Curriculum Vitae

Research Interests

My research interests are centered on the nanometer-scale mechanical, chemical, and physical properties of surfaces and interfaces. The main topics include:
• Fundamental study of force interactions at and between surfaces from the nanometer down to the atomic scale ("nanomechanics")
• High-resolution investigations of surfaces and surface properties. Material classes include complex oxides, layered materials, metals, and biomaterials.
• Nanotribology, atomic mechanisms of friction
• Elastic properties of matter on the atomic scale
• Catalytic properties of materials
• Ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties of materials
• Further development of scanning probe methods, in particular of ultrahigh vacuum low-temperature scanning force microscopy, of friction force microscopy, and of the local mapping of surface elasticity

More details may be found here.

Education

University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland, 1983-1993

• Ph.D. in Physics, 1993, Area of Specialization: Surface Physics. Research Advisor: Prof. Dr. H.-J. Güntherodt. Title of the Thesis: "Scanning Force Microscopy Applied to Photographic Materials".
• Diploma in Physics, 1989. Area of Specialization in the Diploma Thesis: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance.

Appointments

• Associate professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yale University, since July 2002.
• Visiting Senior Scientist at the Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, May 2001 - June 2002 (group of Dr. Miquel Salmeron).
• Lecturer at the Microstructure Research Center, Institute of Applied Physics, University of Hamburg, Germany, fall 1999 - spring 2001.
• Staff scientist at the Microstructure Research Center, Institute of Applied Physics, University of Hamburg, Germany, fall 1993 - fall 1999 (within the research department of Prof. Dr. Roland Wiesendanger).
• Postdoctoral research associate in the research group of Prof. Dr. Roland Wiesendanger, Microstructure Research Center, Institute of Applied Physics, University of Hamburg, Germany, spring 1993 - fall 1993.

Awards and Honors

• Gaede Award 1999 (Principal Prize of the German Vacuum Society)
• German "Habilitation", September 1999
• Venia Legendi ("Privatdozent"), October 1999
• "Heisenberg" Fellowship from the German Research Society, 2000-2002

Publications and Presentations

• Over 85 articles in referred journals and books (five of them as review articles)
• More than 70 invited talks and talks at universities and research institutes
• In addition over 160 regular conference contributions

Patent

Liquid crystal cells for integrated optics and methods of their fabrication. European Patent No. 92120023.4-

Journals

• Guest editor with Applied Physics A (a Springer journal) for the proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Noncontact Atomic Force Microscopy (NC-AFM 2000), July 16-19, 2000, in Hamburg, Germany.
• Guest editor with Nanotechnology (an Institute of Physics journal) for the proceedings of the 7th Conference on Noncontact Atomic Force Microscopy (NC-AFM 2004), September 12-15, 2004, in Seattle, WA, USA.

Conferences

• Chairman and organizer of the 12th Conference on Noncontact Atomic Force Microscopy (NC-AFM 2009), which will be held in 2009 in New Haven, CT, USA.
• Steering committee member of the Noncontact Atomic Force Microscopy (NC-AFM) conference series (since 2003).
• Program committee member of the 7th Conference on Noncontact Atomic Force Microscopy (NC-AFM 2004), September 12-15, 2004, in Seattle, WA, USA.
• 2004 Co-organizer (with Prof. Eric Altman, Yale University) of the surface science symposium at the 78th ACS Colloid and Surface Science Symposium.
• 2006 Co-organizer (with George Hentschel, Emroy University, and Yue Qi, GM Research) of the Friction, Fracture, and Deformation Symposium at the 2006 March Meeting of the American Physical Society in Baltimore.
• 2006 Member of the International Organizing Committee of the workshop "Frontiers in Scanning Probe Microscopy", October 4-6, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
• Chair of numerous sessions at various conferences.

Professional Memberships

I am member of the following professional organisations:

• American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
• American Physical Society (APS)
• American Vacuum Society (AVS)
• German Physical Society (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, DPG)
• German Vacuum Society (Deutsche Vakuumgesellschaft, DVG)

General Activities

I acted as referee for the following organizations/institutions:

• National Science Foundation (NSF)
• Department of Defense (DoD)
• Petroleum Research Funds of the American Chemical Society (PRF/ACS)
• U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation
• Center for Nanophase Materials Science at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• German Research Society (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG)
• Volkswagen Foundation, Germany
• Austrian Fund for the Promotion of Sciences (Österreichischer Fonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaften)
• Austrian Academy of Sciences (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften)
• Academy of Finland
• Netherlands Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM)
• Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne
• Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich

as well as for the following journals:

• Applied Mechanics
• Applied Physics A
• Applied Physics Letters
• Applied Surface Science
• Journal of Applied Physics
• Journal of Chemical Physics
• Journal of Colloid and Interface Science
• Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering
• Journal of Microscopy
• Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics
• Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter
• Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology
• Langmuir
• Measurement Science & Technology
• Nanotechnology
• Nature
• Physical Review B
• Physical Review Letters
• Review of Scientific Instruments
• Small
• Surface and Coatings Technology
• Surface and Interface Analysis
• Surface Science
• Ultramicroscopy

In addition: Review of diploma and Ph. D. theses (Yale and international).