Female Engineers Awards

Presentation of awards for exceptional Diplom and Ph.D. theses of female engineering students; Minister of Science, Thomas Goppel, wants to promote women in engineering

Minister of Science, Thomas Goppel, wants to encourage young women to enter the field of engineering. Raising the proportion of women in engineering is an "important task for politics and universities", said the minister in Munich at the award ceremony for exceptional Diplom and Ph.D. theses of female engineering students at Bavarian universities. Goppel: "No country can afford to go without the creativity of women in any profession. We need the potential of technically gifted and interested young women!" The Minister of Science anually awards prizes to the best female graduates in engineering at Bavarian universities. Almost half of the students in Bavaria are female. The proportion of female students in engineering varies heavily depending on the subject. Whereas about 44 percent of spatial planning students are women, the proportion in electrical engineering is only about 8 percent. It is remarkable that, in total, the proportion of women who decide to study engineering has grown continually within the last years; for example there was increase in mechanical engineering from 11.1 percent (winter term 2000/2001) to 13.8 percent (winter term 2006/2007). This year the Minister of Science, Thomas Goppel, awards five female engineering students of Bavarian universities. The Prizes are aimed to convey female role models for new students and to promote the attractiveness of engineering studies for women. Goppel: "The Prize honors exceptional achievements of female students in the field of engineering and encourages other women to start studying engineering." The Prizes are awarded on the recommendation of the universities and are accompanied by prize money worth 2000 euros.

This years recipients are:

1. Dr.-Ing. Agnese Bargagli-Stoffi (Award for Ph.D. thesis)
studying electrical engineering at the TU Munich

2. Dipl.-Ing. Julia Birgit Semmel studying
nanotechnology at the University of Würzburg

3. Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Eva-Maria Dornisch studying electrical engineering at the Fachhochschule Landshut

4. Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Claudia Ehinger
studying electrical engineering at the Fachhochschule Augsburg

5. Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Sophia Hefenbrock studying plastics engineering at the Fachhochschule Rosenheim