Current Fellows 2024

Prof. Dr. Nicole Adler

Degree: PhD Operations Research | Program: Dresden Senior Fellowship | Timeframe: October 20, 2024 – December 02, 2024 & February 15, 2025 - March 31, 2025 | Host Institution in Germany: "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, Institute of Transport and Economics | Host: Prof. Dr. Georg Hirte

Prof. Dr. Nicole Adler has held a professorship for Operations Research at the Hebrew University Business School of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, since 2015 and has also held the position of Dean since 2021. She earned her PhD in Operations Research at Tel Aviv University, Israel, in 1998.

The Fellowship stay serves to expand previous collaborations. Among other things, Prof. Adler and Prof. Hirte will finalize a joint paper during. In addition, an Erasmus program between TU Dresden and the Hebrew University Business School is to be initiated. Prof. Adler will also be involved in teaching in the Transportation Economics Master's and will serve as a contact person for doctoral students.

Prof. Adler is internationally renowned in the fields of transportation and aviation economics, operations research, game engineering and productivity modeling. In her multidisciplinary research, she combines microeconomic concepts and cost-benefit assessments with geographical spatial analysis and data envelopment analysis. This approach has led to new ways of understanding the evolution and potential transformation of transportation markets. Prof. Adler is editor of Operations Research, one of the most important journals in the field of operations research and logistics. She is also an Elected Fellow of the Air Transport Research Society. She already has over 6000 citations, an H-index of 33 and publishes in the most prestigious journals in her field.

Dr. Veruska Prado Alexandre Weiß

Degree: PhD Social Science | Program: Dresden Junior Fellowship | Timeframe: October 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025 | Host Institution in Germany: Faculty of Education, Institute of Vocational Education and Vocational Didactics | Host: Prof. Dr. Jana Markert

Dr. Veruska Prado Alexandre Weiß is currently on sabbatical from her lecturer position at the Federal University of Goiás, Brazil. She completed her doctorate in social sciences in the field of food policy at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro in 2018 and the post-doctoral studies at the same university in 2023.

During her Fellowship at TU Dresden, Dr. Weiß will focus on education in the food sector as an instrument for a sustainable and democratic transformation of food systems. Among other things, she will give a lecture on the Brazilian perspective of food and nutritional education for a transformative food system as part of the “Teaching Qualification for Vocational Schools” course and also support the teaching and research activities of the ESD seminar “BildungsAcker”. In addition, she will stimulate debates at film screenings and subsequent fishbowl discussions with TU Dresden students and the public on the topic of “Food Systems Transformation”. Dr. Weiß's stay at TU Dresden is intended to support the long-term development of cooperation with the Federal Rural Universities in Goiás and Rio de Janeiro. Among other things, joint courses on sustainability topics are planned as part of online teaching.

Dr. Weiß is an expert in activating change processes in the higher education of health professionals. Her main topics of research, teaching and consulting include strategies for integrating agriculture and nutrition, analyzing food and nutrition security policies, and health promotion and intersectoral action to promote equity and sustainability. Dr. Weiß was the Management Coordinator of the Collaborating Center for School Food and Nutrition at Federal University of Goiás, Brazil from 2008-2013 and 2018-2021. She joins as member the Brazilian Research Network on Sovereignty and Food and Nutrition Security and Working Group on Health Promotion and Sustainable Development at Brazilian Association of Collective Health (ABRASCO).

Prof. Dr. Vincenzo Fiorentini

Degree: PhD Theoretical Physics | Program: Dresden Senior Fellowship | Timeframe: October 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025 | Host Institution in Germany: Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Institute of Materials Science | Host: Prof. Dr. Gianaurelio Cuniberto

Prof. Dr. Vincenzo Fiorentini currently works as science attaché at the Italian Embassy in Germany and is the Italian delegate to the Council of the European Southern Observatory. He is also an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Science at the University of Cagliari, Italy.

At TU Dresden, Prof. Fiorentini will be working with the Institute of Materials Science on a joint research project on spintronic and multiferroic magnetoelectric memristors. The aim is to find out whether the unique structure-polarization relation in FE-HfO2 can facilitate the incorporation of magnetic dopants, their arrangement or their coupling. The project includes, among others, the study of magnetoelectric coupling and multiferroic properties as well as metal-multiferro-metal superstructures with the selected multiferroics and the evaluation of how multiple states with external coupling could be realized. Prof. Fiorentini also gives lectures on research-oriented topics at TU Dresden, for example a series on "Memristors: materials and modeling" and general lectures on "Ab initio methods for advanced materials".

