HZB hosts Humboldt Research Award Winner Alexei Gruverman
An award by Humboldt-foundation enables Professor Alexei Gruverman to visit the HZB institute "Functional oxides for energy efficient information technology". © privat
Professor Alexei Gruverman was granted a Humboldt Research Award in October 2020. Due to the COVID pandemic, he could not travel until this year. For a few months he is now hosted by Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin at the Institute “Functional oxides for energy efficient information technology”.
The renowned award is endowed with 60 000 Euros and is presented annually by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to outstanding scientists from abroad to support collaborative projects with researchers in Germany.
“We are very much honored and happy to welcome Alexei Gruverman at the HZB. He is a worldwide leading scientist in the field of nanoscale ferroelectrics. We will further develop our cooperation with him on several topics”, says Prof. Catherine Dubourdieu, head of the institute “Functional oxides for energy efficient information technology” at HZB.
Professor Alexei Gruverman is a Charles Bessey Professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA. His research includes diverse scientific subjects from nanoscale static and dynamic properties of ferroic materials, to electronic properties of polar surfaces, and electromechanical properties of biomaterials.
The Humboldt Research Award recognizes his outstanding research achievements in the field of fundamental studies of nanoscale physical phenomena in a wide range of materials using a variety of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) methods. Gruverman has pioneered the development of piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), which since its inception has become a method of choice in both academic and industrial groups for the investigation of the nanoscale properties of ferroelectric materials and structures. Other major scientific accomplishments include the manipulation of ferroelectric domains at the nanoscale, the development of an approach for fast switching dynamics in ferroelectric capacitors, the demonstration of the tunneling electroresistance effect in ferroelectrics and nanoscale studies of electromechanical behavior of biological systems.
His current research topics include the emergence of the ferroelectric ordering in 2D electronic materials and the exploration of the physical mechanism of their polarization-coupled transport properties.
Gruverman plans to spend this first stay associated with the Humboldt Research Award in Germany at the HZB in Berlin and NamLab in Dresden.
- Helmholtz Institute for Polymers in Energy Applications (HIPOLE Jena) InauguratedOn June 17, 2024, the Helmholtz Institute for Polymers in Energy Applications (HIPOLE Jena) was officially inaugurated in Jena in the presence of Wolfgang Tiefensee, Minister for Economy, Science, and Digital Society of the Free State of Thuringia. The institute was founded by the Helmholtz Center Berlin for Materials and Energy (HZB) in cooperation with the Friedrich Schiller University Jena. It is dedicated to developing sustainable polymer materials for energy technologies, which are expected to play a key role in the energy transition and support Germany’s goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2045.
- “Research and development in times of war: not only possible, but crucial!”The Ukraine Recovery Conference took place in Berlin on 11 and 12 June. On a side-event representatives from Helmholtz, Fraunhofer and Leibniz discussed how research can contribute to the sustainable reconstruction of Ukraine.
In this interview, Bernd Rech, scientific director at HZB, talks about the importance of research during the war and projects such as Green Deal Ukraina. - New joint leadership for BESSY IIAndreas Jankowiak as new Technical Director and Facility Spokesperson Antje Vollmer share management responsibilities.
Prof. Andreas Jankowiak has been appointed Technical Director of BESSY II with a term of office of three years as of 1 June 2024 by resolution of the HZB board of directors. Antje Vollmer will start her second term as BESSY II Facility Spokesperson on 1 July 2024. Together, they form the new management duo to coordinate the scientific and technical development of the BESSY II X-ray source on behalf of the HZB management.