Awards and prizes

On February 5, 2015, Lena Regina Bieber, a graduate of the Master program in Leadership, and Saskia Isabell Fladung, a graduate of the Bachelor program in Business Law, were recognized with the Hans-Messer Prize 2014 of the IHK Frankfurt for their outstanding examination and academic performance. The prize is worth 6,000 Euros and is split equally among the two award winners.

The Master thesis of Lena Regina Bieber titled "Communication as a Key to Competitive Advantage in the Business-to-Business Industry: an Analysis Within the Cosmetic World of Merck" received the top grade 1.0. The thesis was supervised by Dr. Dagmar Kleefeld (Merk) and Prof. Dr. Nicolas Giegler (FRA UAS)

The Bachelor thesis of Saskia Isabell Fladung with the title "The freedom of information law between the interests of the capital market regulation and market participants – Is the right to information from BaFin too expansive?" also received the top grade of 1.0. The thesis was supervised by Prof. Dr. Dietmar Anders (Commerzbank AG Frankfurt and adjunct lecturer at the FRA UAS) and Prof. Dr. Domenik Wendt (FRA UAS).

Here (German only) you can receive additional information.

For more information see here (German only).

Recipient: The "Carl Wimberly Award" goes to the professors Prof. Dr. Swen Schneider and Prof. Dr. Felix Liermann

The University of Wisconsin - La Crosse, partner university of the University of Applied Sciences, recognized Prof. Dr. Swen Schneider (Dean of Faculty 3: Business and Law) and Prof. Dr. Felix Liermann (Professor for Accounting and Controlling) in April with the “Carl Wimberly Award for International Partnerships.” It is an award for the development of international programs. This year both award winners were recognized for their achievements and services with regard to the joint double degrees for Bachelor and Master programs and exchange programs for students, teachers, and staff. President Dr. Buchholz congratulated the winners stating, "We are happy for the two award winners, among other things because their recognition underscores the excellent work of the faculty and the university with its international partners.”

As a Master graduate of Faculty 3: Business and Law, Ms. Thekla Behrens received the Hans-Messer Prize of the IHK Frankfurt am Main on February 11, 2014 for her outstanding academic and examination performance. She shares the 6,000 Euro prize with a Bachelor graduate of Faculty 2: Computer Science and Engineering Sciences, Oral Mutaf in the Mechanical Engineering program.

Ms. Thekla Behrens achieved the degree "Master of Arts" with the grade 1.0 in the Master program of the "Leadership" faculty. The topic of her Master thesis is "New possibilities of employee recruiting at the Alnatura GmbH." The paper, which was supervised by professor Jürgen Weißbach, also received the top grade 1.0. In the paper, Ms. Behrens studies the significance of the internet and social networks for recruiting and presents the practical implementation of her recommendations at Alnatura. The award was presented during the 17th Hans-Messer lecture by the CEO of the IHK Frankfurt am Main, Matthias Gräßle.

Miroslav Rasic, a Master graduate in the Strategic Information Management program, wrote his paper on "Innovation protection and management at service companies." "From a business perspective, innovation is an important competitive factor and contributes to long-term economic growth. However, businesses often have a difficult time protecting their innovations from unauthorized use by third parties," explained Prof. Dr. Tino Michalski of Faculty 3: Business and Law, one of the supervisors of the paper. Rasic shows promising protection tools for service companies for protecting new products from imitators and thus securing the competitive edge of the business with the new product on the market. "Miroslav Rasic performed an intellectually very mature classification of protection tools and developed possible incentive systems and measures for employee loyalty,” stated his supervisor Prof. Dr. Ralf Jasny. The paper received the top grade of 1.0 from both supervisors; Rasic also completed his program with an overall grade of 1.0.

Award winner Maya Bach, a Bachelor graduate in the Business Administration program at Faculty 3: Business and Law, submitted her final thesis with the title "Current development of subscription rights trade: possibilities and limitations,” and received the top grade of 1.0.

Her thesis advisors were Prof. Dr. Matthias Schabel and Prof. Dr. Felix Liermann. Maya Bach concluded her program with the final grade of 1.77.

"In her paper, Ms. Bach studies the efficiency of the subscription rights trade and alternative approaches for traditional capital increase. The focus lies on the analysis of possible causes for the increased appearance of so-called "at market" capital increases during the current financial crisis", explained Prof. Dr. Schabel. "The paper contributes to our understanding of different forms of capital increases."

