Excellent female chemist researches new synthesis of hydrogen peroxide

Clara Immerwahr Award Ceremony on February 11th / Invitation

The Cluster of Excellence “Unifying Concepts in Catalysis” (UniCat) will be presenting Jennifer K. Edwards of Cardiff University (UK) with the 2013 Clara Immenwahr Award on February 11th at the Technische Universität Berlin.  Dr. Edwards is being honored for her outstanding contributions to the direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide from the elements oxygen and hydrogen through heterogeneous catalysis.

Hydrogen peroxide, also known as a bleaching agent for hair, is an important substance for the selective transfer of oxygen to unsaturated hydrocarbons. This reaction and its derived products are required for the production of numerous polymers and medications. The development of a more resource-conserving process to produce large quantities of hydrogen peroxide through catalyst is, therefore, a highly topical field of research.

Please draw attention to the Clara Immerwahr Award Ceremony in your media. Journalists are cordially invited:

The event will be conducted in English.

Please register at:
www3.unicat.tu-berlin.de/01_Formular.984.0.html

Agenda:

Welcoming remarks by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Steinbach, President of TU Berlin president, and Prof. M. Drieß, Chair of UniCat

Laudation by Prof. Dr. Reinhard Schomäcker 

Presentation of the Clara Immerwahr Award 

Presentation by Dr. Jennifer K. Edwards, 2013 Clara Immerwahr Award recipient: "Highly selective catalysts for hydrogen peroxide synthesis" 

Guest presentation by Prof. Dr. Katharina Kohse-Höinghaus:“(Bio)-fuel combustion: chemical challenges”

Jennifer Edwards’ (30) publication credits already include 41 articles in scientific journals, 2 of which are in the prestigious, “Science.” Furthermore, she holds 3 patents on her inventions.  Among other topics, she has been researching chemical utilization of carbon dioxide since 2011.

The Clara Immerwahr Award is conferred by the Cluster of Excellence UniCat to honor an exceptional young female scientist in the field of catalysis, and invites the recipient to cooperate with UniCat working groups.  The award will be presented in 2013 for the second time.  It sets an example for the promotion of excellent female scientists and is a measure taken by the Cluster promoting women. Further activities undertaken by the Cluster to advance gender equality include, for example, gender sensibility seminars, professionalization of UniCat members, the establishment of guest scientist programs for female scientists, and the creation of Success Teams.

The annual Clara Immerwahr Award carries a 15,000 Euro prize and is publicized internationally.  This year the prize was financed by Siemens AG and the TU Berlin.  The prize is given in honor of Dr. Clara Immerwahr, who in 1900 was the first German woman to receive a doctorate for her work in physical chemistry from the Universität Breslau.

“Unifying Concepts in Catalysis” (UniCat) is an interdisciplinary research network within the framework of the Excellence Initiative of the German Research Foundation.  Its main focus is on catalysis.  Four universities and two Max Planck Institutes in Berlin and Potsdam are involved in UniCat.

Approximately 45 working groups collaborate across disciplines on research areas that are of major interest to future scientific developments in raw material change and energy turnaround. The areas studied by the working groups include the chemical conversion of methane to ethene, the chemical and enzymatic activation of carbon dioxide, the catalytic production of hydrogen from water using sunlight as the energy source, and the synthesis of active substances with the help of artificial enzymes.

More information on the UniCat Cluster of Excellence’s activities promoting  gender equality can be found at: www3.unicat.tu-berlin.de/Gender.54.0.html