Siemens student competition 2008
Winners of the Siemens student competition 2008
Theme: “Mitigating climate change”
The national finals are over and the winners of the Siemens student competition 2008 have been announced! The winners were honored in a gala awards ceremony in the SiemensForum, Munich. The prizes were handed out by Dr. Hartmut Raffler, Director of Information and Communications at Siemens Corporate Technology, together with five of the jurors: Dr. Eva-Maria Jakobs and Dr. Henning Wallentowitz from RWTH Aachen, Dr. Steffen Johannes Glaser from TU Munich, Dr. Markus Pesch from TU Berlin and Dr. Dietmar Theis from Siemens AG. Astrid Klug, Parliamentary State Secretary with the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, delivered the keynote.
Top honors went to Rosa Meyer and Christine Mauelshagen from Waldbröl for their project “The photovoltaic potential and opportunities for saving carbon emissions through solar energy in the community of Morsbach.” They received prize money of €30,000 for higher education. The second prize of €20,000 was awarded to Felix Jankowski from Marktoberdorf for his paper “Reducing standby energy consumption of electrical equipment to zero.” Third prize, along with €10,000 for higher education, went to Isabella Pflugmann from Frankfurt for her paper “Saving CO2 in a private household through energy efficiency.”
All winners also receive free tutoring by members of the Siemens TOPAZ program, who help them with advice and hands-on support.
The supporting teachers André Szymkowiak, Ulrich Neumann and Frank Wittmann received €3,000, €2,000 and €1,000, respectively, for their departments.
For the national champions, this is already the second successful stage in an exciting competition following their first-round success in the regional semi-finals at RWTH Aachen, TU Berlin and TU Munich. Fourteen students competed in the national finals, presenting papers on the theme “Mitigating climate change” to the ten-member jury, which included members from each of the partner universities and a Siemens representative.
The agenda was not just all work, though: from Saturday to Monday, participants had enough time to get to know one another and the professors. On the opening day, the students also had the opportunity to receive consultation from members of the Siemens student programs TOPAZ and YOLANTE. Prof. Dr. Stefan Rahmstorf from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research also gave a presentation, and there was a gala dinner.
National winners of the Siemens student competition 2009:
1st place
Rosa Meyer und Christine Mauelshagen
Project: “The photovoltaic potential and opportunities for saving carbon emissions through solar energy in the community of Morsbach”
Hollenberg-Gymnasium Waldbröl
Supporting teacher: André Szymkowiak
2nd place
Felix Jankowski
Project: “Reducing standby energy consumption of electrical equipment to zero”
Gymnasium Marktoberdorf
Supporting teacher: Ulrich Neumann
3rd place
Isabella Pflugmann
Project: "CO2-Sparen im Privathaushalt durch Energieeffizienz"
Freie Christliche Schule Frankfurt
Supporting teacher: Frank Wittmann
