Guest Researcher Program
Leran more about the CRC visiting researchers and Mercator Fellows.
Table of contents
Prof. Dr. Katherine A. Mirica
September - October 2025
Prof. Dr. Katherine A. Mirica The research in the Mirica Group focuses on addressing global challenges in healthcare and environmental stewardship through innovations in Materials Chemistry. The experimental strategy emphasizes molecular design and synthesis of responsive materials compatible with the unique demands of low-power, portable, affordable, easy-to-use electronic sensing devices. An important aspect of research in the group is a feedback loop between fundamental and applied science, where the fundamental understanding of interactions of small molecules with responsive materials is used, probed, and refined in functional devices. Materials and methods developed in the group may also be applicable to information storage, and energy storage, conversion, and catalysis.
Prof. Dr. Thomas J. Kempa
June - July 2025
Prof. Dr. Thomas J. Kempa is an Associate Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering (by courtesy) at Johns Hopkins University. He earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Boston College (2004) and studied at Imperial College London on a Marshall Scholarship. At Harvard University, under Prof. Charles Lieber, he developed nanoscale materials for advanced solar cells and photonic devices, earning his PhD in 2012. He then pursued postdoctoral research with Prof. Daniel Nocera at MIT and Harvard, focusing on electrochemical and hydrodynamic methods for creating inorganic nanostructures. His accolades include the MRS Graduate Student Award, the Dudley Herschbach Teaching Award, and the 2013 IUPAC Young Chemist Prize.
Prof. Dr. Jun Lou
Mach - April 2025
Prof. Dr. Jun Lou is Associate Chair of the Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering. He obtained his B.E. and M.S. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from Tsinghua University and Ohio State University, respectively, and his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering and Princeton Materials Institute at Princeton University. He then did his postdoctoral research in the Brown/GM collaborative research center at Brown University before joining Rice University.
Prof. Dr. Peter Möck
March - April 2024
Prof. Peter Möck studied crystallography in Germany at Leipzig and Berlin University. In the year 2000, he migrated to the USA to take up a position as research assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Since 2002, he has been on the faculty of the Department of Physics at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. His current research interests include all aspects of applied crystallography.
Prof. Dr. Jong-Beom Baek
September 2023 - August 2024
Jong-Beom Baek is a distinguished professor/director of the Department of Energy and Chemical Engineering/Center for Dimension-Controllable Organic Frameworks, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), South Korea. His current research interests include the syntheses of two- and three-dimensional high-performance organic network structures and the chemical modifications of carbon-based materials for multifunctional applications, including energy conversion and storage.
Dr. Steven Erwin
November 2023
Dr. Steven Erwin is the Head of the Theory of Advanced Functional Materials Section in U. S. Naval Research Laboratory (Washington/USA), his work has earned worldwide recognition in the areas of semiconductor surface physics, doped nanocrystals, dilute magnetic semiconductors, and C60 fulleride solids. Dr. Erwin's work at NRL has stimulated new research worldwide. He has made influential and lasting contributions to the field of theoretical and condensed-matter physics and is regularly cited and discussed in research literature, textbooks, and numerous national and international trade journals.
Prof. Dr. Donglin Jiang
June - July, 2023
Prof. Dr. Donglin Jiang, National University of Singapore, has been widely recognized as a distinguished scientist in the area of 2D polymers and covalent organic frameworks (COFs). His research group is devoted on the chemistry, physics and materials of 2D polymers and covalent organic frameworks (COFs). In particular his group is exploring the basis of these fields, e.g. uniqueness of the materials, and novel application platforms for semiconductors, photoenergy conversion, carbon dioxide separation/transformation, green catalysts, ion conduction, mass transport, and energy storage.
Prof. Dr. Lifeng Chi
March - April, 2023
Prof. Lifeng Chi is a distinguished professor at Soochow University, China. Her research group owns first-class equipments and has rich experience in high-resolution characterization, structure preparation, device preparation, etc. The research directions include: 1) research on self-assembly behavior of molecules, 2) on-surface chemistry, 3) functional molecular materials and structural surfaces as well as 4) characterization of physical properties of surface microdomains.
Prof. Dr. Hongjie Dai
July - August, 2022
Prof. Hongjie Dai, Stanford University, research interest focus on carbon-based nanosciences, in particular oriented carbon synthesis, physics and electronic devices of single-walled carbon nanotubes including field effect transistors and electronic sensors.
Prof. Dr. Petko Petkov
January - February, 2022 // Dezember 2023
The research interests of Prof. Petkov, University Sophia, Bulgaria, are focused on computational chemistry of framework materials, in particular zeolites, metal-organic frameworks and covalent-organic frameworks. In Addition, Prof. petko Petkov focuses on applications in computational spectroscopy and catalysis.