Prof. Fiorentini has an excellent research background in solid state physics and computer simulations. In particular, he is an expert in ferroelectrics, magnetoelectrics and interface systems. His work is documented in about 160 publications, which have been cited more than 16,000 times, resulting in an H-index of 50. Prof. Fiorentini is Science Attaché at the Italian Embassy in Berlin until June 2024. In this role, he is a link between Italian and German institutions and contributed, among other things, to the founding of SIGN, a new network of Italian scientists in Germany.

Prof. Dr. Jan Plass

Degree: PhD Educational Technology | Program: Dresden Senior Fellowship | Timeframe: 25. - 27. September 2024, 12. - 14. March 2025, 9. - 18. April 2025, 2. – 4. June 2025, 7. - 11. July 2025 | Host Institution in Germany: Faculty of Psychology, Chair of Psychology of Learning and Instruction| Host: Prof. Dr. Susanne Narciss

Prof. Dr. Jan Plass holds the Paulette Goddard Chair in Digital Media and Learning Sciences at New York University and is the founding director of CREATE, the Consortium for Research and Evaluation of Advanced Technologies in Education at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. He received his PhD in Educational Technology from the University of Erfurt in 1994.

The fellowship stay of Prof. Plass serves the joint research on the development of advanced learning technologies. During his stay, Prof. Plass, Prof. Narciss and members of the Centre for Tactile Internet with Human-in-the-Loop (CeTI) will work on immersive formative feedback strategies for augmented reality and virtual reality learning environments, among other things. In addition, Prof. Plass, together with Prof. Köhler from the Center for Open Digital Innovation and Participation (CODIP), will analyze the benefits and conditions of learning scenarios with modern learning technologies. The overarching goal of Prof. Plass' visits is to establish research collaborations with Prof. Narciss and Prof. Köhler in the areas of design and research of innovative advanced learning technologies. These research collaborations will be the first steps towards establishing an institutional partnership between TU Dresden and New York City University in the field of innovative learning sciences. In addition, Prof. Plass will be involved in teaching at the postgraduate level.

Prof. Plass draws on a broad range of disciplines, including cognitive science, learning science, computer science, and design, to conceptualize, implement, and investigate new and more effective ways of learning with digital technologies. He is the author of over 120 journal articles, chapters, and conference proceedings, has given more than 200 presentations, and is the lead editor of Cognitive Load Theory and the Handbook of Game-based Learning.

Dr. Inessa Skrypkina

Degree: PhD Molecular Biology | Program: Dresden Senior Fellowship | Timeframe: September 1, 2024 – February 28, 2025 | Host Institution in Germany: Faculty of Medicine, OncoRay – National Center for Radiation Research in Oncology | Host: Prof. Dr. Anna Dubrowska

Dr. Inessa Skrypkina is Deputy Head of the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology and Head of Laboratory of Biosynthesis of Nucleic Acids at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine. She received her PhD in Molecular Biology in 2003, also from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

Since 2022, Dr. Skrypkina has been working with OncoRay – National Center for Radiation Research in Oncology. Her research within the Fellowship will contribute to the development of new biomarkers for radiotherapy of glioblastoma and preclinical testing of radiosensitization therapies for this disease. In addition, Dr. Skrypkina will contribute to the OncoRay teaching program in the tumor pathophysiology study module, organize journal clubs and seminars, teach courses for Bachelor and Master students and establish an intensive interdisciplinary collaboration between OncoRay and her institute in Ukraine. In addition, Dr. Skrypkina participates in a joint Ukrainian-German R&D project of the BMBF for the period 2024-2025.

Dr. Skrypkina has many years of experience in oncology research with a focus on genome analysis. She is a prolific scientist with a scientific output of 65 peer-reviewed publications as well as 223 abstracts at scientific conferences and one scientific patent. She has also received several scientific awards, including the Certificate of Honor of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Dr. Skrypkina is a member of the Federation of European Biochemical Society and the Mykola Vavilov Ukrainian Society of Geneticists and Breeders.

