Portrait of Professor Cuniberti
Prof. Gianaurelio Cuniberti has held the Chair of Materials Science and Nanotechnology since 2007 and is an honorary professor at POSTECH - Pohang University of Science and Technology (Korea) and at the University of Alabama (USA). Since 2012, he has been Co-Path Director of the Cluster of Excellence "Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden" (cfAED) and Deputy Speaker of the "International Helmholtz Research School for Nanoelectronic Networks" (IHRS NanoNet). He has been Managing Director of the Excellence-funded Dresden Center for Computational Materials Science (DCMS) since 2013. Prof. Cuniberti was born in Genoa (Italy) in 1970.
Without new materials... there are no new products. No matter where - whether in electronics, mechanical engineering or medicine - nanotechnology helps to make everyday life more efficient, safer and more convenient - true to the motto: "No materials, no party!"
Being a professor... is both a vocation and an obligation for me. It means pursuing new ideas with freedom and creativity and passing on the "fire" of the university tradition to future generations of scientists.
Students ... are at the same time the raw material, customer and product of a special company - and that in the formative period between the ages of 20 and 30: those who take advantage of the freedom and opportunities offered by their studies are provided with an important compass for the complexity of life.
In the future ... universities will continue to redefine themselves, but ultimately they will always be committed to the 1000-year-old tradition of "Universitas", not to educate one-dimensional experts, but people who, with responsibility, will advance the common good as key players in our society. It is a great pleasure for me to see that the management of TU Dresden is extremely proactive in meeting this obligation.
If I could study again ... I would choose my subject again based on my interests and passion and not follow any short-term trends. Because you can only achieve your goals if you pursue them with full dedication and perhaps it even takes a bit of obsession!
The Excellence Initiative ... is a trend that can be observed worldwide and will finally bring German universities up to the high level and reputation of the German economy and show that big dreams and visions can only be realized together. But we should not be under any illusions: Top international universities invest around 100,000 euros per student every year, while the Free State of Saxony currently only invests around 5,000 euros per student per year. However, excellent teaching and excellent research are associated with high costs. It is therefore extremely important that politics and industry quickly recognize this high financial need and invest massively in excellent quality education and research. Without this step, it will be very difficult to maintain our high standards and be fit for the knowledge society.