Prof. Dr. Martina Voigt received the 1,500 Euro Innovation Prize of the Development Association of the UAS on July 14, 2011. The program lecturer for key social and communication qualifications was recognized for her commitment in the area of continuing education and teaching.

Leander Paries, a Bachelor graduate in Business Law, is one of the two award winners of the Hans-Messer Prize 2010. It recognizes the outstanding academic and examination achievements of graduates of the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt am Main and comes with a cash prize of 6,000 Euros.

In his thesis, Paries examines the "Regulation concept of a transformation from foreign to equity capital (debt-equity swap) in insolvency plan proceedings." The topic of his thesis has become more significant in part due to the financial crisis. The quality of the work is also reflected in the fact that Paries essentially comes to the same conclusions as the Federal Ministry of Justice in its draft discussion for a law to further simplify the restructuring of businesses. "However, this paper was submitted before the ministry paper was published," Prof. Dr. Andreas Schaaf points out. Schaaf supervised the thesis as the academic advisor together with the attorney and adjunct lecturer Dr. Stefan Reinhart. The other half of the award went to Andreas Kopp, who completed his studies at Faculty 2.

The Hans-Messer Prize is awarded annually in honor of the long-term IHK president Dr. Hans Messer. The program of the award ceremony, which was held in the rooms of the IHK at Börsenplatz 4, kicked off at 5pm on February 8, 2011; it started with the 14th Hans-Messer awards lecture given by professor Albert Speer who is a city planner and architect in Frankfurt am Main. Prof. Speer dedicated his speech to the topic of "Frankfurt Rhine/Main, the 'region for everyone' in times of global crises and local departures.” It was followed by speeches from the president of the IHK, Dr. Mathias Müller, and the president of the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt, Dr. Eng. Detlev Buchholz, who welcomed and honored the award winners.

Faculty 3: Business and Law congratulates the recipients and is happy about the honors.

The Bachelor thesis of Leander Paries appeared in 2010 in the Faculty 3: Business and Law publication "Economics and Law contributions."

For his outstanding efforts in the development of the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt am Main and the implementation of its mission, the long-term Dean and Professor of Faculty 3: Business and Law, Hilko J. Meyer received the Innovation Award of the Development Association on November 30, 2010. During a celebration in the reading room of the library, the Chairman of the Development Association, Wolfgang Janke, handed over the 1,550 Euro award in the presence of many high-ranking guests from science, business, and politics. In his laudatory speech, Janke emphasized Meyer's sustained commitment to anchoring the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt in the House of Logistics and Mobility (HOM) and explained: "Professor Meyer recognized early on the significance of this project for the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt and developed all the necessary contacts diligently and with great personal commitment – both with other universities and in the political field. This created an important pillar of interdisciplinary orientation of the University of Applied Sciences."

Previously, the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of the Fraport AG, former Finance Minister and member of the Landtag Karlheinz Weimar, had emphasized the importance of the HOLM for the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main and Hesse region. As an inter-university skill and communication platform that is closely connected with the practical world, the HOLM is intended to promote joint research and continuing education activities of the participating universities and businesses in the area of logistics and traffic. In October 2010, after several years of preparation, the State of Hesse together with the City of Frankfurt and the foundation initiative HOLM e.V. founded the company HOLM GmbH and will support its work as part of an excellence initiative. Weimar emphasized the constructive role of the University of Applied Sciences in this foundation process and explained: "If you want to implement this kind of project, you need people who not only develop concepts but also implement them in reality. The honoree tonight is such a person."

In his greeting, the President of the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt am Main, Detlev Buchholz, supported the award being given to Meyer and his commitment to profiling the university internally and externally. While dean of Faculty 3 - Business and Law for six years, he developed it into a modern business school with the support of his colleagues and staff. He took the opportunities provided by the Bologna process to help universities of applied sciences transition to offering Bachelor and Master programs and successfully positioned the faculty as a regionally anchored and internationally networked skill center for business and law programs in Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main region. With a focus on logistics and mobility and the introduction of the dual program in Aviation Management, he laid the foundation for the involvement of the university in the House of Logistics and Mobility.

In his acceptance speech, the honoree explained that he accepted the award on behalf of the members of Faculty 3: Business and Law, as his success was based entirely on their commitment and unity, and announced that he would now return increasingly to research and teaching in his own area of expertise, Law and Management in the health care field.