Prof. Dr. Rodrigo Lozano

Degree: PhD Sustainability Economics | Program: Dresden Senior Fellowship | Timeframe: September 5, 2024 – October 10, 2024 & May 1, 2025 – May 31, 2025 | Host Institution in Germany: Faculty of Business and Economics, Chair of Business Administration, esp. Environmental Management | Host: Prof. Dr. Remmer Sassen

Prof. Dr. Lozano is currently a Visiting Professor at the Central University of Technology, Bloemfontein, South Africa, and guest lecturer at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria. He holds a PhD in Sustainability Economics from Cardiff University Business School, Cardiff University, UK.

During Prof. Dr. Lozano's Felowship stay, a joint research proposal on the analysis of sustainability skills development from a student perspective is planned in cooperation with Prof. Sassen. In addition, Prof. Lozano will be involved in teaching by offering guest lectures, workshops for doctoral students and a research colloquium.

Prof. Lozano has been committed to sustainability in organizations for over twenty years. In doing so, he has contributed to sustainability research in companies, higher education institutions, public sector organizations and civil society organizations. To date, Prof. Dr. Lozano has published more than 95 peer-reviewed papers, one book on sustainable organizations as sole author and three books as co-author. He has been listed among the top 0.2% of the best researchers in the world (Stanford/Elsevier) for four consecutive years. In addition to his work as a professor, Prof. Lozano is a member of the editorial boards of about 10 journals and has reviewed more than 40 journals.

Prof. Dr. David Breen

Degree: PhD Computer and Systems Engineering | Program: Dresden Senior Fellowship | Timeframe: September 2, 2024 – December 16, 2024| Host Institution in Germany: Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Institute of Textile Machinery and High Performance Material Technology | Host: Prof. Dr. Yordan Kyosev

Prof. Dr. David Breen is Professor of Computer Science at Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA. He received his PhD in Computer and Systems Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, USA, in 1993.

During the Fellowship, Prof. Breen will conduct transdisciplinary research with Prof. Kyosev in the area of knitted textile design and manufacturing automation. Another focus will be on the 4D scanning of humans. The research results will subsequently be published. In the area of teaching, Prof. Breen will give guest lectures on the modeling of knitted structures and clothing and give a keynote speech at the international conference “Clotech” in Dresden. In the long term, a joint doctoral program in the field of modeling textile structures is planned as well as the preparation of a joint research proposal.

Prof. Breen has nearly two decades of experience in textile modeling, simulation and design. His research interests include textile modeling and design, biomedical image informatics, geometric modeling, and bio-inspired self-organization algorithms. He has held research positions at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, the California Institute of Technology, the European Computer Industry Research Center, the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research, and the Rensselaer Design Research Center. Prof. Breen is the author or co-author of over 100 technical papers, articles and book chapters.

Dr. Hrisheekesh Thachoth Chandran

Degree: PhD Physics and Materials Sciences | Program: Dresden Junior Fellowship | Timeframe: September 1, 2024 – February 28, 2025 | Host Institution in Germany: Faculty of Physics, Institute of Applied Physics | Host: Prof. Dr. Karl Leo

Dr. Hrisheekesh Thachoth Chandran joined the Hong Kong Polytechnic University as a Staff Scientist (Research Fellow) in 2022. He completed his PhD in Physics and Materials Science at the City University of Hong Kong in 2017.

During the fellowship at TU Dresden, Dr. Chandran is conducting a research project on infrared photodiodes. Non-invasive near-infrared imaging is essential, particularly in healthcare, pharmaceutical, and surveillance industries, and has primarily relied on photodetectors based on inorganic semiconductors. These detectors are manufactured in complex and expensive processes and require strict hardware requirements, such as expensive megapixel cameras. The research project will therefore develop, and test photodetectors based on organic materials, which are associated with lower costs and high performance. Dr. Chandran will also be involved in teaching. A series of seminars is planned to discuss the basic principles of detectors and specific applications. Application examples of photodetectors will also be demonstrated at events for the "Long Night of Science" and in lectures for students.

The joint research project is intended to serve as a starting point for establishing a long-term cooperation with Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which is a world leader in the field of organic optoelectronics. Joint publications and patent applications are also to result from this.

