Universitätsgesellschaft New Appointments

Henrik Mouritsen Awarded Prize for Excellent Research

The Universitätsgesellschaft Olden- awarded for the first time in 2012. The Animal Navigation”, Mouritsen was able burg (UGO) has awarded Prof. Dr. Henrik UGO awards it in alternation with its Pri- to demonstrate that birds use the Earth‘s Mouritsen its Prize for Excellent Re- ze for an Outstanding PhD Thesis. “With magnetic field to orient in two different search, which includes 5,000 euros in this prize our aim is to honour not only ways. Photosensitive molecules in their prize money. Mouritsen was selected the person but also Oldenburg as an out- eyes enable them to sense the compass for “his outstanding research in the field standing research location, and to bring direction of the magnetic field. Further- of Neurosensorics/Animal Navigation,” it into the public eye,” UGO Chairman more, the birds have a magnetic sensor according to the jury statement. Michael Wefers explained. in their upper beak which is connected The Prize for Excellent Research was Henrik Mouritsen (43) has been con- to their brain stem via the ophthalmic ducting research and teaching at Olden- branch of the trigeminal nerve. For both burg since 2002, and earned orientation systems, the group led by his there in 2005. He has Mouritsen was able to locate the area turned down offers of professorships in of the birds‘ brain involved. Mouritsen‘s Manchester, Kiel and Bayreuth in favour research extends into the newly emerging of remaining at Oldenburg. He has held field of quantum . Together with the Lichtenburg Chair, endowed with 1.5 physicists and chemists from Oxford Jörn Brüggemann Thorsten Dittmar Anna Henkel million euros, since 2007. In 2011 he was University, Mouritsen is investigating to awarded the “Eric Kandel Young Neuros- what extent, the birds‘ magnetic sensor Didactics Marine Geochemistry Social Theory cientists Prize”. As head of the interna- fundamentally relies on quantum me- tional research group “Neurosensorik/ chanical principles. Prof. Dr. Jörn Brüggemann, secondary Prof. Dr. Thorsten Dittmar has been Prof. Dr. Anna Henkel, postdoctoral fel- school teacher and research associate at made Chair of Marine Geochemistry in low at the Graduate School in the Chair of Didactics at the University the Institute for and Biology and Sociology at , of Erlangen-Nuremberg, has been made of the Marine Environment (ICBM). He has been appointed Junior Professor for Chair of Teaching of German Literature has led the Max Planck Marine Geo- Social Theory at the Faculty of Educati- Including Media Teaching. Brüggemann chemistry research group there since on and Social Sciences. Henkel studied studied German and at the 2008. As a „bridge professor“ Dittmar and social sciences at Witten/ and in . His will continue to extend the Institute‘s Herdecke University and at the Institut PhD thesis examined the history of Ger- cooperation with the Max Planck In- d’Études Politiques in Paris. After seve- man lessons and how the history of lite- stitute for Marine Microbiology (MPI ral research stays in Copenhagen she Imprint / Publication Data rature is dealt with in German lessons. ). Dittmar studied geoecology at received her PhD in 2011. Her research While doing his PhD he also completed Bayreuth University. He earned his PhD focuses are social and societal theory in his probationary teacher training. He at the in 1999. He connection with empirical research, the Issue 59, 29th year of publication Editors: 26 (4), 27, 33 then became a secondary school teacher was a research fellow at the Alfred-We- inclusion of materiality and material ISSN 0930/8253 Tobias Kolb (tk), Manfred Richter (mr), dpa Picture-Alliance GmbH: p. 4, 14 and research associate at the University gener-Institut (AWI) in Bremerhaven in sociological studies as well as ques- www.presse.uni-oldenburg.de Deike Stolz (ds) Markus Hibbeler: p. 28, 30 of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Brüggemann and then spent several years conducting tions relating to economic sociology and Birte Junge: p. 50 participated in the German Research research at the University of Washington knowledge research. Her main focus is Press and Public Relations Office Design: Inka Schwarze Lukas Lehmann: p. 5, 34/35, 36, 36/37, 37, 38, Foundation project „Literary-Aesthetic (USA). Before coming to Oldenburg Ditt- to apply social theory to social problems. Ammerländer Heerstraße 114-118 38/39, 39 Comprehension and Judgement Com- mar was Assistant Professor at Florida The interdisciplinary and inter-univer- 26129 Oldenburg Infographic: Per Ruppel: p. 7, 48 Photocase.com/BeckerM: p. 7 petence“, supervised the research project State University in Tallahassee (USA). sity programme „Dimensions Phone.: 0441/798-5446, Fax: -5545 Tobias Trapp: p. 10/11 „Aesthetic Communication in Literature His research concentrates on dissolved of Worry“, funded by the Evangelische [email protected] Translations: Lucy Powell, Alison Waldie Universität Oldenburg: p. 3, 12, 19, 21 Classes“ and developed modules for the organic matter in seawater, whose role Studienwerk Villigst e.V., was launched Virtual University of . His work in the carbon cycle is still not well un- in July. It supports PhD projects at the Publisher: Printed by: The articles may be reprinted only after and research focuses on the history and derstood. He analyses the formation, of Oldenburg, Bochum and Presidential Chair of the Officina-Druck consulting the editorial staff. The source theory of literature lessons, the empiri- chemical structure and potential com- Greifswald in the disciplines of theology, University of Oldenburg Posthalterweg 1b - 26129 Oldenburg must be cited. cal research of reading and literary-ae- ponents of this matter, which consists philosophy and sociology. Henkel was Tel.: 0441/36144220 - [email protected] sthetic comprehension skills, and the of algae remnants, terrestrial plants and the lead applicant for the programme. Chief Editors: Paper: PEFC certified (Programme for the development of practice-oriented inst- petroleum components that have leaked Dr. Corinna Dahm-Brey (cdb) Photos: Endorsement of Forest Certification Sche- ruction research for literature lessons.“ from deposits under the ocean bed into Matthias Echterhagen (me) Daniel Schmidt: p. 4, 5, 8, 16/17, 18, 22, 24/25, mes) the seawater.