For the 27th time on November 19, 2010, the Verband baugewerblicher Unternehmer Hessen e.V. rewarded the best examination papers in the faculties of Architecture, Civil Engineering, and Economy at universities in the state of Hesse. The award ceremony took place in the rooms of the Soka Building in Wiesbaden and was attended by approx. 200 guests from politics and business.

Faculty 3: The Business and Law faculty at UAS Frankfurt participated with the following three thesis papers:

• Juliane Reinhardt: Development of a sponsoring concept for the Square of the European Promise
• Irina Leytman: Twitter online marketing 2.0
• Sascha Mukherjee: Discussion of a model for decentralized energy supply in rural areas of India

From the many submitted papers in the field of economics, Irina Leytman's work was awarded with a Development Award of the Hessische Baugewerbe. The laudatory speech emphasized both the topicality of the practical relevance of the thesis paper of Ms. Leytman. Her thesis supervisors were Prof. Dr. Yvonne Ziegler and Prof. Dr. Angelika Wiltinger. Prof. Dr. Wiltinger accepted the award in place of Ms. Leytman, who was unable to attend.

For more information, see the page of the Verband baugewerblicher Unternehmer Hessen e.V. (German only)

Matthias Heerd, Diploma graduate of Faculty 3: Business and Law, is this year's award winner of the Hans-Messer Prize, which is awarded annually by the IHK Frankfurt am Main for special academic achievements. It was awarded during the 13th Hans-Messer lecture, which was held to honor the long-term IHK president Dr. Hans Messer. This year's lecturers were Jürgen Stotz, president of the German National Committee (DNK) of the World Energy Council and Dr. Carsten Rolle, Managing Director of the DNK in Berlin, who both addressed the topic of "the energy industry between global challenges and demands of national policy.” In his final thesis Matthias Heerd compared the "most important German air transportation location Frankfurt am Main with Dubai, the most important location in the Middle East in terms of the worldwide demand for air transportation services as part of ever expanding globalization.” The supervisors for the paper were Prof. Dr. Johannes Schulz-Spathelf and Prof. Dr. Yvonne Ziegler. Another award goes to Anika Schick, Diploma graduate of Faculty 1: Architecture - Civil Engineering - Geomatics, whose paper looked at the "reliable measurement of noise barriers along high-traffic railroad tracks." The Hans-Messer Prize is worth 6,000 Euros, which was split equally among the two award winners.

Graduate with Diploma in Business Administration receives Development Award

The thesis of Ina Schöntag, a graduate of the Business Administration program at Faculty 3: Business and Law, was recognized in February 2009 with a Development Award given by the Erich-Becker Foundation. The foundation uses its assets to promote scientific papers related to air transportation. It was created by the former CEO Erich Becker for the occasion of the airport’s 50-year anniversary in 1986 as the "Airport Frankfurt Main Foundation.” It was renamed in 2004 to honor his achievements. The topic of Ms. Schöntag's Diploma thesis was the "Actual state analysis and target conception for the airport travel market of the Frankfurt am Main Airport." In a location analysis, Ms. Schöntag characterizes the airport travel market Frankfurt as an interesting sales location for travel agencies. From comprehensive empirical studies on previously stated hypotheses, she derives recommended action based on a target concept. The support of the foundation not only honors the quality of the diploma thesis, but also includes the above-average academic performance and outstanding commitment of Ms. Schöntag in the program.

Sonja Döring, graduate of the Diploma program in Business administration of the UAS Frankfurt and the International Network of Business Administration program of the ESC Troyes, was recognized with the Excellence Award of the German-French University (DFH) on November 26, 2010 in the category of Economics.

On February 3, 2009, the IHK Frankfurt am Main awarded the Hans-Messer Prize to Dipl. Attorney in Business Law, Larissa Bichert, Faculty 3: Business and Law during a celebration ceremony. Named after the long-term IHK president and honorary president, Dr. Hans Messer, the Hans-Messer Prize of the IHK Frankfurt honors the outstanding examination and academic achievements of graduates from the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt. Other award winners this year were Dipl. Eng. (Mechanical Engineering) Adam Busch, Faculty 2: Computer Science and Engineering. The award money totals 6,000 Euros and is split equally among the winners. The thesis of Larissa Bichert, Faculty 3: Business and Law, examined "Brand and product piracy in China." Her supervising professor Axel Jäger praised Bichert in that her paper had "tackled a very current topic." The award ceremony took place as part of the 12th Hans-Messer lecture. The award speech was held by Stefanie Dimmeler, a professor of Molecular Cardiology at the University Clinic Frankfurt am Main. She spoke about her research in the area of new innovative treatment methods for heart and circulatory illnesses.