Dr. Chandran's research focuses on the integration of organic optoelectronic devices into advanced functionalities such as single-pixel imaging, sensitive optical spectroscopy integration, machine learning based vitality surveillance systems as well as photodetection in the short-wave infrared range using novel device architectures and materials. He has already made important contributions to novel opto-electronic devices based on organic semiconductors and (co-)authored 30 scientific publications including lead author publications in Advanced Materials, Materials Horizons and Applied Physics Letters.

Dr. Ali Sanati

Degree: PhD Reservoir Engineering | Program: Dresden Junior Fellowship | Timeframe: August 28, 2024 – October 30, 2024 & March 10, 2025 – April 9, 2025 | Host Institution in Germany: Faculty of Chemistry and Food Chemistry, Chair of Inorganic Molecular Chemistry | Host: Prof. Dr. Jan J. Weigand

Dr. Ali Sanati is currently Assistant Professor of Petroleum Engineering at Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran. He received his PhD in Reservoir Engineering from Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran in 2022.

During the Fellowship stay, the existing cooperation with Dr. Sanati in research on sustainable feedstocks for the petroleum industry will be deepened. Deep eutectic solvents are being investigated as an alternative to conventional chemical additives. These can be tailored to the respective application so that they work more efficiently and are biodegradable. In addition to his research activities, Dr. Sanati is also involved in teaching. Furthermore, a joint DFG proposal will be completed during the fellowship stay.

Dr. Sanati has many years of experience as a university lecturer and an extensive list of publications. He was a visiting researcher at TU Dresden twice during his doctorate. This resulted in joint publications, which will now be built upon.

Prof. Dr. Andrea Nobili

Degree: PhD Material Science | Program: Dresden Senior Fellowship | Timeframe: August 26, 2024 – September 21, 2024| Host Institution in Germany: Faculty of Civil Engineering, Institute of Construction Materials| Host: apl. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Marco Liebscher

Prof. Andrea Nobili currently works as Associate Professor at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. He holds a PhD in Material Science from this university with a thesis on magneto-elastic interaction.

At TU Dresden, Prof. Nobili will conduct a joint research project with Prof. Liebscher on the topic of interphase modeling and design of sustainable composite materials. The project aims to deepen knowledge of the equilibrium underlying any successful composite material, which is based on a delicate balance between its constituents (phases) and their interactions. Of particular interest are highly dynamic and extreme loading scenarios and the sensitivity of the mechanical response to environmental ageing. The results will subsequently be published in a joint publication.

Prof. Nobili will take part in scientific meetings during the Fellowship and hold a seminar on approaches to modeling composite materials for the statistical and mechanical evaluation of test results. His stay is also intended to promote networking and training of doctoral students in the subject areas of the joint research project.

Prof. Nobili has published around 70 papers to date, many of them in collaboration with renowned national and international research groups. In addition to his scientific work in the field of solid mechanics, Prof. Nobili pursues a strongly application-oriented approach to science and so far has contributed to the invention and development of three patents in the field of fiber-reinforced cement composites and sustainable cement mixtures.

Dr. Andrea León

Degree: PhD Physics | Program: Dresden Junior Fellowship | Timeframe: August 8, 2024 – October 8, 2024 & January 1, 2025 – March 30, 2025| Host Institution in Germany: Faculty of Physics, Institute of Solid State and Material Physics | Host: Prof. Dr. Elena Hassinger

Dr. León holds a position as Assistant Professor at the Physics Faculty at the University of Chile, Santiago, Chile. She received her PhD in Physics at the Federico Santa María Technical University, Vaparaíso, Chile.

At TU Dresden, Dr. León will conduct research materials with unique superconducting phenomena. Specifically, she will study the electronic and mechanical properties of Ce,La(RhAs)₂ compounds under pressure and strain using ab-initio calculations and theoretical models. This topic is part of the research interests of Prof. Hassinger's group, which conducts experimental research to explore new quantum phases of matter at low temperatures. It will serve as the starting point for a continuation of collaboration, in which Prof. Hassinger will contribute theoretical calculations.

During her stay at TU Dresden, Dr. León will conduct seminars covering diverse areas of her expertise, including subjects like 2D antiferromagnetic materials and the new phenomenon of altermagnetism, which was discovered only a few years ago.

