Physics
Awards and Distinctions
Dr. Hichem Hattab was honoured as one of eleven outstanding graduates with a migrant background from all the faculties of the University of Duisburg-Essen for his excellent doctoral degree. He was born in Oberhausen but raised in Tunisia, where he also gained his school-leaving qualifications. He returned to Germany when he was 20 to study Physics at the UDE. Hichem Hattab completed his doctorate on high-resolution electron diffraction.
Prizes were awarded to Dr. Julian Hirschfelder of the Lustfeld research group for his outstanding doctoral thesis and Christoph Dürmann of the Wurm group for his equally outstanding Bachelor’s thesis at the DIES ACADEMICUS.
The title of “Honorary Professor of the University of Silesia” was bestowed on Prof. Wolfgang Kleemann on 1 October 2013 by the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. During his many years of research collaboration (since 1995) with the Faculties of Physics and Material Sciences there, and in particular with Prof. Jan Dec and his research group, Prof. Kleemann had “made a special contribution to the development of the University of Silesia”.
Prof. Hans E. Fischer received the Medal of Honour of the German Society for Didactics of Chemistry and Physics (GDCP) for his many years of outstanding achievements in the field. The distinction is awarded every year to a scientist who has made a significant contribution to the profile of physics or chemistry didactics and to research and development in the same areas.
At the annual meeting of the Heinz-Bethge Foundation for Applied Electron Microscopy on 14 November 2013 in Halle (Saale), the year’s Bethge Young Scientist Award was presented to Dr. Vadim Migunov from the Russian Federation. Dr. Migunov completed and successfully defended his doctoral thesis at the University of Duisburg-Essen with Prof. Michael Farle’s research group in the Faculty of Physics. His thesis was on the theme of “Elastic properties and electron transport in InAs nanowires”. The distinction was accompanied by a Bethge cube and 500 euros prize money. The Bethge Young Scientist Award is granted every year at the annual meeting of the Bethge Foundation following a Europe-wide call for applications.
PD Dr. Rudi Schäfer was awarded the Gottschalk-Diederich-Baedeker Prize 2014 in recognition of his exceptional achievements in research and teaching.
As part of the second nationwide Diversity Day, each of the Faculties at the University of Duisburg-Essen was invited to nominate candidates for prizes in this context. Dr. Christian Bobisch was awarded the Diversity Engagement Prize at a ceremony on 3 June 2014. He worked unstintingly in the preliminary courses for Physics to ensure that students begin their studies at a comparable level. The courses are very important for precisely those students who are disadvantaged on account of their life circumstances.
Dr. Christian Bobisch received his second award in quick succession at the Dies Academicus when he was awarded the University of Duisburg-Essen teaching prize, which is endowed with 5000 euros. He was put forward for the prize by the Physics Teaching Council, which drew special attention to his development and integration of new teaching and learning methods for Physics.
Also at the Dies Academicus, Kevin Schröer from the research group of Prof. Dietrich Wolf was awarded a prize of 300 euros for his outstanding final paper.
On 10 November 2014, Dr. Simon Sindermann was awarded the dissertation prize of the Sparkasse Duisburg for his summa cum laude dissertation. Sindermann gained his doctorate under PD Dr. Frank Meyer zu Heringdorf in the research group of Prof. Horn-von Hoegen. The prize-winner travelled from the USA especially to accept the award. There he is spending a period of time as a postdoc at the research department of IBM with the support of the German Research Foundation.