During a celebration in the Eberbach Monastery in Eltville im Rheingau, Dipl. economist Fenja Diekmann, graduate of Faculty 3, received the 1st prize of the Hessisches Baugewerbe in the field of Economics / Civil Engineering. For the 25th time, the Verband baugewerblicher Unternehmer Hessen e. V. recognized the best thesis papers from the faculties of Architecture, Civil Engineering, and Construction Industry at universities in Hesse.

In his opening words, the president of the Verband baugewerblicher Unternehmer Hessen, Dipl.-Eng. Michael Kellermann, referenced the current negative trends in the construction industry in Hesse and asked legislators to support home ownership and apartment construction. The awards lecture for the Development Award was held by Dr. Rottke from the European Business School who addressed the effects of the crisis in the finance market on the real estate industry. The Development Awards in the fields Architecture and Civil Engineering went to graduates of the University of Applied Sciences in Wiesbaden and Darmstadt.

Esther Dorothee Atwell, a graduate of the Diploma program in Business Law, was awarded the Hans-Messer Prize on February 12, 2008 at the Frankfurt IHK in recognition of his outstanding academic and examination achievements.

On December 20, 2007, Silviya Nikolova, who is a Business Administration student at UAS from Bulgaria, received the €1,000 DAAD award for outstanding foreign students 2007 from the Vice-president Prof. Dr. Ruppert. The Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD) awards the prize to a foreign student who demonstrates outstanding academic achievements and an extraordinary social commitment outside of their studies.

Silviya Nikolova is a seventh semester student in the Business Administration program at the Business and Law faculty at the UAS FFM. The Bulgarian received the award both for her outstanding performance in the program and her volunteer commitments. She organizes events at the Bulgarian Club Frankfurt and helps Bulgarian students in their studies. For instance, every semester she organizes an orientation event for first-year students. In addition, she interprets for social institutions and volunteers for the AIDS Foundation Frankfurt and for people suffering from addiction at the specialized clinic "Villa unter den Linden". The laudatory speech for the award winner was held by Dennis Lindenberger, program lecturer for production management and logistics in the Business and Law faculty.

On December 4, 2007, the "Apotheken Recht Preis 2007" was awarded during a celebration for the "German Pharmacy Law Day" in Frankfurt am Main. The winner was Prof. Dr. Hilko J. Meyer from Frankfurt am Main."

The "Apotheken Recht Preis" is awarded by the pmi Verlag from Frankfurt am Main and Nomos Verlag from Baden-Baden. The award winner is selected in a democratic vote held by the publishers and works advisory board members of the "Apotheke & Recht" magazine. “The award is given for law-research and publishing work related to pharmacy law and does not come with any monetary award or similar financial benefits,” explained Peter Hoffmann, chairman and publisher of pmi Verlag AG. He conferred the award together with Dr. Klaus Letzgus, member of the executive management of Nomos publishing house.

In his laudatory speech, the attorney Lutz Tisch, Managing Director Law of ABDA – Bundesvereinigung German Apothekerverbände, Berlin, emphasized the accomplishments of the winner in the legal and scientific study of pharmacy law and legal areas relevant to pharmacies; he referred in particular to Prof. Meyer’s legal opinion on the internet trade of medication required to be sold through pharmacies from 2000. Many of the important points in his legal opinion on the compatibility of the applicable German ban on mail-order medication with European Union law were confirmed in 2003 by the European Court of Justice. However, the complete release of mail-order medication that had already been passed by legislators before this judgment was handed down set off a harmful development, which has reached its current low point in drug pick-up stores. Tisch honored another focus of the award recipient’s work on the pricing system for medication, which began with an article published in the NJW in 1986 and has continued up until his latest publications on discount restrictions for medication.

Prof. Dr. Hilko J. Meyer

In 2007, the Verband der baugewerblichen Unternehmer Hessens in coordination with the Berufsförderungswerk des hessischen Baugewerbes once again honored outstanding Diploma theses in the area of construction. The 2nd prize in the field of Economics / Civil Engineering was awarded to the Diploma thesis of Dipl. Economist (UAS) Björn Bübel, graduate of the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt am Main.