Dr. León's expertise encompasses material modeling utilizing both ab initio and analytical methods. Her research predominantly investigates emerging quantum phases in strongly correlated materials, particularly magnetic phenomena. After obtaining her PhD, Dr. León has held two postdoctoral research positions in Germany – at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids and later at the Theoretical Chemistry department at TU Dresden.

Dr. Sachin Labade

Degree: PhD English Language and Literature | Program: Dresden Junior Fellowship | Timeframe: July 1, 2024 – August 31, 2024 | Host Institution in Germany: Faculty of Linguistics, Literature and Cultural Studies, Institute of English and American Studies | Host: Prof. Dr. Claudia Lange

Dr. Sachin Labade is Associate Professor at the Department of English at the University of Mumbai, India since 2017. Previously, he completed a PhD in English Language and Literature at Savitribai Phule Pune University, India. Dr. Labade already has contacts with TU Dresden through several short guest stays and joint projects with Prof. Lange in India.

As part of his fellowship, Dr. Labade offers the block seminar "Introduction to Queer Culture in India". This seminar is interdisciplinary in nature and is open to all students in the field. The fellowship will also serve to prepare further joint research projects and publications. This should intensify cooperation with the University of Mumbai. The English Department of the University of Mumbai has already indicated its interest in establishing a joint exchange program.

Dr. Labade completed his doctorate in 2017 with a thesis on the "Positioning of the Queer in Indian Film Narrative" and continues to work on this topic in research and teaching. This topic is unusual in the Indian context, where queer issues are discussed very controversially in public and are not established in university contexts. Outside of academia, Dr. Labade is committed to education and specifically to more equal opportunities in access to English as an indispensable resource for better career prospects. In addition to teaching at the University of Mumbai, he regularly runs "English refresher courses" for teachers and schools in rural Maharashtra.

Dr. Sunil Kumar Boda

Degree: PhD Materials Science | Program: Dresden Junior Fellowship | Timeframe: May 20, 2024 – July 19, 2024 | Host Institution in Germany: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of Materials Science | Host: Prof. Dr. Hans-Peter Wiesmann, PD Dr. Vera Hintze

Dr. Sunil Kumar Boda works as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biosciences and Biomedical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Indore (IIT). In 2016, he completed his PhD with the best dissertation at the Materials Research Center of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

As a fellow at TU Dresden, Dr. Boda will first get to know the current research of the Institute of Materials Science on bone and soft tissue engineering as well as biomaterials for wound healing. This also includes the research facility of the Centre for Translational Bone, Joint and Soft Tissue Research at TU Dresden's Faculty of Medicine (Prof. Michael Gelinsky, Dr. Anja Lode). This will serve as a starting point for an exchange on joint perspectives in research and teaching. In addition, Dr. Boda will be involved in teaching with PD Dr. Vera Hintze on "Materials in Biomedicine". In the long term, Dr. Boda's stay will serve to establish joint research projects and teaching assignments. This is intended to be an important contribution to the Memorandum of Understanding between the Faculty of Engineering at TU Dresden and IIT Indore, which was signed in 2016 and recently renewed.

Dr. Boda is an internationally recognized scientist in the field of biomaterials research for bone and soft tissue regeneration. To date, he has published 28 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 15 of them as first author. In addition, he patented one of his inventions on nanofiber microspheres and their application method in 2019. Dr. Boda also has international and industry-related research experience from his time as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Nebraska, USA, and in various research and medical institutions at the University of Minneapolis, USA, between 2017 and 2021. He is a member of highly respected Indian, but also European and US societies, e.g. the Indian Ceramic Society or the European Society for Biomaterials. In 2021, he received the Dr. R.L. Thakur Memorial Award from the Indian Ceramic Society, which is awarded for demonstrably outstanding contributions in the fields of ceramics, materials science, or materials engineering.

Prof. Dr. Douglas Cairns

Degree: PhD Classical Philology | Program: Dresden Senior Fellowship | Timeframe: May 1, 2024 – June 30, 2024 & April 1, 2025 – June 30, 2025 | Host Institution 1 in Germany: Faculty of Linguistics, Literature and Cultural Studies, Institute of Classical Philology | Host 1: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Mario Baumann | Host Institution 2: Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science, Institute of History | Host 2: Prof. Dr. Christoph Lundgren

Prof. Dr. Douglas is Cairns Professor of Classics in the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh. He completed his PhD in Classics at the University of Glasgow in 1987.

