Radiant faces and flying caps in the historical park of Hochschule Geisenheim University on Friday July 13, 2018. At the end of the 2018 summer semester the University honored 149 successful students at the graduation ceremony. They are now setting out on the next step in their careers and either entering a profession or beginning postgraduate study.
The graduation ceremony was accompanied by music from Julia Keidl. The university’s President Prof. Dr. Hans Reiner Schultz used the opportunity to pay tribute to the University’s outgoing professors: Prof. Dr. Helmut Dietrich, the former head of the Department of Wine Analysis and Beverage Research, Prof. Dr. Manfred Grossmann, head of the Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry, and Prof. Dr. Joachim Heller, Professor of International Horticulture, all of whom have recently retired or are about to do so. Prof. Gerd Helget thanked the sponsors and recipients of the Deutschlandstipendium. A further highlight was the award of four prizes to outstanding graduates from various different fields of study.
The Karl Bayer Prize for Sofia Bustaggi and Luca Ferrari
This year a Karl Bayer Prize was awarded to Luca Ferrari for his thesis on “The establishment of an analysis method for the detection of sulfur aroma compounds in wine using Dynamic Headspace and GC-PFPD“. Ferrari, who received a first class degree, was supervised by Prof. Dr. Doris Rauhut. Sofia Bustaggi also received the prize for her thesis entitled “The sealing performance of BVS bottle closures in the bottling of sparkling wine using different sealing materials“. Her supervisor was Prof. Dr. Rainer Jung.
The Karl Bayer Prize, which includes a financial award of 1000 Euros each, is traditionally awarded to the two best final theses from the German-Italian Double-Bachelor Program of Hochschule Geisenheim University and its three partner institutions – the Universities of Trient and Udine and the Agricultural Institute San Michele all’Adige. Under this agreement students have the opportunity to gain both the German degree “Viticulture and Enology (B.Sc.)“ and the Italian degree “Laurea in Vitcoltura ed Enologia“. For this they spend one year studying in the respective partner country. The program was initiated over 20 years ago by Prof. Karl Bayer.
The Rudolf Hermanns Foundation Prize for two graduates from the Master’s degree program in Horticultural Science
This year the Rudolf Hermanns Foundation Prize is shared by two graduates from the Master’s degree program in Horticultural Science. The award is presented to young scientists whose work yields tangible results and information which further the continued positive development of horticultural practice. Madita Lauer received the prize and a financial award of 500 Euros for her paper “The effect of increased carbon dioxide concentration and nitrogen form on radish leaves“. Her supervisor was Prof. Dr. Jana Zinkernagel. The jury found the subject of the prize-winning paper to be of vital importance for the industry in the light of climate change, whereas they felt that Sophia Sorg’s prize-winning paper „Studies on quality parameters of different strawberry genotypes“ offered highly relevant help in strengthening the competitive position of berry producers. As part of a breeding program of the Università Politecnica delle Marche in Ancona, Sorg carried out research into nutritional compounds in strawberries using various new breeding lines, commercial varieties and two wild types. In another part of her paper, which also received a financial award of 500 Euros and was supervised by Dr. Erika Krüger, she addressed the influence of the date of harvest on the fruit’s Vitamin C content.
Thesis on historico-cultural landscape elements receives the Landscape Architecture Study Prize
On the occasion of the graduation ceremony, Hochschule Geisenheim University and the prize donors, the German Association of Garden Art and Landscape Culture (DGGL), the Hessen branch of the Federation of German Landscape Architects (bdla), the Hessen-Thüringen Professional Association for Garden Design, Landscaping and Sports Ground Construction (FGL Hessen-Thüringen) and the Hessen Society for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management (HVNL), awarded the Landscape Architecture Study Prize. The award, which is endowed with 500 Euros, went to Jannette Goldmann, a graduate of the Landscape Architecture Master’s degree program, for her paper: “Analysis and management of agriculturally derived historico-cultural landscape elements – an approach using the example of Börfink in the Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park”.
The paper, which was supervised by Prof. Dr. Eckhard Jedicke, displays particularly innovative qualities. The prizewinner developed her own data acquisition, evaluation and planning method for historico-cultural landscape elements (KHLE) and put it into practice on a sample section of landscape within the Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park. Following successful practical field trials she demonstrated the method’s transferability and pointed out the necessary requirements for its successful application. The subject is particularly relevant for planners involved in cultural landscape development and is a field that has been little studied up to now. It will therefore play a pioneering role in sustainable landscape management, said the jury.
Dr. Werner Hoffmann Prize for Sustainability awarded
Together with the local Agenda 21 Geisenheim and the Center of Excellence for Renewable Energies of the Rheingau-Taunus district, Hochschule Geisenheim University also awarded the Dr. Werner Hoffmann Prize for Sustainability. The award went to Philipp Braun, a graduate of the Bachelor’s degree program in Viticulture and Enology, who wrote his Bachelor’s thesis on the advantages of returnable bottles using the example of a self-marketing wine estate. Braun ascertained that when bottles are washed, the energy consumption of a wine estate with an annual production of 150,000 bottles amounts to 9.3 gigajoules – which is around 90 times lower than if new bottles are used. He was supervised by Prof. Dr. Andreas Kurth and Prof. Dr. Jon Hanf.
The prize was presented by Dr. Jürgen Hoffmann from Geisenheim’s Agenda 21 and Dr. Käthe Hoffmann and Johannes Hoffmann, wife and son of the award’s founder. The prize, which is endowed with 500 Euros, was established in 2014 in memory of Dr. Werner Hoffmann, a scientist who campaigned for the protection of the environment, even in his later years. He was founder of the Geisenheim Solarstammtisch and a lecturer at Geisenheim.
