Mainz University of Applied Sciences has nominated Dr.-Ing. Kira Zschiesche for the Bertha Benz Prize 2024, which is awarded annually by the Daimler and Benz Foundation to young female engineers for their outstanding dissertations whose results have created added value for society. The prize, endowed with 10,000 Euro, has been awarded annually since 2009 and acknowledges – in the spirit of Bertha Benz – pioneering spirit, courage, and visionary character. “We are delighted to be able to nominate one of our own graduates of the university of applied sciences, Ms. Zschiesche, for the Bertha Benz Prize for the first time. With her cooperative doctorate in collaboration with the University of Freiburg, Ms. Zschiesche demonstrates an outstanding scientific achievement with practical relevance that creates added value for society. At the same time, she is a role model for young women who are studying at a university of applied sciences and considering an academic career,” said Prof. Dr. Susanne Weissman, President of Mainz University of Applied Sciences.
How can infrastructure structures such as railroad and road bridges be operated more sustainably? Dr. Zschiesche’s dissertation entitled “Methods and Algorithms of an Imaging Total Station” makes a significant contribution to this question by dealing with the technical measurement requirements for their status assessment. In her work, Kira Zschiesche proposes, among other things, methods of artificial intelligence, deep learning in particular, which support and relieve people in measurement technology work on site with regard to clearly defined aspects, but do not disempower them. The dissertation was awarded the grade “very good” (magna cum laude) by the Faculty of Engineering at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisgau.
“We are very proud that Kira Zschiesche, as a graduate of a university of applied sciences, fully meets the requirements for nomination for this prestigious award,” said Prof. Dr.-Ing. Martin Schlüter from Mainz University of Applied Sciences, who mentored the doctoral student. The first reviewer, Prof. Dr. Alexander Reiterer from the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM in Freiburg, where Kira Zschiesche has been leading her own research group for the research and development of optical measurement systems for railroad measurement technology since January 2024, also supports the nomination.
Kira Zschiesche embarked on her doctorate following an approximately two-and-a-half-year professional practice period after completing her master’s degree at Mainz University of Applied Sciences. From June 2019 to December 2023, she worked as a research assistant at the Institute for Spatial Information and Surveying Technology at Mainz University of Applied Sciences, i3mainz. She was mainly active in the projects “BAM – Big-Data-Analytics in Environmental and Structural Monitoring” and “MoDiTa – Modular Digital Camera Tachymeter 2.0”. In addition to her research activities, she was also a lecturer at Mainz University of Applied Sciences in the Applied Informatics and Geoinformatics and Surveying degree programs and actively supported young researchers.
The cooperation between Mainz University of Applied Sciences (HAW) and the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg enabled the contemporary form of the cumulative doctoral thesis, where the research results are published promptly in internationally recognized scientific journals under strict peer review and incorporated into the thesis as a compilation. The supervision and assessment of the doctorate were decoupled from each other, which is currently established as good scientific practice in selected cross-university doctoral centers.