Prof. Cairns will complete his fellowship in both the Department of Classics and the Department of History. The theme of emotions will act as an overarching bracket linking all sub-projects. The fellowship includes workshop and discussion formats for students, doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers as well as joint publication activities.

Prof. Cairns' stay will deepen existing collaborations. He is the recipient of the Anneliese Maier Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and has already worked closely with the Department of Classical Studies at TU Dresden on a wide range of research activities during the associated funding period from 2018-2024. Now the basis for joint project proposals is to be laid. The topic of emotions fits perfectly with the main areas of work of Prof. Lundgren and Prof. Baumann.

Prof. Cairns is a leading international expert on the role of emotions in various social and political contexts in the field of ancient studies. He has taught and researched at international universities, including the University of Otago, New Zealand and the University of St Andrews, UK, before being appointed Professor of Classics at the University of Edinburgh in 2004. Prof. Cairns has received numerous academic awards, including research fellowships from the Humboldt Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust. He is President of the Classical Association of Scotland.

Dr. Yihui Wang

Degree: PhD Traffic Information Engineering and Control | Program: Dresden Senior Fellowship | Timeframe: May 1, 2024 – August 1, 2024 | Host Institution in Germany: "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, Institute of Railway Systems and Public Transport | Host: Prof. Dr. Nikola Bešinović

Dr. Wang has been working as an Associate Professor at the State Key Laboratory of Rail Traffic Control and Safety at Beijing Jiaotong University since 2018. She completed her doctorate in Traffic Information Engineering and Control at the Delft Center for Systems and Control at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

During Dr. Wang's stay at TU Dresden, the existing cooperation with the State Key Laboratory of Rail Traffic Control and Safety at Beijing Jiaotong University will be further expanded. In particular, collaboration is planned on the topic of influencing train traffic in subway systems in the event of natural disruptions such as floods or storms. This research work will subsequently be published in a joint publication. There are also plans to prepare a joint project proposal on this topic for submission to the National Natural Science Foundation of China and a joint workshop application to the Sino-German Center for Science Promotion.

In teaching, Dr. Wang will hold a one-day seminar on "Traffic Management in Urban Rail Systems" and also provide supervision and ad hoc sessions for master's students and PhD students on their research projects.

Dr. Wang is an established researcher in the field of metro operations and rail traffic incident management. She has published in leading journals in the field, including Transportation Research Part B and IEEE Transactions. She is also actively involved in organizations such as the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences and the International Association of Railway Operations Research and has given guest lectures in Europe and Asia.

Dr. Tomasz Dębiec

Degree: PhD Mathematics | Program: Dresden Junior Fellowship | Timeframe: April 1, 2024 – October 1, 2024 | Host Institution in Germany: Faculty of Mathematics, Institute of Scientific Computing | Host: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Markus Schmidtchen

Dr. Tomasz Dębiec is an Assistant Professor at the University of Warsaw, where he also completed his PhD in mathematics in October 2020. He then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Sorbonne Université, France, from 2020 to 2022.

As part of the fellowship, Dr. Dębiec is working on a joint research project with Prof. Schmidtchen, which investigates how different mathematical modeling paradigms can be combined in the context of polymorphic tissues. To this end, Dr. Dębiec is further expanding the mathematical methodology he has developed in a number of recent papers. In particular, the project concerns the combination of two modeling paradigms - viscoelastic tissue models and inviscid tissue models.

Dr. Dębiec will organize a one-week workshop for advanced Master and PhD students between the University of Warsaw and the Technical University of Dresden on "Recent Advances in Tissue Growth Modelling". The workshop will focus on recent advances in mathematical tissue growth modeling. In addition, Dr. Dębiec will give an introductory block lecture on scalar conservation laws, a class of fundamental mathematical equations that describe the conservation of a physical quantity as it evolves in space and time.

Dr. Dębiec's main research interest is the analysis of partial differential equations arising in mathematical physics and biology, e.g. in fluid mechanics, tissue growth and the dynamics of structured populations. In 2021, he received the International Stefan Banach Prize July for his doctoral thesis in mathematical sciences from the Polish Mathematical Society.

