Although the setting was different, the awards ceremony for the Prof. Zerna Prize took place as scheduled on 12 February 2021 for the 2019/2020 academic year. Dean Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rüdiger Höffer issued an invitation to an online event for founders and awardees alike: The current pandemic wasn’t going to be allowed to stop the best theses and doctoral dissertations at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the Ruhr University at Bochum from being properly honored.

In a short video clip, the award recipients first introduced themselves and presented their work. This was followed by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ludger Speier honoring their outstanding achievements in a live-streamed address. This offered a wonderful opportunity to continue the annual tradition and become acquainted with one another despite not being able to attend an in-person event.

Record of the event (Youtube)

SOCOTEC Germany and ZPP INGENIEURE would like to congratulate the award recipients of the 2019/2020 academic year:

Jannis Rose
for the best bachelor’s thesis entitled “Development of a measurement concept for the field-by-field recording of temperatures in reinforced concrete components”

Emily Thele
for the best master’s thesis entitled “Numerical analysis of mechanized tunneling in natural clay – the influence of soil’s structure“

Simona Bogoevska
for the best doctoral dissertation entitled “A holistic framework for data-driven diagnostics of operational wind turbines“

Georgios Gaganelis
for the best doctoral dissertation entitled “Ultra-light Hybrid Concrete-Steel Beams“