Convalescence is an important part of the recovery process after an illness or an accident. In the long-term it is crucial for patients to transfer habits and skills learnt during the convalescence period into their daily life. A team of young Jacobs scientists under the leadership of Sonia Lippke, Professor of Health Psychology, will examine how effective internet-based after-care can be in helping and supporting patients when they return home after convalescing.

On May 19, a group of Jacobs students will be participating in the 75th anniversary of the Rhododendron-Park Bremen. The park’s science coordinator Hartwig Schepker, Matthias Ullrich, Professor of Microbiology at Jacobs, and a group of Jacobs students invite visitors on a trip around the world.

Jacobs University professor Katja Windt has joined the supervisory board of Fraport, the owner and operator of Frankfurt Airport. Fraport AG counts among the leading companies within the industry and operates one of the most important air traffic hubs in the world. Katja Windt holds the Bernd Rogge Professorship of Global Production Logistics at Jacobs University.

On May 19, German Bundesliga club FC Bayern Munich will play in the Champions League final for the ninth time. The team under President Uli Hoeneß counts among the most successful football clubs in the world. But could the strategies employed by soccer professionals also be a successful tool for businesses? Sven Voelpel, Professor of Business Administration at Jacobs University, shows that professional soccer often is miles ahead of business due to the intense pressure within the sport.

A team of Jacobs University students were recently welcomed by Poliboy, the Lilienthal-based market leader in many home care markets and a household brand with an 80 year tradition, for their final presentation on the company’s social media presence.

At yesterday’s Hanse Boat Race the Jacobs female four won the 1000m race for the fourth time in as many years beating their opponents from the Hamburg School of Business Administration (HSBA) by 20cm in a tight finish. Meanwhile, the battle proved to be harder for the Jacobs male eight, who after three consecutive victories had to admit defeat to their HSBA rivals and leave the Cup behind in Hamburg.

According to a new study by researchers from Jacobs University, the Max-Planck-Institute Bremen, The Alfred Wegener Institute for Marine and Polar Research and the University of Greifswald, nutrient supply after algal bloom determines the succession of the bacterial population. The results of the study have just been published in the Science journal.

Jacobs University receives top marks in the latest ranking by the German Center for Higher Education Development (CHE) and leading German news weekly DIE ZEIT. The ranking takes assessments by more than 250,000 students into account and examines more than 30 study programs in the fields of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

Jacobs student Simon Möller received the annual College Nordmetall Award 2012. He has been chosen by the award committee for his social involvement in extra-curricular activities on campus and academic excellence. He received the award endowed with 5,000 Euros thanks to the generosity of the members of the Jacobs University Board of Governors.

The weather forecast predicted a cloudy, overcast morning for Bremen with morning temperatures of 6°C and a moderate to strong breeze. Not the sort of start you’d like for a bit of a paddle on the Lesum in Bremen-Nord. But then that’s not what the Jacobs rowers have come for.

Three teams with students coming from six different universities have won the 2012 edition of JacoBus Challenge business plan competition, which took place on April 27 and 28 at Jacobs University.

As part of Germany´s nation-wide Future Day (formerly Girl’s Day) today, more than 20 girls and boys from Bremen schools visited Jacobs University to learn about different professions on campus. They get to know about works places in technology, education, catering, human resources, teaching and science.

More than 50 students from around the globe will meet at Jacobs on April 27 and 28 to present their business solutions for the JacoBus Challenge 2012, a business competition organized by the Business Entrepreneurship and Management Society of Jacobs University (pictured). This year, students taking part in the contest were asked to examine the topic of “Energy and Environment”.

Jacobs University has expanded its social media presence by launching the official Jacobs YouTube channel.

They are known as the rain forests of the sea, but over the course of the last decade coral reefs have been dying at an alarming rate all around the world in turn threatening the rich marine biodiversity dependent on them. Jacobs University’s OceanLab group investigates the risks and dangers posed to fragile coral ecosystems world-wide.

On April 14, alumni and friends of Jacobs University gathered at Harvard University, one of the oldest and most distinguished universities in the world. It is the second time that Jacobs alumni and their guests were able to enjoy the generous hospitality of the famous US institution.

The Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS) celebrated its Graduation Day on April 13. In a festive ceremony at the ‘Goldener Saal’ in Bremen’s famous Böttcherstraße 36 graduates from four continents were honored for the completion of their PhDs. They successfully completed their studies at BIGSSS, a graduate school funded by the Excellence Inititative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and jointly run by the University of Bremen and Jacobs University.