Dr. Samira Sasani

Degree: PhD English Literature | Program: Dresden Junior Fellowship | Timeframe: April 1, 2024 – July 31, 2024 | Host Institution in Germany: Faculty of Linguistics, Literature and Cultural Studies, Institute of English and American Studies, Chair of English Literatures | Host: Prof. Dr. Stefan Horlacher

Dr. Samira Sasani completed her PhD in English Literature at the University of Shiraz, Iran, in 2012. Since then, she has been working as an Associate Professor at the Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics at the University of Shiraz.

At TU Dresden, she will be working on a research project on "The Myth of Modern Cities in Literature and Film: A City of Frankenstein". For this purpose, Dr. Sasani will connect Iranian, English and French films and literary texts. Her main interest lies in the myth-forming quality of cities and their representation in literature and film as well as the "cross-cultural relations" that become apparent, for example between Paris, London and Tehran. During her stay, Dr. Sasani will also offer a seminar on "Modernist and Postmodernist English Novels" as well as two public guest lectures.

Dr. Sasani's research interests include postcolonialism, migration novels and diaspora literature, Persian literature, and city and architecture in fiction and film. She has already published two monographs with German publishers. She has also received prizes and awards, as well as two invitations to the University of Toronto, Canada. She has been a member of the Comparative Literature Committee at the Faculty of Humanities at Shiraz University since 2012.

Dr. Katharina Fellnhofer

Degree: PhD Social and Economic Sciences| Program: Dresden Senior Fellowship | Timeframe: February 1, 2024 – July 31, 2024 & June 1, 2024 – August 31, 2024 | Host Institution in Germany: Faculty of Business and Economics, Chair of Business Administration | Host: Prof. Dr. Lars Hornuf

Dr. Katharina Fellnhofer has been awarded the prestigious Marie Curie Fellowship, funded by the European Commission and hosted by the ETH Zurich and Harvard University from 2021 to 2023. She holds a doctorate in Social and Economic Sciences from the University of Innsbruck, Austria.

As part of the fellowship, Dr. Fellnhofer and Prof. Hornuf are conducting a joint research project to investigate the extent to which intuitive decision-making can be used in business. On the one hand, they will analyse how results generated by artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to train people to improve their intuitive decision-making skills. On the other hand, it will be investigated whether people can be trained to recognise human or AI-generated results. Such a distinction is, among other things, the basis for recognising biases and errors in algorithms. For example, humans should be able to distinguish whether financial advice comes from an AI or whether the AI has made a mistake when generating the advice. Dr. Fellnhofer will also take part in a public event at TU Dresden. The long-term goal of the fellowship is to establish cooperation in the field of intuitive decision-making between TU Dresden and ETH Zurich.

Dr. Fellnhofer's research focuses on social psychology, gender differences, sustainable entrepreneurship and social innovation. After completing her dissertation, Dr. Fellnhofer established an Austrian enterprise to lead research and innovation projects. Through this company, she has managed a research portfolio totalling over 9 million euros. Furthermore, Dr. Fellnhofer has been serving as independent expert for the European Commission and several governments and authorities. Additionally, she is a publicly appointed, sworn, and court-certified expert witness for business consultancy, the science of management, and business administration. So far, she has published more than 40 peer-reviewed articles dedicated to entrepreneurship in high-impact journals.

Dr. Binbin Liu

Degree: PhD in Mechanical Engineering | Program: Dresden Senior Fellowship | Timeframe: January 13, 2024 – March 31, 2024 | Host Institution in Germany: "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, Institute of Transport Planning and Road Traffic | Host: Prof. Dr. Regine Gerike

Dr. Binbin Liu works as a Senior Researcher at the Politecnico di Milano, Italy, where he completed his PhD with distinction on the dynamics of rail vehicles and wheel-rail contact in 2016.

His research project at TU Dresden aims at developing a fast approach to estimate the wear distribution over the wheel-rail contact area, which is suitable for integration into the simulation of rail vehicle dynamics. As part of the collaboration, a new calculation method for estimating wheel wear is to be developed. The long-term goal of the collaboration is to develop a fast and reliable wheel wear model for practical applications, which will lead to scientific publications and establish industrial collaborations. Dr. Liu will also be involved in teaching and hold, among other things, seminars on wheel-rail contact mechanics and vehicle dynamics. He will also hold interdisciplinary workshops on wheel-rail contact modelling and wheel-rail damage prediction.

