Ressort Presse

• von Janina Balzer
• 13.03.2024

Professor Dr. Corina Andronescu receives the Carl Duisberg Memorial Prize this year. With this award, the German Chemical Society honors the 37-year-old scientist from the University of Duisburg-Essen for her impressive and comprehensive work in the field of technical chemistry. The prize money amounts to 7,500 euros, including 5,000 euros for the prize winner and 2,500 euros for her working group.

Professor Dr. Corina Andronescu is considered a pioneer in electrochemical catalysis, especially in the development of methods for the stable attachment of catalysts to electrodes. The selection committee of the German Chemical Society (GDCh) was impressed by the UDE professor's impressive overall package, which includes strong and innovative research performance, well-founded teaching activities, significant third-party funding, convincing leadership experience in groups and international experience. As spokesperson, she leads the "Natural Water to H2" profile development. The state of NRW is providing around three million euros in funding for the project, which focuses on the water quality that enables sustainable hydrogen production.

For the scientist, the prize means one thing above all: “The award is extremely important since it acknowledges not only my research activities but also the teaching related activities. This highly motivates me to further contribute to the catalyst and electrode development for energy conversion as well as thinking at how to better integrate the concepts developed in my research also in the teaching curricula.”

Corina Andronescu received her doctorate in chemical engineering from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest (UPB), Romania, in 2014. She then lectured at UPB and took up a postdoctoral position at Ruhr University Bochum (RUB). Subsequently, in 2018, the chemist took over the Junior Professorship for Electrochemical Catalysis at the UDE. The importance of her work is demonstrated by the awards she has already received, such as the Gottschalk-Diederich-Baedeker Prize in 2022 and the Jochem Block Prize in 2023. Corina Andronescu's research always focuses on technical chemistry. In addition to the "Natural Water to H2" project, she is also working on the "NanoMatFutur" project, which has received almost two million in funding.

Last year, the Carl Duisberg Memorial Prize was once again awarded to a young scientist at UDE: Prof. Dr. Kai Exner received the prize for his research within electrochemistry.

Pictured: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schuhmann, Prof. Dr. Corina Andronescu, Prof. Dr. Stefanie Dehnen

Further information:
Prof. Dr. Corina Andronescu, Technische Chemie, corina.andronescu@uni-due.de

https://www.uni-due.de/tech3chem/cv.php