Mathematics professors Dr. Nadja Ray and Dr. Stefan Voigt from the Ingolstadt School of Management have been awarded this year's research prize by the Rotary Club of Ingolstadt. Both are scientists at the KU and have approached the topic of sustainability in their projects. The award-winning study by Nadja Ray deals with carbon storage in soils, while Voigt is researching sustainability in online retailing.
The Rotary Research Prize was awarded for the fourth time. With this award, the Rotary Club honors scientists who conduct research in Ingolstadt. The two prizes, each worth 2,500 euros, were awarded at a ceremony in the Collegium Georgianum. For KU President Professor Dr. Gabriele Gien, the choice of location was a particular pleasure, as the new home of the Mathematical Institute for Machine Learning and Data Science (MIDS) and the emerging Future Campus is a symbol of the kind of University the KU wants to be. It stands for "fundamental research and knowledge-based transfer, cutting-edge research is carried out here at the highest level", says Gien. "It's great that we have places like this where we are not isolated as a University, but can think and research together. And it's great that in Ingolstadt we have a city that offers such fertile ground for science."
The Rotarians emphasized how much Ingolstadt values local research: Jürgen Uedelhoven, President of the Rotary Club of Ingolstadt, emphasized that in a dynamic world, the strength of Rotarians remains "our personal commitment". "Rotary connects generations, cultures and perspectives" and by also investing in research, the club contributes to "finding innovative solutions". In order to be able to support two particularly innovative projects, the Rotary Club of Ingolstadt decided to split the prize money of 5,000 euros between two researchers, explained Dr. Martin Beck, Chairman of the Ingolstadt Rotary Scholarship Association.
Fifty per cent of the prize money went to Professor Ray, holder of the Chair of Geomatics and Geomathematics at the KU. Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoffmann, member of the expert jury and holder of the Chair of English Linguistics, called Ray an "internationally renowned researcher" in his laudatory speech. Ray convinced the jury with her project on "Modeling and simulation of carbon storage in soils". By developing mathematical models to better understand the carbon cycle in soils, "the largest carbon reservoir on earth", as Professor Ray emphasized, she is making an important contribution to sustainability research. Her work, which focuses in particular on the dynamics of soil microaggregates and their influence on carbon storage, is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and has been published in renowned international journals.
Dr. Stefan Voigt and his team won the jury with their research into sustainability in online retailing through deceleration. Voigt is a lecturer at the KU Chair of General Business Administration, Supply Chain Management and Operations. Prof. Dr. Georg Rosenfeld, jury member and economic advisor to the city of Ingolstadt, said in his laudatory speech: "The team dealt with a topic from logistics – namely that the principle of maximum speed is no longer the highest principle." Due to the explosive growth in e-commerce, Voigt questions the increasing demand for ever shorter delivery times. His research approach is part of the innovative branch of research known as "slow logistics", which aims to improve sustainability in economic, ecological and social terms through the targeted use of temporal potential. "And our results show that customers accept longer delivery times if financial or environmental incentives are offered."
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