The foundation honors four dissertations and two master's theses in the field of bearing technology. It awards a total of 19,000 euros in prize money.
The award winners (from left) Dr. Tim Weikert, Sebastian Gielinger, Dr. Simon Merz, Dr. Heike Sonnenberg, Wilhelm Michel and Dr. Jonas Heinzel with their certificates, together with the Schaeffler representatives Claus Bauer (Board of Finance and IT), Uwe Wagner (Board Research and Development), Peter Schuster (Managing Director of the Foundation), Markus Gambihler (Head of HR Bearings & Industrial Solutions), Dr. Michael Pausch (Head of R&D Bearings & Industrial Solutions) and Sascha Zaps (Board Bearings & Industrial Solutions).
(Image: Schaeffler (Johannes Bräutigam))
The Schaeffler-FAG Foundation has again honored outstanding final theses by students and doctoral candidates with the Innovation Award. The prize is intended to promote works that show approaches and methods for further development and optimization in the field of bearing technology. This time, the foundation selected four dissertations and two master's theses from the year 2023, awarding a total prize money of 19,000 Euro.
"We were again very impressed by the level of the submitted work," said Markus Gambihler, Head of Human Resources at Schaeffler Bearings & Industrial Solutions and Chairman of the Foundation's Board. At the celebration in Schweinfurt, Gambihler particularly emphasized the commitment of the young researchers in the interest of a better future. The developed concepts and methods also showed that the awardees had intensively dealt with the challenges in industrial companies, according to Gambihler.
Sascha Zaps, who has been on the Bearings & Industrial Solutions board since May 2024, emphasized in his festive speech the contribution of Schaeffler's rolling bearing technology to sustainability. One focus is the development of even more frictionless bearings. They help customers and end users reduce CO2 emissions in operation. "We not only consider engineering and production. We take into account the entire life cycle, including the usage phase," explained Sascha Zaps. Innovation is a key factor that can set the company apart — especially in global competition, according to Sascha Zaps. "I am impressed by the innovative ideas that these young people have come up with and I am sure they will continue to inspire us in the future," Zaps added.
Awards in the category of doctoral theses
In the doctoral category, Dr. Tim Weikert (FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, currently a Schaeffler employee in railway application technology) won the first prize for his work titled "Modifications of amorphous carbon layers to adjust friction conditions and increase wear protection". Weikert investigated how the friction and wear of special carbon layers can be improved through a specific application. The aim is to make material layers more resistant and have their wear detectable by electrical signals at an early stage. Example applications are complex sheet metal forming tools, which are also widely used at Schaeffler.
Second place in the doctoral category was shared by three scientists: Dr. Heike Sonnenberg ("On the elastic-plastic deformation behavior of metallic microspheres under pressure" at the University of Bremen), Dr. Jonas Heinzel ("Recognizing thermal process limits in grinding", also University of Bremen, now production technologist "machining" at Schaeffler) and Dr. Simon Merz ("Analysis of the kinematics and kinetics of planetary roller drives [PRD]" at the WBK Institute for Production Technology of KIT Karlsruhe, product development specialist at Schaeffler).
Award in the category of Bachelor's and Master's theses
The first prize in the Bachelor's and Master's thesis category was won by Wilhelm Michel (Coburg University of Applied Sciences, Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, today Engineer for Methods & Tool Development at Schaeffler) for his master's thesis titled "Development, Implementation and Evaluation of a Method for Considering Non-Gaussian Roughness Distributions for the Computational Design of Rolling Bearings". Wilhelm Michel developed an improved model for friction calculation in bearings, which more accurately considers real roughness profiles. Together with a new method for converting surface characteristics, manufacturing processes can thus be optimized more specifically, and bearings can be designed more efficiently and sustainably.
Sebastian Gielinger (Würzburg-Schweinfurt University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Electrical Engineering) received the second prize for his master's thesis titled "Investigation of an Inline Testing Procedure for Distinguishing Cylindrical Surfaces Using Deflectometry".
The foundation's task is to promote knowledge development, knowledge transfer, and the unfolding of potentials. Since its inception in 1983, it has provided more than 1.3 million euros in funding.
In addition to presenting the Innovation Award, the foundation also engages with a school sponsorship line and the Future-Technology-Award 2024. The application phase for the Future-Technology-Award, which supports highly innovative research projects with up to 100,000 euros, is still open until July 31st. The application phase for the next Innovation Award also runs until then. (dm)
Date: 08.12.2025
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