Outstanding apprenticeship at the Max Planck Institutes in Mülheim an der Ruhr
 

Two laboratory assistants and the training team honored for outstanding performance

 

A very special honor was bestowed on the two Mülheim Max Planck Institutes: The apprentices René Rotthaus and Sophie von Buttlar have won the Apprenticeship Award of the Max Planck Society (MPG). On top of that, the Max Planck Institutes received the Training Centre Award for their excellent training program.

Outstanding professional, educational and personal achievements - these are the criteria used by the Max Planck Society when awarding the Apprenticeship Awards. Among the 600 persons completing an apprenticeship at a Max-Planck-Institute, this year 15 were selected – and two of them work in Mülheim an der Ruhr: René Rotthaus is in his third year of training as a physics laboratory assistant at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung (MPI KOFO) and Sophie von Buttlar just passed her training as a chemistry laboratory assistant this summer at the MPI for Chemical Energy Conversion (MPI CEC) with great success.

"Usually we have scientists who stand on the podium to be honored for their academic research successes," tells Administrative Director Dr Verena Schultz-Coulon within the framework of a small ceremony at the Kohlenforschung. "I am very pleased that today we are focusing on two apprentices who have earned the Max Planck Society's Apprenticeship Award through their special diligence, commitment and outstanding achievements," says Schultz-Coulon during the presentation of the certificates.

Apprenticeship Award winner René Rotthaus

Apprenticeship Award winner René Rotthaus (right) is currently working as a physics laboratory assistant in the third year of his apprenticeship in the Department of Molecular Theory and Spectroscopy of Professor Frank Neese. "Right from the start of his apprenticeship, I have only heard good things about René. All departments praised his particularly committed and independent way of working," says Laila Sahraoui, head of training at the Kohlenforschung. The photo shows René with Administrative Director Dr Verena Schultz-Coulon.
 

Apprenticeship Award winner Sophie von Buttlar

Sophie von Buttlar completed her training as a chemical laboratory assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion this summer and is now employed there as a chemical laboratory assistant. The photo shows Sophie von Buttlar (middle) with Nina Breuer and Tobias Stamm from the training team of the MPI CEC.
 

Training Centre Award as recognition and incentive for the training team

The training team also had reason to be happy: the two Institutes were jointly honored for their exemplary work with the MPG's Training Centre Award, which comes with a bonus of 7,500 euros. "The training team puts a lot of knowledge, commitment and dedication into their work and has been training excellent professionals for years. We are very pleased about the recognition and hope that all those involved will see this award as an incentive and will continue to contribute to the development of our training program," says the Administrative Director.

About apprenticeship at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung

The MPI KOFO offers training for chemical laboratory assistants, physics laboratory assistants, industrial mechanics and office management assistants. Practical instruction in the research groups and analytical departments goes along with additional in-house instruction in all areas of chemistry and physics. The apprentices have their own modern teaching laboratory and are well connected with the apprentices of other companies, who are partially also trained at the Kohlenforschung. Currently, about 30 trainees are completing their professional training at the Institute.