40 EINBLICKE 2014 41 New Appointments

Jörg Lücke Jan Steffen Müller Verena Pietzner Lars Steinsträßer Sarah Verhulst Michael Wark Machine Learning Chemistry Teaching Plastic Surgery Medical Physics Technical Chemistry

Prof. Dr. Jörg Lücke has been summoned Dr. Jan Steffen Müller has been appoin- Prof. Dr. Verena Pietzner, previously Prof. Dr. Lars Steinsträßer, Heisenberg Prof. Dr. Sarah Verhulst has been ap- Prof. Dr. Michael Wark, lecturer in tech- to the „Machine Learning“ chair in the ted Junior Professor of Mathematics Professor for Chemistry and Chemistry Professor at pointed Junior Professor for Analysis nical chemistry at the Ruhr University „Hearing4all“ Cluster of Excellence at the with the main emphasis „Explicit Me- Teaching at the University of Hildes- and Chief Surgeon of the Plastic Surgery and Modelling the Auditory System. Bochum, has been appointed Professor Faculty of and Health Sciences. thods in Number Theory and Algeb- heim, has been appointed Chair of Che- Hospital at the Berufsgenossenschaft- Before she came to Oldenburg she was of Technical Chemistry at Oldenburg Lücke studied physics at the Technical ra“. Müller studied „Mathematics with mistry Teaching. In this position she lichen Universitätsklinik Bergmanns- a postdoctoral researcher at Boston Uni- University. He heads the University‘s University of Dortmund, the University Computer Science“ at the Technische also takes over leadership of the teacher heil, has been appointed Chair of Plastic versity‘s Center for Computational Neu- working group „Photocatalysis and Sus- of Exeter (UK) and the Centre de Phy- Universität Darmstadt. After a year at training lab „Chemol – Chemistry in Surgery with the Focus on Molecular roscience (USA) and a research fellow at tainable Use of Resources“. Wark studied sique Théorique in Marseille (France). the Middle East Technical University Oldenburg“. Pietzner studied to beco- Oncology and Wound Healing. He has Harvard Medical School. Verhulst, who chemistry in Bremen, where he attained He earned his PhD with a thesis on „In- in Ankara (Turkey) he gained his mas- me a secondary school teacher of ma- also acted as a senior consultant at the comes from Belgium, studied electrical his PhD with his thesis „Stabilisation of formation Processing and Learning in ter‘s degree at Bayreuth University with thematics and chemistry at Bielefeld University Hospital for Plastic Surgery engineering at the Group T college in High Disperser Semiconductor Particles Networks of Cortical Columns“ at the his dissertation entitled „Calculating University. After obtaining her teaching at the Evangelisches Krankenhaus Ol- Leuven (Belgium) and acoustical en- in Zeolith Matrices“. Postdoctoral posts at Ruhr University Bochum. After two- canonic heights on Jacobians“ under degree she completed her PhD at the denburg since August 2013. Steinsträßer gineering at the Technical University of the Ecole Nationale Superieur de Chimie and-a-half years as a postdoctoral fellow the supervision of Prof. Dr. Michael Stoll. Braunschweig University of Technology, studied medicine at the University of Denmark, where she completed her PhD de Mulhouse (France) and the universi- at University College London, Lücke led a Before transferring to Oldenburg Müller where she then took a postdoctoral