This week is dedicated to African historical and cultural heritage at Jacobs University. Students from the African, Black and Caribbean Student’s Association (a.b.c.s.) are organizing the annual African Heritage Week, which is taking place April 16 – 21. This year’s motto is “roots”, exploring traditional African customs plus their effects on today’s culture on the continent.

On April 21, Jacobs University invites prospective students, interested parents as well as teachers and counselors to find out more about studying at Jacobs University. What is it like to live on a modern campus with students from 111 nations? What study programs are on offer and what can students expect from their courses? What kinds of scholarships are available and what are the career chances after graduating from Jacobs University? The entry to the Open House is free, but registration in advance is requested at www.jacobs-university.de/open-house-registration.

Slowly heating sugar until it transforms into tasty caramel is one of the culinary world’s basic delights and one of the first exposures of children to chemistry. Teasing apart the chemical composition of caramel has, however, been a sticky problem for food chemists, due to the enormous complexity of the product mixtures obtained. Nikolai Kuhnert, Professor of Chemistry at Jacobs University, and his team of researchers have developed a method to analyze the chemical composition of caramel

Although the weather could be nicer, spring has begun to settle in at Jacobs. Crocuses are blooming and our ducks are back wandering around campus.

As part of an EU project Jacobs University is developing a new system for intelligent underwater robots in cooperation with eight national and European partners. MORPH – short for Marine Robotic System of Self Organizing, Logically Linked Physical Node) consists of a number of mobile components that are not physically, but virtually connected.

Young delegates from all over the world will meet for a simulation of international policy making at the Bremen International Model United Nations (BRIMUN) conference. They will discuss problems on the subject of ‘Social Inequality’ from April 2 to 5 at Jacobs University.

A documentary about solutions to global warming by Peter Byck was screened at Jacobs University. Students and external visitors alike enjoyed the film ‘Carbon Nation’. Producer and director Peter Byck attended the screening and answered questions. The event was supported by the US consulate and hosted by Michael Bau, Professor of Geoscience at Jacobs University.

The Yachay Initiative, an international charity dedicated to supporting youth empowerment and founded by graduates and students from Jacobs University, has launched a new project in Bremen, another one will follow shortly in Ecuador. The Yachay Initative collaborates with local communities and community-based organizations to run projects that combine education and action.

Great news for the science region Bremen-Oldenburg: In the beginning of April, a new graduate school funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) with a sum of €3.5m and exclusively devoted to gravitational physics will open its doors. A joint project of the Universities of Bremen and Oldenburg with an initial fundeding for 4.5 years, the graduate school also includes experts from Jacobs University as well as from the universities of Hannover, Bielefeld and Copenhagen.

In the last month, 2nd and 3rd December, of the fall semester 2011, the Ultimate Frisbee Team, went on their first tournament of this academic year. It was the famous Nikolausturnier of the University of Münster. Every year more than 2,000 athletes of different sports join this huge event together. 

Can climate protection be cool and exciting and discussed without wagging a finger? It surely can – as seen in Peter Byck’s striking documentary ‘Carbon Nation’, which will be shown on March 26 at Jacobs University’s Conrad Naber Lecture Hall.

Jacobs University is looking to intensify its relations with research and educational institutions in the State of Qatar. A university delegation recently visited the country in the Arabian Peninsula to investigate possible research collaborations and joint graduate programs.

Third-party funding at Jacobs University has experienced an enormous growth over the course of the last decade. A total of €87m has been acquired by Jacobs faculty members since 2002 achieving an average annual increase of 25% in the process.

Together with researchers from the Universities of Jena and Linz, Austria, as well as the opinion research agency Aproxima, Jacobs professor Klaus Boehnke, and his co-researchers David Schiefer and Anna Möllering conducted a comprehensive study on various facets of the lives and opinions of young Muslims in Germany (14 to 32 years). The Jacobs scientists focused on phone surveys as well as in-depth interviews with three generations of Muslim families, while the other research teams concentrated on analyzing media, such as internet forums primarily used by young Muslims as well as coverage of Muslim affairs on German, Turkish, and Arabic TV. The reception of the study, which was funded and recently published by the German Federal Ministry of the Interior (link for PDF download: see below), was highly controversial in the German media.

