An academic career that has taken off at breakneck speed: Munich-based geoscientist Xiaoxiang Zhu has been awarded this year’s Helene Lange Prize by the EWE Foundation and the University in recognition of her outstanding achievements in research and teaching.
She is developing new methods to measure changes to the Earth as accurately as possible using radar images from space – and has already achieved a great deal at the age of just 30. She completed her habilitation some time ago and, since 2013, has been leading a Helmholtz Early-Career Research Group in Munich at the Technical University and the German Aerospace Centre, whilst supervising seven of her own doctoral candidates.
Dr Xiaoxiang Zhu is receiving the Helene Lange Prize for outstanding young female scientists in STEM disciplines for her impressive academic achievements, her drive to shape the future and her innovative spirit, said jury member and foundation director Dr Werner Brinker at the award ceremony at the EWE Forum Alte Fleiwa. In particular, the methods she has developed for deriving application-oriented geoinformation from satellite data “could also prove to be groundbreaking in the future for civil security, resource management, cartography, geophysics and disaster relief”.
Zhu, who was born in China and came to Munich in 2006 as a recent Bachelor’s graduate to pursue a Master’s degree, expressed her gratitude for the prize, worth 10,000 euros, in fluent German. A photograph of the Earth – the “blue marble” – taken from space by the Apollo 17 crew had fascinated her as a child and sparked her spirit of inquiry. In conclusion, Zhu said she wanted to encourage young women to seize their opportunities in science.
Although women had long since carved out a place for themselves in science and business, said Lower Saxony’s Minister for Social Affairs, Cornelia Rundt, at the start of the ceremony, However, many still cling to outdated notions of gender roles when it comes to women in STEM professions – that is, in science, Computing Science, nature and technology. “The Helene Lange Prize winner impressively demonstrates that women are excellent scientists. In doing so, she encourages other women and helps to give science a more feminine face.”
The University’s Vice-President for Early-Career Researchers and Quality Management, Prof. Dr Bernd Siebenhüner, also praised Zhu as a “role model”, particularly as she has dedicated herself to supporting the next generation of researchers alongside her own research. Zhu has already played a key role in more than ten national and international research projects and has been honoured with numerous awards. In addition to the prize money, she also received a unique piece designed by the Cloppenburg-based artist Bärbel Hische.
In her keynote address, entitled ‘Fostering a passion for research, awakening inventive spirit’, the President of Jacobs University Bremen, Prof. Dr Katja Windt, addressed the promotion of women in STEM disciplines. This is precisely the aim of the Helene Lange Prize, which the EWE Foundation, in co-operation with the university, awarded for the sixth time this year.