post , where he also earned his MD. in 2010. Her research in Oldenburg focu- ties of Dortmund and Bochum followed. research group on „Computational Neu- (31) was a research fellow at the Univer- and earned her habilitation. Pietzner After his medical training in Cologne ses on improving hearing impairment Wark earned his habilitation in 2004 roscience and Machine Learning“ based sity of Hamburg. Müller‘s research focu- was visiting researcher in the „Natural he spent two years conducting rese- diagnostics. To achieve this she is look- with the treatise „Dye Molecules and Se- first at the Goethe University Frankfurt‘s ses on algorithmic number theory and Science Lessons“ research group at the arch at the University of Michigan in ing for ways to combine psychoacoustic miconductor Nanoparticles in the Pores Institute for Advanced Studies and later arithmetic geometry with an emphasis University of Duisburg-Essen. Before Ann Arbor (USA). In 2001 he resumed methods with physiological methods of Molecular Sieves“ at the University of at the Institute for Software Technolo- on solving Diophantine equations using transferring to Hildesheim in 2009, she his specialised medical training at the such as electroencephalograms (EEG) Hanover, where he then became adjunct gy and Theoretical Informatics at the geometric and algorithmic methods. was Chair of Physical Chemistry and Berufsgenossenschaftlichen Univer- and otoacoustic emissions. She also uses professor. He turned down an offer of a Technical University of Berlin. His main He cooperates on these subjects with Chemistry Teaching at the University of sitätsklinik Bergmannsheil and was computer models of the auditory pa- professorship at University. His research focuses are algorithms, the pro- researchers at the universities of Oxford Koblenz-Landau. Research cooperation appointed as a junior professor at Ruhr thway to study the impact of hearing research focuses on the development of cessing of sensory data and mathemati- (England), Be’er Sheva (Israel) and Leiden projects – on for example „creativity Bochum University in 2004. In 2005 he impairment on the processing of noise innovative photocatalysts as well as re- cal models of neuronal information pro- (the ), where he also spent in chemistry lessons“ and „integrating qualified as a specialist for plastic and along the auditory pathways. Verhulst searching materials such as membranes cessing. This research is applied mainly several research stays. modern media into university teaching“ aesthetic surgery and later as a hand has research collaborations with Aalto for fuel cells or dye-sensitised solar cells to language and image recognition, as – took her to universities in Japan and surgery specialist (2008) and intensive University Finland, the Technical Uni- for modern energy technologies. well as pattern recognition. Israel. Pietzner‘s research focuses in- care specialist (2012). Steinsträßer has versity of Denmark (DTU), and the Uni- clude the use of computers in chemistry received numerous prizes for his rese- versities of Boston and Harvard (USA). lessons and interdisciplinary chemistry arch, including the Research Prize of the lessons. German Society of Surgery (DGCH) and the 2010 German Innovation Award.

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