Sandra Rudeloff wins Young Professionals' Award Logistics 2021
Sandra Rudeloff, a Ph.D. candidate at KLU, won this year’s Young Professionals’ Award Logistics 2021 for her thesis on “Tracing foodborne illnesses using import data to the U.S.” at the Science Pitch Logistics at Hamburg’s Digital Hub. Former Master’s student Christopher Gaede took home 3rd place for his thesis on “Prognosis of the temperature course in refrigerated containers in case of failure of the refrigeration unit.” Both of them managed to win over the audience, who took part online, and the prominent jury, which included Dr. Joachim Matthies (FILog – GVL), Kerstin Wendt-Heinrich (TOP Mehrwert-Logistik GmbH & Co KG), Ralf Struckmeier (Lufthansa Industry Solutions AS) and Otto Klemke (NautilusLog).
The prize is endowed with 2,500 euros and honors outstanding work in the field of logistics done by young researchers. The patron of this year’s event was Hamburg’s Second Mayor, Katharina Fegebank. For the second year in a row, three finalists presented their work at the Science Pitch Logistics in front of over 40 online viewers. Each had only 15 minutes to present their topic – an exciting challenge. Second place went to Justus Bonz from Universität Hamburg.
Tracing foodborne illnesses
In her winning thesis, Sandra Rudeloff expanded on existing foodborne illness tracing algorithms and applied them to data on food imports to the United States. “The goal was to identify the contaminated product and its source more quickly and accurately in the event of a foodborne illness outbreak,” she explained. By doing so, contaminated products could be recalled and removed from the market more quickly, helping to prevent further cases of illness. “It was important to me to combine my knowledge from computer science and logistics to contribute to the solution of a practical problem,” she added. Prof. Hanno Friedrich, who supervised her work at KLU, had the following to say: “I’m very happy for Sandra. Not only has she done a great job on her thesis, but she’s also able to communicate and explain the results in a way that people understand.” The audience shared his opinion – 44 percent voted for her thesis, while 40 percent voted for Christopher Gaede’s.
Refrigerated transports: Not just for COVID-19 vaccines
Christopher Gaede’s thesis involved the prediction of temperature curves in refrigerated containers in the event that the refrigeration unit breaks down. A highly topical example: transporting COVID-19 vaccines. But also beyond COVID-19, this type of transport is an essential part of the logistics world and ensures the availability of pharmaceutical products and foodstuffs on site. “My work involves exploring the use of real-time data from temperature sensors in refrigerated transports to detect failures at an early stage and minimize temperature deviations in advance with the help of the additional response time,” Gaede explained.
Bringing together theory and practice
The prize, bestowed by the Logistics Initiative Hamburg, was awarded for the 12th time, this year as the closing event of the “LogistikCon.” The aim of the Young Professionals’ Award Logistics, in combination with the Science Pitch Logistics, is to showcase the research expertise and cooperation between science and business in Hamburg as a logistics location, and to promote and strengthen activities in this context. By granting the award, the Logistics Initiative Hamburg hopes to encourage young people to make a special commitment to their studies, research and final theses.