This year for the 24th time, the call for papers from the areas of Architecture, Civil Engineering, and Economics at all of Hesse's universities of applied sciences and (technical) universities. During the ceremony, the respective three best thesis papers of the academic year 2006/07 were recognized with Development Awards on November 16, 2007 at the training center of Hesse's construction industry in Rüdesheim-Assmannshausen. The award for Economics this year, which was donated by the VHV Insurance Hanover, recognized outstanding work that show strategies for ensuring the long-term stability of medium-sized businesses. Overall, the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt am Main was able to win recognition in two out of three categories. One graduate was successful in the Civil Engineering segment: Dipl.-Eng. Andreas Kraus was awarded the 3rd prize (supervisor: Dr. Kliesch, Faculty 2). With his Diploma paper on "Risk allocation as success factor for public-private partnerships given the example of operator models for traffic infrastructure," Dipl. economist Björn Bübel convinced the jury made up of university teachers, representatives of Hesse's construction ministries, architects, and construction companies. The Development Award comes with a monetary prize of 6,750 Euros.

Mr. Bübel studied Business Administration at Faculty 3 until 2007 and came to the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences as part of a cooperation agreement with the Fraport AG. During this cooperation, students complete a dual program, which they undertake alongside the intermediate diploma to become an Airport Administrative Assistant (IHK Frankfurt). This cooperation, whose first graduate is Mr. Bübel, eventually resulted in the innovative Bachelor program in "Aviation Management" that began in the winter semester 2006/07. Mr. Bübel completed his studies with honors. Since then, he has worked in investment controlling in the area of flight and terminal operations / Aviation at the Fraport AG in Frankfurt.

His award-winning diploma thesis was based on the research project "Financial problems in financing public transportation infrastructure" being conducted by Prof. Gawel (see FFZ 91, p. 15 et seq.). Private financing models for maintaining and developing public transportation infrastructure have been discussed for a while. The award-winning thesis specifically addresses the risk allocation between government, operators, and users in operator models (so-called "F and A models"), for instance according to the
Highway Construction Private Financing Law (FStrPrivFinG) from 1994, and Bübel derives recommendations for the further use of the tool of public-private partnerships from the findings. For this purpose, he first recapitulates the starting points for PPP solutions and operator models in transportation infrastructure as an application case; he points out the risks and their allocation as success factors for efficient PPP solutions (normative analysis); and he examines the actual risk allocation solutions in the A and F models in a positive analysis.

The awards lecture was held by the new president of the Zentralverband Deutsches Baugewerbe (Central Association of the German Construction Industry), Dr. Eng. Hans-Hartwig Loewenstein, on the "Perspectives of the German construction industry due to innovation and research."

The Development Association of the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt am Main conferred the Innovation Award for special services in teaching and continuing education on July 5, 2007. The Chairman of the Development Association, Dagmar Bollin-Flade, awarded the 1,500 Euro prize to Hans-Herbert Wagschal from the faculty of Business and Law. Herbert Mai, Chairman and Labor Director of Fraport AG held the award lecture. Wagschal has been teaching at the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt am Main since 1987.

The university indicated that Hans-Herbert Wagschal received the prize for his outstanding and innovative work in teaching, in particular for the development and successful use of new forms of teaching. Wagschal successfully developed the concept of "practical case projects to convey action skills," which has become very important for the reputation of the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt am Main as a whole and the appreciation of its Business Administration degrees at regional companies in particular. The idea moved past the Business Administration program and was integrated into other programs of the faculty, as well as programs at other universities.

The Innovation Award given by the Development Association of the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt am Main e.V. has been awarded every year since 2001 for special services in teaching, research, and transfer as well as for outstanding services in the development of the UAS FFM as a whole.

The graduate of the Diploma program Business Law, Markus Quanz, received the Hans-Messer Prize 2006 on February 7 from Dr. Joachim v. Harbou, the president of the Frankfurter IHK. The Diploma thesis, which received a grade of very good, examined the "Pricing model of German banks in the securities business with private customers." Mr. Markus Quanz was supervised by professors Wolfgang Hossenfelder and Axel Jäger, both from Faculty 3: Business and Law of the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt am Main.

The prize is awarded annually in honor of the long-term IHK president Dr. Hans Messer to recognize special academic and examination achievements. In addition to Markus Quanz, a graduate of the Architecture and Construction Industry faculty was also conferred this award this year which comes with a 2,000 Euros cash prize. Both winners achieved above-average results and completed the program particularly quickly.

