Nanotechnology

Rainer Waser is Professor of Physics at the faculty for Electrical Engineering and Information Technology of the RWTH Aachen University and Director at the Institute of Solid State Research (IFF) at the HGF Research Center Julich, Germany. After work at the Philips Research Laboratory, Aachen, until he was appointed professor in 1992. He has been honored with the IEEE "Ferroelectrics Recognition Award 2000". Harald Krug is Professor at the Institut for Toxikology und Genetics a the Research Centre Karlsruhe (FZK). His research focus on the health and environmental risks of nanotechnology. Viola Vogel is heading the Laboratory for Biologically Oriented Materials at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. She received her Ph. D. in Physics at Frankfurt University, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley. She joined the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington in 1990, was the Founding Director of the Center for Nanotechnology at the University of Washington ('97-'03). Her interdisciplinary research program centers in bionanotechnology. She served the scientific community in many capacities which includes selection committees for the British Marshall Fund Fellowships ('93-'95), the German Ministry of Science and Education (BMBF) ('98), and as US Representative on the Council of Scientists of the Human Frontier Science Program ('03-'04). She was involved in program and technology assessments for NIH (ongoing), the National Research Council ("NASA's Microgravity Research" & "Reshape the Education in Lifesciences"), as PCAST panel member preparing for Clinton's "Presidential National Nanotechnology Initiative" ('99) and for the European Academy ('03-present). She is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). Gunther Schmid studied chemistry at the University of Munich, did his habilitation in Marburg before he became Professor in Essen. His research focus on the border between chemistry and physics, especially on clusters, colloids and nanoscience. After retiring he founded a company for the applications of nanoscience. He is author and editor of books and member in the editorial team of the European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry. In 2003 he got the prestigious Wilhelm-Klemm award of the German Chemical Society. Harald Fuchs studied physics at the University of Saarbrucken, and did his Ph.D. in materials physics about nanocrystalline systems. Afterwards he was working at the IBM laboratories in Ruschlikon, Switzerland, and at the BASF, Germany. In 1993 he moved to the University of Munster as Director of the Institute of Physics. In addition, he is founder of the Center of Nanoscience in Munster, the Director of the Institute of Nanotechnology at the FIZ Karlsruhe, and founder of start-up companies . His research focuses on nanoscience and analytics as modern microscopy methods. He got the Philip Morris award in 1994 and is member of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina. Michael Gratzel directs the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces at the Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne. He pioneered research on energy and electron transfer reactions in materials and their optoelectronic applications, and discovered a new type of solar cell. Author of over 500 publications, two books and inventor or co-inventor of over 40 patents he was an invited professor at the University of California at Berkeley, the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Cachan (Paris) and is presently part-time distinguished visiting professor at the Delft University of Technology. He was a frequent guest scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden Colorado, was a fellow of the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, and received numerous awards including the Millenium 2000 European innovation prize, the 2001 Faraday Medal of the British Royal Society, the 2001 Dutch Havinga Award, the 2004 Italgas Prize, two McKinsey Venture awards in 1998 and 2002 and the 2005 Gerischer Prize. He is holding a doctors degree from the TU Berlin and honorary doctors degrees from the Universities of Uppsala and Turin. He was elected honorary member of the Societe Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles. Viola Vogel heads the Laboratory for Biologically Oriented Materials at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. She received her PhD in physics from Frankfurt University, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley. Her interdisciplinary research program centers on bionanotechnology. Harald Fuchs studied physics at the University of Saarbrucken, and did his PhD in materials physics on nanocrystalline systems. After working at the IBM laboratories in Ruschlikon, Switzerland, and at BASF, Germany, he became Director of the Institute of Physics at the University of Munster. His research focuses on nanoscience and analytics as modern microscopy methods.