Looking back, dated to the start of the funding year.
A scholarship from home: Sparkassenstiftung Erfurt
The foundation of my home town's savings bank supports my pneumonia detection project for a year. What it is for, and what I spend it on.
I study in Potsdam now, but this scholarship comes from Erfurt.
The Sparkassenstiftung Erfurt is the charitable foundation of the regional public savings bank. It awards scholarships in three fields: culture, sport and science. They go to people who have achieved something in one of these fields and who are also active for others. Mine is in science.
The reason is PneuNet, the project from my last two school years: neural networks that detect pneumonia on chest X-rays. In 2024 it went through three rounds of Jugend forscht, up to a special prize at the national final. On 20 November 2024 I handed in my application to the foundation, with a short text on what I would use the funding for.
That text is not very romantic. It is a list. A laptop with enough power to develop and test models. Storage, so that large datasets are kept safely and in order. A display for analysing and presenting results. I wrote that this is the most sensible and lasting use, because it makes the research possible and stays useful for later work.
The funding is tied to the project, and I account for it every quarter. I find that fair. Someone gives money for a purpose, so I show that it went there.
What I like about it is where it comes from. Jugend forscht started in Weimar and Jena, my karate club is in Erfurt, my school was in Erfurt. Now I live a few hours away and a foundation from home still backs the project I started there.