Prof. Sonja Herres-Pawlis obtains the NRW-Innovation Prize in the category young scientist which includes prize money of 50,000 Euro. With this prize the head of a junior research group at the Faculty of Chemistry of Technische Universität Dortmund and professor at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich was awarded for her outstanding research. She succeeded in finding a chemical key for the development of compostable plastic – her vision is a world without plastic waste. The prize was awarded in Düsseldorf in the presence of the Minister-President Hannelore Kraft on November, 14th.
With her research Sonja Herres-Pawlis makes a contribution to replace plastics containing crude oil with materials which are acquired from renewable resources. During her habilitation at TU Dortmund she developed new catalysts which facilitate the production of degradable plastics from renewable resources. The jury chaired by Prof. Peter Gruss, President of the Max Planck Society, choose the thirty-two-year-old young scientist because of her »strong scientific competence combined with a distinct interdisciplinarity«.
This is the second time that the Innovation Prize goes to TU Dortmund: 2009 the physicist Kai P. Schmidt obtained the prize for his research regarding quantum computers. The other laureates of the Innovation Prizes 2011: Prof. Reinhard Poprawe, head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology in Aachen und professor at RWTH Aachen received the prize in the category innovation. Prof. Ernst Ulrich von Weizäcker, first rector of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy obtains the prize for his outstanding engagement concerning a sustainable use of resources.
Prof. Sonja Herres-Pawlis studied and did her PhD at Universität Paderborn in the Department of Chemistry. After doing her PhD in 2005 she went for a research stay to Stanford University before she returned to Universität Paderborn as lecturer and postdoctoral fellow. Since 2009 she has been head of a junior research group at Technische Universität Dortmund and since November 2011 professor at the Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität in Munich. Prof. Sonja Herres-Pawlis is Liebig-scholar of the Fond of the Chemical Industry and member of the Young College of the NRW-Academy of Science and Art since December 2010. For her performances she received the dissertation prize of Universität Paderborn (2006) as well as the research prize of the presidium of Universität Paderborn (2008).
The NRW-Innovation Prize is the first honor of the land for outstanding research with social meaning and application relevance. »With the Innovation Prize the land honors researchers who enable progress with their knowledge about social connections or with outstanding medical and technical problem solving«, states Minister of Science Svenja Schulz. The achievement prize is awarded to outstanding young scientists for a special innovation. Criteria are a great scientific potential, excellent research work as well as a specific practical relevance. After the Future Prize of the Federal President, the NRW Innovation Prize includes the second highest prize money in Germany.