On 12.11.2024, our research assistant and secondary school teacher Stephan Baur was awarded the Klaus von Klitzing Prize. The prize was awarded for the 20th time by the EWE Foundation together with the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg and honors outstanding commitment in the subjects of mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology (STEM). Stephan Baur successfully prevailed against 56 competitors from all over Germany.
According to the press release, the jury was particularly impressed by Stephan Baur's voluntary work, for example in the Nepal Initiative Schongau association. The enthusiastic alpinist is also involved in science education and sustainable development in Burkina Faso, Nepal, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Togo and Ukraine.
For example, Stephan Baur has contributed to the curriculum of an electrical engineering bachelor's degree course at the Burkina Faso Institute of Technology, which focuses on renewable energies. He gives workshops for teachers and lecturers, creates teaching concepts and develops ideas for experiments that can be implemented with simple and inexpensive means. His aim is to support teachers and lecturers in these countries in making lessons in STEM subjects more interesting and practical - and in particular to use exciting experiments that are relevant to everyday life.
Pupils at the Gymnasium Geretsried, where Stephan Baur works as a teacher, also benefit from his international commitment. “I start testing experiments here at the school and try to pass these experiments on to schools in developing countries,” explains Baur. Renewable energies often play a role in his teaching units, such as solar energy, hydropower or heat supply. The 44-year-old is also working on these topics in his doctorate at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) at the Chair of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems (ENS), which he is pursuing alongside his work as a teacher. His doctoral thesis is about a cost-effective and simple energy supply for families in remote regions of Nepal, for example.
Baur's colleague Robert Weisser, Head of Physics at the Gymnasium Geretsried, emphasizes that linking physics topics in lessons and lectures with real projects around the world creates a special credibility: “He involves the students, they travel with him to Nepal and see what he is achieving there.” Among other things, Baur encouraged the construction of a photovoltaic system and a hot water collector at the Lophelling Boarding School in Nepal. Former pupils or students regularly spend several months in Nepal after graduating from high school, for example as part of their Master's thesis, helping with teaching in schools, assisting with renovations and ensuring that projects that have been initiated continue and new ones are started. “What I find very special here is that all the people are super happy and radiate a strong zest for life despite the simple life,” says Elin Ott, who is currently completing a voluntary service at the Lophelling Boarding School.
With his wide-ranging commitment, Baur is a role model both professionally and personally, explained Prof. Dr. Andrea Strübind, Vice President of Studies and Teaching at the University of Oldenburg, at the award ceremony. “Stephan Baur knows how to inspire enthusiasm for the STEM subjects through his committed and practical teaching. He is a teacher who encourages young people all over the world to surpass themselves and work towards sustainability and intercultural understanding. As a university, we attach great importance to promoting precisely such outstanding skills in our student teachers at an early stage and in the long term.”
According to Stephan Baur, the prize money of 15,000 euros will be used for experimental projects at the Gymnasium Geretsried, as well as at the Lophelling Boarding School in Nepal and also at various educational institutions in poorer countries for STEM projects, especially in the area of sustainability. Existing projects are being continued and intensified and new ideas are being driven forward.
Short film portrait of the award winner:
https://www.klaus-von-klitzing-preis.de/preistraeger/
Film clip of the award ceremony with an interview with the winner: