Klung Wilhelmy Science Award

If you want to establish a chemical process, you think about a synthesis route and then implement it in the laboratory. But that doesn’t always work, and computer calculations can tell you exactly why not. This is exactly what Franziska Schoenebeck, Professor of Organic Chemistry at RWTH Aachen University, is working on. She develops new catalysis concepts and molecular building blocks that make syntheses of chemical agents and materials more selective and faster. For her research, she was awarded the Klung Wilhelmy Science Prize 2020, which is endowed with 60,000 euros. Each year, the prize is awarded to scientists in chemistry and physics on an alternating annual basis. The winners are selected by two expert committees of Freie Universität. It is one of the most highly endowed prizes for young top-level researchers in Germany. The jury honored Schoenebeck “for her pioneering research in the fields of organic synthesis, catalysis, and computer-aided elucidation of reaction mechanisms.”

For Stefan Seegerer, the award for his research on AI in computer science education in schools came as a surprise. But for the doctoral student researching the didactics of computer science at Freie Universität, the award is also an incentive and an acknowledgment that he is on the right track: “It is impossible to imagine our lives without AI technologies. That’s why they should already be included in school education as well as teacher training.” During his doctorate, Seegerer is therefore researching teaching concepts while working on a compilation of what everyone should know about artificial intelligence. He is also working on digital and analog learning materials and developing playful approaches to communicate AI-based ideas, such as the different ways machines can learn. The prize, awarded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German Informatics Society, was handed over to its proud recipient during the Virtual AI Camp 2021.

Before studying psychology at Freie Universität, Janina Krassa worked as a pediatric nurse on the pediatric oncology ward of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and witnessed at first hand the problems and needs of teenage patients during cancer treatment. “Adolescents are in a difficult phase during puberty anyway. If cancer is added to the mix, it’s an extreme psychological burden,” Krasssa says. That is why she and her team decided to develop a therapy app for adolescents with cancer. The “YouCan!” app is designed to be on hand to support patients from initial diagnosis throughout the course of treatment. Patients can use it to document their treatment and record their symptoms and mood on a daily basis. In an office at Freie Universität’s Start-up Villa, the “You Can!” team is currently developing a prototype of the app for beta testing. “We are also looking for partners who will support us, both morally and financially,” says Janina Krassa.