Ernst A. C. Lange Prize 2008 for Innovation Camp Bremen of Jacobs University and University of Bremen

On November 11, 2008, the association “unifreunde e. V.” awarded the Ernst A. C. Lange Prize for the joint educational project “Creative Technology Education: Innovation Camp Bremen” of Jacobs University and University of Bremen for schoolchildren aged between 9 and 17. The annual award, which is endowed with 5000 Euros, acknowledges innovative co-operation projects between scientists of the two Bremen universities in the fields of Mathematics, Natural and Technical Sciences.

[ Nov 11, 2008]  This year’s laureates are Andreas Birk, Jacobs Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Heidi Schelhowe, Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Bremen, who have been organizing and operating the yearly Innovation Camp Bremen successfully since Summer 2006. The laudation acknowledged: “It is a matter of great import to already provide children with a motivating and innovative education that mirrors the technology’s actual state-oft-the-art in research and development and which provides an encouraging basis for future career decisions in the fields of technology and engineering.”

The five-day camp in the Youth Hostel Bremen offers a full-day program and includes all meals and over-night stays. It provides the participants with the opportunity, to playfully and creatively get involved with the basics of information technology and robotics by targeting different age groups with various workshops. In August 2008, for instance, 9 to 13 years olds were able to record, analyze and compare their own movements with self-built sensors and micro controllers as well as program movement responses in the workshop „sports and technology“. The workshop “mobile robots” provided children aged between 11 and 15 with the opportunity to build and program Lego robots, which had to autonomously solve several simple tasks during competitions. The oldest participants, between 13 and 17 years old, built and programmed humanoid robots in the respective workshop.

Andreas Birk has been working at Jacobs University since 2001, where he established the university’s robotics group. His research focuses on autonomous systems, especially on developing robotics hardware, mechatronics and intelligent controlling software. In his fundamental research he is interested in machine learning as well as social interaction of robots.

Heidi Schelhowe has been a professor at the University of Bremen since 2001, where she is heading the work group “Digital Media and Education” (dimeb). Topics of her research focus are, amongst others, the software for application in education, the training of teachers in the use of digital media, digital media and higher education as well as gender related issues of digital media.

unifreunde Bremen e.V. The association »unifreunde Bremen e.V.« (Society of Friends of the Bremen Universities), which was established in 1961, aims at promoting research and teaching in the city state of Bremen. A special focus is on the cooperation between Jacobs University and the University of Bremen as an integral part of Bremen’s profile as an innovative science location in Germany. The endowment for the yearly prize acknowledging the innovative cooperation projects between the two universities is alternately provided by the Ernst A.C. Lange Foundation and the Sparkasse Bremen. more info »