The award ceremony took place during the 10th Hans-Messer lecture, which this year was held by professor Volker Mosbrugger on the topic of "Bionics - how evolution can help technology." Mosbrugger is the director of the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum inFrankfurt.

On February 8, 2006, the Frankfurter IHK awarded the Hans-Messer Prize 2005. It has become an annual tradition in which two graduates of the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt am Main receive the award in recognition for their special academic and examination achievements.

This year's recipients included a graduate of the Information and Communication Technology program (Faculty 2) and a graduate of the international Finance and Law program (Faculty 3). Both achieved above-average results and completed the program particularly quickly. Named after the long-term IHK president and honorary president, Dr. Hans Messer, the Hans-Messer Prize of the IHK Frankfurt honors the outstanding examination and academic achievements of graduates of the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt. In addition to the Diploma thesis, the award considers a student’s examination grades, length of study, practical relevance, and commercial exploitability of their final thesis. The prize was awarded for the 16th time this year. The president of the UAS FFM, Wolf Rieck, gave the welcome speech.

Diploma Engineer (UAS) Helena Fischer received the 2,500 Euro first prize for her diploma thesis on the topic of "Specification, structure, start-up, and performance analysis of an intelligent and scalable video bus system." The background of the paper is the increase of security in airplanes through the development of a network with video cameras for the gap-free monitoring of airline passengers and flight personnel. The second prize of 1,500 Euros went to the Diploma Economist (UAS) Christoph Jauernig, who wrote his diploma thesis on "Intermediary banks as part of a franchise-like sales system for the private customer business of major German banks: requirements and design of an internalized management system."

For her thesis, which received the grade 1.0, Ms. Fischer studied the "Specification, structure, start-up, and performance analysis of an intelligent and scalable video bus system." She developed a network with video cameras for the gap-free monitoring of airline passengers and flight personnel, which is expected to help improve security on planes significantly. The recorded camera images are forwarded to a facial recognition system in order to identify suspicious persons. The special achievement of Ms. Fischer's paper was that it independently developed a completely new, fully functional computer node with communication to a host computer. This had to take into account the special conditions for flight-capable systems, such as low weight, extremely high availability, and a low price since up to 150 cameras need to be installed per plane. Fischer completed her thesis at the Diehl Avionik Systeme GmbH (formerly: VDO Luftfahrtgeräte) in Frankfurt. The special achievement of this award winner was also underscored by her outstanding examination grade (1.4) and the fact that she completed the eight semester Diploma program in only seven semesters. We should also note that she worked during several semesters as a teaching assistant and tutor for different courses.

IHK president von Harbou noted during the award ceremony that the Hans-Messer Prize in 2004 went to the Diploma Engineer (UAS) Susanne Fischer, the sister of this year's winner.

The thesis of the award winner of Faculty 3, Christof Jauernig, who was supervised by Prof. Dr. Michalski, studied the topic of "Intermediary banks as part of a franchise-like sales system for the private customer business of major German banks: requirements and design of an internalized management system." It dealt with the fictitious structure of a franchise-like sales system for the private customer business of major banks that want to expand into the rural regions, which is presently dominated by Sparkasse banks as well as Volksbanks and Raiffeisenbanks. The new branches do not use the company name of the major bank. They are small, agency-managed intermediary banks, whose services are limited to information, consulting, and order acceptance. Jauernig's paper, which received the grade 1.0, examined different internal and external business restrictions of banks for franchise systems and developed a useful internalized management system. The award winner also completed his examinations with the outstanding grade of 1.4.

The award ceremony took place during the 10th Hans-Messer lecture in the IHK Frankfurt. The awards lecture on the topic of "Global and regional climate change – a challenge for science and the public" was held by Christian Schönwiese, professor at the Institute for Atmosphere and Environment of the Goethe University Frankfurt. In his lecture, Schönwiese addressed the causes and effects of climate change in some detail. He pointed out that climate researchers agreed that the global average temperature by 2100 would increase by 1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius if we continue as until now. According to climate simulations, even in the best case scenario, the temperature increase would lie above the natural variation of the last 10,000 years. The expected temperature increase and the changes to precipitation volumes and frequency will lead to a clear increase of the intensity of tropical storms even in Europe. The results of the climate simulations also included greater regional frequency of extreme events, such as heat waves, droughts, severe rains, or storms. We would have to expect that hurricanes like those that have occurred in recent years in the US (Rita and Katrina etc.) would occur in greater frequency in different parts of the world. Prof. Schönwiese also addressed a bundle of measures that are necessary to prevent or at least ameliorate dangerous long-term disruptions of the climate system. The most important goal is to achieve a reduction of the anthropogenic CO2 emissions, as recognized and prescribed in the Kyoto protocol and in different international recommendations and agreements made by many states in the world.