Jacobs students Katherine Christine Woolbright and Sandhya Karki are the winners of the Mercator Award 2011/2012. At the awards dinner at Mercator College on March 5, Sonka Stein on behalf of the Mercator Foundation honored the students for their outstanding social commitment and excellent academic performance at Jacobs.

Jacobs scientists develop new strategies of optimizing bio-
technological processes that harness the efficiency of microbes.

Jacobs University’s first Artist in Residence has moved onto campus. Prof. Bill Seaman from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina will be spending four months at Jacobs to work with students and continue his media research. At Duke he is Professor of Visual and Media Studies in the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies.

Jacobs University welcomed ambassadors from South Asia, South East Asia and Australia to a reception in honor of the Ostasiatische Verein zu Bremen (OAV), which is celebrating its 111th anniversary this year. The keynote speaker of the evening was Prof. Dr. Helmut Schwarz, President of the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation, who called for continued investment into research to sustain global economic progress.

Jacobs University students Gabriel Bicu, Traian Chivriga, Adrian Sali and Anna Zorina will be on their way to London to take part in the regional finals of the annual Hult Global Case Challenge on February 25.

Ambassadors from East Asia, South East Asia and Australia will visit Jacobs on February 23 for an evening of debate and discussion.

A photo exhibition at the Bremische Bürgerschaft shows growing old in a new light. The images are the result of a competition held by the Leopoldina. The show opens on February 16 with Jacobs Dean and Leopoldina Vice President Ursula Staudinger as one of the guest speakers

This year’s Ergocup turned out to be a mixed bag of luck for Jacobs University’s rowing teams. While the Jacobs women’s four won the battle over 1000m, the men’s eight lost out to the HSBA in the 2000m race. This time it will be down to the HSBA to choose the rowing lane when they meet Jacobs University again at the Hanse Boat Race in Hamburg on May 5.

Jacobs University is at the helm of a new EU project with the aim to develop strategic planning instruments for cargo terminal managers and port authorities to reduce the carbon footprint of seaports and inland harbors. The Green EFFORTS project started in January; it involves eight industry and science partners and is coordinated by Jens Froese, Professor of Maritime Logistics at Jacobs. Green EFFORTS is financed mainly from EU funds totaling €3.2m Euro.

Jacobs University’s Alumni Association held its first board meeting of the year in Stockholm. The three-day meeting took place in the Swedish capital where treasurer of the board, Ewa Grzechnik, is based. The meeting was hosted by Sustainable Technology Fund.

“Sit ready! Attention! Row!” On February 11, the familiar chant will once again echo through Jacobs University’s Campus Center when rowers from across Germany compete at the Jacobs Ergocup 2012 in the Campus Center. More than 400 participants will test their strength on indoor rowing machines (ergometers).

Jacobs professor Immacolata Amodeo has been appointed Secretary General of Villa Vigoni, the renowned German-Italian Center for European Excellence in Loveno di Menaggio on Lake Como.

Jacobs students Philipp Mikio Herzberg and Frank Richter have been honored for their outstanding commitment to the campus community and their excellent academic performance. Both received awards endowed with €5000 from their respective colleges thanks to the generosity of the members of the Jacobs University Board of Governors.

The Bremen-based Kieserling Foundation extends its endowment of Jacobs University's’ Maritime Logistics professorship for a further three years.

Researchers at Jacobs University have generated a high-precision 3D model of Bremen’s city center using a so-called ThermalMapper. This particular mapping process was initially developed by Jacobs University scientists to thermographically model indoor environments in 3D. For the first time it has now been used to analyze heat distribution and heat flow in a large outdoor setting. ThermalMapper can identify thermal bridges in building which are responsible for heat loss. Mapping results can then be used to improve insulation and increase the energy efficiency of buildings.

More than 300 guests from the worlds of academia, politics and business attended the traditional New Year’s Reception held by the ‘unifreunde’ at the Obere Rathaushalle in Bremen on January 31.

On February 1, a new EU project to make huge amount of data from marine microorganisms available for research and biotechnological applications will be officially launched at Jacobs University with a three-day meeting. The Micro B3 project – the name stands for microbial biodiversity, bioinformatics and biotechnology – is financed by the EU with a total of € 9 million for a period of four years.

This upcoming spring semester the Jacobs community welcomes 23 new members on campus – visiting and exchange students from the United States and Russia.

Former Jacobs University student Mihai Cîrlănaru has been named ‘Romanian Student of the Year in Europe’ during a festive gala in Bucharest organized by the League of Romanian Students Abroad.