High achieving students at the Technical University Munich (TUM) were presented with Arburg awards for outstanding scientific achievements for the second year.
Andreas Schmideder won the award for the best dissertation and Benjamin Winkeljann for the best master thesis in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering by award coordinator Professor Birgit Vogel-Heuser of the Chair of Automation and Information Systems and Arburg Apprenticeship Manager Michael Vieth.
Arburg has been partnering with the Technical University Munich for many years. As of last year, this partnership also extends to awards for an outstanding dissertation and an outstanding master thesis. All professors involved in polymer technology, medical technology and related fields at the faculty were requested to nominate suitable candidates for the Arburg award. The award recipients were then selected by a jury made up of four professors from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University Munich.

Technische Universität München
Benjamin Winkeljann (centre) accepted the Arburg award for the best master thesis from award coordinator Professor Birgit Vogel-Heuser and Arburg Apprenticeship Manager Michael Vieth.
Schmideder was selected as the recipient of the award for the best dissertation, for ‘Continuous Process Control in Miniaturised Stirred-tank Reactors.’ He researched and developed new means of continuous process control in miniaturised single-use plastic bioreactors. His research, which is highly relevant in increasing efficiency in microbial bioprocess development, has been published numerous times in international and prestigious scientific journals because of its wide application scope. For example, it enabled the direct upscaling of a complex biotechnological production process from 0.01 to 1,000 litres for the first time ever. The results of his research will form the basis for other doctoral projects at the Chair of Biochemical Engineering.
The award for best masters thesis went to Benjamin Winkeljann. In his work ‘Friction and Wear on the Cornea-contact Lens-interface Lubricated with Biopolymers’, he studied friction and wear at the interface between the cornea and contact lenses lubricated with biopolymers. His selection was also unanimous due to the high practical relevance of his work. He also represented his results with respect to the current state of research much more effectively than the other candidates.