Dr. Liu's research focuses mainly on the dynamics of rail vehicle systems as well as contact mechanics and active control of rail vehicles. Dr. Liu has so far obtained three projects from international industrial funding agencies and has been involved in several Horizon 2020 projects. In addition, Dr. Liu has been working on scientific research projects with international universities and companies such as the University of Salford, the University of Sheffield, UK, the Warsaw University of Technology, Poland, the Technical University of Valencia, Spain, and Vtech CMCC, the Netherlands. Dr. Liu is also a member of the International Association for Vehicle System Dynamics and Associate Editor of Vehicle System Dynamics.

Prof. Dr. Carlos E. Cava

Degree: PhD Material Science | Program: Dresden Senior Fellowship | Timeframe: January 1, 2024 – June 30, 2024 | Host Institution in Germany: Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Institute of Materials Science, Chair of Materials Science and Nanotechnology | Host: Prof. Dr. Gianaurelio Cuniberti

Prof. Dr. Carlos E. Cava has been working as an Associate Professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Federal Technological University of Paraná (UFPR), Brazil, since 2020. He obtained his PhD in Material Science in a tandem program between UFPR and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.

At TU Dresden, he will be working with Prof Cuniberti's research group on a project on gas sensors and produce a prototype for measuring breath alcohol for medical diagnostics. Using machine learning technology, the aim is to select combinations of materials that are calibrated to recognise gases that are markers for medical diseases in the breath. The prototype will be developed to recognize traces of ammonia in an environment that simulates human exhaled air. Subsequently, the same methodology will be applied to other gases such as acetone and methane. Prof. Cava is also involved in the training and supervision of students, including lectures in the courses "Introduction to Bionanotechnology" and "Nanostructured Materials".

Prof. Cava has expertise in 1D and 2D nanomaterials and their potential applications, e.g. in memory devices, solar cells and gas sensors. At his home university, he heads a research group in the field of thermodynamics and nanotechnology. He also coordinates a Master's programme and is involved in supervising students. To date, he has supervised more than 20 theses. Prof. Cava is a member of the Society for Materials Research Brazil.

Prof. Dr. Yanina Fasano

Degree: PhD Physics | Program: Dresden Senior Fellowship | Timeframe: January 1, 2024 – March 31, 2024 | Host Institution in Germany: Faculty of Physics, Institute of Solid State and Materials Physics, Chair Experimental Physics & Leibniz Institute of Solid State & Material Research | Host: Prof. Dr. Bernd Büchner

Prof. Dr. Yanina Fasano has been working as an Adjoint Professor at the Instituto Balseiro at the Cuyo National University in Argentina since 2021. She has also been a research fellow at the National Research Council of Argentina since 2014.

During her stay at TU Dresden, Prof. Fasano will investigate the layered material trigonal PtBi2 using scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy in order to gain insights for basic research and possible applications in quantum technology. The aim of the project is to find out more about the topological nature of superconductivity in this material and to investigate the influence of interfaces and defects. In addition, Prof. Fasano is planning a lecture in Dresden on the topic of "Phenomenology of Condensed Matter", in which she will give a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art in terms of structural, thermodynamic, magnetic and electronic properties of materials relevant to applications such as quantum computing. Prof. Fasano has already been a visiting scientist at the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research in 2021/2022 and 2023. During these stays, she conducted experiments on scanning tunnelling spectroscopy in iron-based superconductors.

Prof. Fasano is one of the leading experimental scientists in the field of superconductivity in Argentina and has gained an international reputation in the field of spectroscopic properties of superconductors. She is the recipient of the 2021 Houssay Prize, awarded by the Argentinian Ministry of Science, and the Georg Forster Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Prof Fasano has published a total of 69 papers to date, including in renowned journals such as Nature. She is a member of the scientific advisory board of the Argentinian Neutron Beam Laboratory (LAHN), which is currently being built in Buenos Aires. She is also the national coordinator of the Commission for Physics Scholarships of CONICET, the Argentine National Council for Scientific and Technical Research, and an active member of the Argentine Physical Society.

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