On 14 June 2023, the MALL Environmental Prize of the Roland Mall Family Foundation was awarded for the first time. The prize was aimed at students from universities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A total of six prizes were awarded in the categories dissertation, bachelor's theses and master's theses. Creative and innovative theses in the fields of stormwater management and blue-green-grey infrastructures were sought and awarded.
Andreas Lebmeier from HFT Stuttgart also received an award. He wrote his master's thesis in the cooperative study program Environmental Protection. In his thesis, Lebmeier dealt with the dimensioning of an energy cistern using a simulation tool he developed himself. Energy cisterns are an important component of neighborhood adaptation because they allow for an intelligent combination of heating/cooling needs, water use and heavy rainfall prevention. Lebmeier received a certificate and prize money of 3,000 euros for his achievement.
Robert Mall Family Foundation
One of the focal points of the family foundation, which was established in 2014, is the promotion of young scientists, both within the company itself through scholarships for employees' children and through scholarships for students of urban water management. Michael Mall, the foundation's chairman, would like to further expand this area: "Forward-looking concepts for dealing with rainwater are not only important for our company, but also for all of us and how we deal with climate change in the future. That's why we want to honor researchers in this field."
"Climate resilience - heavy rainfall - drought"
Andreas Lebmeier presented his work on the same day at a specialist event with the theme "Climate resilience - heavy rainfall - drought". The event took place at MALL GmbH in Donaueschingen. The company employs about 500 people and has a turnover of over 100 million euros. MALL GmbH specializes in the development and provision of various systems for water pollution control.
The master's thesis was supervised by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Baumann from the civil engineering program, who is the dean of the master's program in environmental protection at the HFT Stuttgart.
Photo above: Andreas Lebmeier from HFT Stuttgart (left) with Michael Mall from the Robert Mall Family Foundation at the presentation of the MALL Environmental Award.