Prof. Dr. Erik Gawel, Vice-Dean of Faculty 3

Dipl. economist Christopher Schmidt honored for his diploma thesis in the area of transportation infrastructure financing

In 2007, the Verband der baugewerblichen Unternehmer Hessens in coordination with the Berufsförderungswerk des hessischen Baugewerbes once again honored outstanding Diploma theses in the area of construction. This year for the 22nd time, there was a call for papers from the areas of Architecture, Civil Engineering, and Economics at all of Hesse's universities of applied sciences and (technical) universities. During the ceremony, the respective three best thesis papers of the 2004/05 academic year were recognized with a Development Award on Friday, November 18, 2005 at the training center of Hesse's construction industry in Rüdesheim-Assmannshausen. The 2nd prize in the field of Economics / Civil Engineering was awarded to the Diploma thesis of Dipl. economist (UAS) Christopher Schmidt. The Economics prize awarded this year by the Frankfurter Volksbank was designed to recognize papers that showed outstanding strategies for the long-term stability of medium-sized businesses.

Overall, the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt am Main was able to garner an award in all three categories, a feat that no other university in Hesse managed this year. The graduates of Frankfurt UAS were also successful in the categories of Architecture (2nd prize) and Civil Engineering (3rd prize) in the competition. With his diploma thesis on "Barrier analysis in private financing of public transportation infrastructure according to the highway construction private financing law (FStrPrivFinG)", Dipl. Economist Christopher Schmidt convinced the jury comprised of university teachers, representatives of Hesse's construction ministries, architects, and construction companies. During the celebration, the supervisor of the thesis, Prof. Dr. Gawel, accepted the award on behalf of the winner who was out of the country for professional reasons. The Development Award comes with a monetary prize of 6,750 Euros. Mr. Schmidt studied at Faculty 3 Business Administration until 2004 and completed his degree with honors. Since then, he has been working in the area of Corporate Auditing at the Merck KGaA in Darmstadt, which is a worldwide corporation in the pharmaceuticals and chemicals sector as well as the oldest pharmaceutical-chemical company in the world. His award-winning thesis stemmed from the research project "Financial problems in financing public transportation infrastructure" conducted by Prof. Gawel (see FFZ 91, p. 15 et seq.). Private financing models for maintaining and developing public transportation infrastructure have been discussed for a while. The award-winning thesis specifically addresses the operator models (so-called "F models") based on the highway construction private financing law (FStrPrivFinG) of 1994 and Schmidt examines the causes for the empirical fact that it had only been used very rarely - despite a high investment and a tense financial situation in public budgets. For this purpose, he restates growth and structural policy reasons for taking public infrastructure measures; explains the usual financing forms and private business alternatives; and derives the advantages of the mobilization of private businesses. The main part constitutes a stock-taking of previous experience and the barrier analysis for the now insufficient success of the F model according to the FStrPrivFinG. The paper concludes with recommendations for the further development of the F models. The author skillfully links issues in transportation, finance, and business administration with each other. Particularly noteworthy is the thorough empirical foundation of the statements through expert interviews and his own empirical surveys. The results of the winning paper also be included in the joint publication of the project results, which will be published soon by Duncker & Humblot in the "Finance Research Papers" series.

The awards lecture was held by Martin Schlegel, Chief Representative of Reals Estate and Facility Management at the Fraport AG, who considered Frankfurt Airport as one huge property and developed both the future expansion plans (Airbus hangar A 380, Terminal 3, runway North-West etc.) and the economic significance for the Rhine-Main region. Mr. Schlegel invited all award winners and their supervisors to exchange ideas at the Frankfurt Airport at the start of the coming year. In the future, Faculty 3 will intensify its contacts at Fraport AG through the cooperative Bachelor program in Aviation Management.

Prof. Dr. Erik Gawel, Vice-Dean Faculty 3