An academic CV in the fast lane: Munich geoscientist Xiaoxiang Zhu has been awarded this year's Helene Lange Prize by the EWE Foundation and the university for her outstanding achievements in research and teaching.
She is developing new methods to measure changes in 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 has long since completed her habilitation, has headed a Helmholtz junior research group at the Technical University and the German Aerospace Centre in Munich since 2013 and supervises seven of her own doctoral candidates.
Dr Xiaoxiang Zhu was awarded the Helene Lange Prize for outstanding young female scientists in STEM disciplines for her impressive professional achievements, her creative drive and her innovative strength, said jury member and head of the foundation Dr Werner Brinker at the award ceremony in the EWE Forum Alte Fleiwa. In particular, the methods she has developed to derive application-orientated geoinformation from satellite data "could also prove to be groundbreaking for civil security, resource management, cartography, geophysics and disaster relief in the future".
Chinese-born Zhu, who came to Munich in 2006 as a recent Bachelor's graduate to study for a Master's degree, expressed her thanks for the 10,000 euro prize in fluent German. A photo of the "blue marble" Earth taken from space by the Apollo 17 crew had fascinated her as a child and awakened her spirit of exploration. Zhu concluded by saying that she wanted to encourage young women to seize their opportunities in science.
Women have long since conquered a place in science and business, said Lower Saxony's Minister of Social Affairs Cornelia Rundt at the start of the ceremony. However, many people still have an outdated understanding of women's roles when it comes to women in STEM academic appointments - i.e. maths, Computing Science, natural sciences and technology. "The Helene Lange Award winner impressively proves that women are excellent scientists. In doing so, she is encouraging other women and helping 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", especially as she has dedicated herself to promoting young researchers in addition to her research. Zhu has already been significantly involved 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 artist Bärbel Hische.
In her keynote speech, the President of Jacobs University Bremen, Prof Dr Katja Windt, addressed the promotion of women in the STEM disciplines under the title "Encouraging the spirit of research, awakening the spirit of invention". This is precisely the aim of the Helene Lange Prize, which was awarded for the sixth time this year by the EWE Foundation in co-operation with the university.
