PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
07/2021 Guest professor
University of Grenoble Alpes & CEA IRIG, France
since 02/2014 Director, Institute of Energy and Climate Research
Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
& Professor (Chair of Materials Synthesis for the Energy, RWTH Aachen University)
03-04/2013 &10/2015 Guest professor
Materials and Structures Laboratory, okyo Institute of Technology, Japan
10/2011-02/2014 Professor of Mechanics of functional Materials
Institut für Materialwissenschaft und Werkstofftechnologie, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
01/2007 – 09/2011 Emmy Noether Group Leader
Department of Materials Science, Technical University Darmstadt, Germany
07/2006 – 12/2006 Visiting scientist
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
09/2004 – 06/2006 Post-doc
Ceramics Group of Prof. J. Rödel, Department of Materials Science, Technical University Darmstadt, Germany
10/2003 – 08/2004 Teaching and research assistant
Laboratory of Electrical Engineering and Ferroelectricity, INSA Lyon, France
10/2000 – 09/2003 Doctoral researcher
Laboratory of Applied Mechanics, Université de Franche-Comté, Besançon, France
EDUCATION
01/2012 Habilitation “Constrained sintering of ceramic materials”, Technical University Darmstadt
09/2003 PhD in Engineering Sciences with highest honours: “Electromechanical characterization and modelling of PZT ferroelectric ceramics”, Université de Franche-Comté, France
1999-2000 Postgraduate specialization in Mechanics of Solids and Surfaces, Université de Franche-Comté, France
06/1998 Engineer Degree, Ecole des Mines d’Alès, France, Majoring in Materials
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
since 2021 Main contact person of the program "Materials and Technologies for the Energy Transition" and spokesperson of the topic "Chemical Energy Sources", Helmholtz Association
since 2020 Member of the editorial advisory board for “Advanced Engineering Materials”
2020-2023 Elected member of the DFG review board “Materials science and engineering”
2020-2023 Member of the “Rishi Raj Medal for Innovation and Commercialization Award” nomination committee, ACerS
since 2019 Member of Helmholtz Program Board “Materials & Technologies for the Energy Transition”
since 2019 Member of the Board of Directors, German Ceramic Society (DKG)
2018-2024 Coordinator of the “Oxides” Platform within the BMBF-funded “FestBatt” competence cluster
2016-2022 Coordinator of the DFG Priority Program SPP 1959 „Manipulation of Matter Controlled by Electric and Magnetic Fields: Towards Novel Synthesis and Processing Routes of Inorganic Materials”
since 2016 Member of the German Advisory Council on Battery Research (BMBF)
2015-2017 Associate Editor, “Science and Technology of Advanced Materials”
2013-2017 Member of the R.L. Coble Award nomination committee, ACerS
since 2012 Spokesperson of the German expert committee on FAST/SPS
Active in scientific committees and symposium organization teams of numerous national and international conferences (ICACC, MCARE, Cimtec, MSE, Sintering, etc.)
AWARDS
2022 Fellow of The American Ceramic Society
2021 Fellow of The European Ceramic Society
2019 World Academy of Ceramics, elected member (category: Science)
2019 Member of the Institute for the Science of Sintering
2018-2019 Several best paper awards (J. Am. Ceram. Soc., Coatings)
2017 Outstanding reviewer award (Acta /Scripta Mater.)
2011 Materials Science and Technology Prize (Federation of European Materials Societies)
2011 Robert L. Coble Award for Young Scholars (The American Ceramic Society)
2010 Masing Memorial Prize (The German Materials Society)
REVIEW ACTIVITIES
Reviewer for different journals like Materials Today, Nature Energy, Nature Comm., Science, Sci. Adv., Acta Mater., Scripta Mater., J. Amer. Ceram. Soc., J. Eur. Ceram. Soc., ACS Appl. Mat. & Int., Advanced Materials, Adv. Eng. Mat., etc.
Reviewer for the DFG, BMBF, DoE (USA), ISF (Israel), ANVUR (Italy), AERES (France);
Assessor for PhDs in France, Portugal
RESEARCH INTERESTS
In addition to ceramic processing and sintering, ceramic materials and components for energy applications, in particular:
• Lithium and sodium solid state batteries
• High temperature ceramics, especially barrier coatings
• Gas separation membranes and catalytic membrane reactors
• Solid oxide fuel and electrolysis cells