VDMA awards junior engineers

The Walter Reiners Foundation of the German textile machinery industry has honoured three successful junior engineers for research projects that “respond to the new textile reality.” Dr. Uwe Köckritz, TU Dresden, was honoured for his dissertation dealing with the fiber reinforcement of concrete. Fabian Schreiber, RWTH Aachen, won the award for the best diploma thesis, on the subject of braiding technology. Cornelia Kowtsch, TU Dresden, was given the creativity award for the best seminar paper, developing a concept for three-dimensional structures of fiber composites.

“Materials such as steel and aluminum have been the materials of the 19th and 20th centuries; fiber composites will be the central materials of the 21st century,” said foundation president Peter D. Dornier, chairman of Lindauer Dornier GmbH. “The increasing demand for lightweight components made of carbon fiber used for aircraft construction or in building construction and civil engineering are the best examples for a new textile reality, which comprises much more than garments and home textiles.” For more details, visit www.vdma.org/textile.