, has produced an observation of the aesthetic, medial, and institutional peculiarities of this lecture genre.
“We are the Romans, resistance is futile,” is how Dr. Jonas Scherr of the Institute of History glibly summed up his paper, which dealt with Polybios, the 156/155 B.C. legation, and Panaitios' theory of imperialism.
Digitalization and virtual reality
It pays for companies to invest in digital business capability – that's the short summary of the award-winning work by Prof. Christina Kühnl from the Institute of Business Administration. This increases the company's success, and customers perceive the company as more innovative.
Katharina Kunz and Bernd Zinn from the Institute of Educational Science have been working on virtual teaching scenarios in teacher training. Their work has been met with a high level of acceptance, providing suggestions for conceptual design and the optimization of virtual learning environments.
Simply wonderful
The Prima! award, which is endowed with EUR 1,000 and honors outstanding theses by female graduates of the university, was established to honor the 100th anniversary of the first diploma degree awarded to a woman at the then Technical University of Stuttgart, went to Alexa Braun. The Gender Equality Officer, Dr. Grazia Lamanna, paid tribute to the award winner, whose master's thesis at the Department of History explored the question "Digital Humanities: Disciplinary unity or multidisciplinary field?" and examined the development and institutionalization of Digital Humanities as a discipline.
After an afternoon packed full of information, the Campus Beach was the place to be. And maybe Prof. Manfred Bischoff's wish was granted. The Vice Rector for Research and Early Career Researchers had hoped that the award winners would have the opportunity to get together to discuss new ideas and maybe even sow the seeds for new interdisciplinary projects - in keeping with the Stuttgart Way.