ERC Grant for Wilhelm Auwärter
News from Physics Department – 2014-02-14
Dr. Wilhelm Auwärter of the physics department receives an ERC Consolidator Grant of the European Union, that amounts to about two million Euros. The Physik-Department is successfully involved with the Seventh Framework Program (FP7) of the EU: a total of ten ERC projects have been granted.
Dr. Wilhelm Auwärter creates nanoscale model systems on atomically tailored surfaces, enabling the study and control of single-molecule processes as well as self-assembly of supramolecular structures. His group is pioneering a novel approach using ultra-thin textured layers of boron nitride as a substrate. This research is inspired by the chemistry of life – which shows how functionally versatile a single set of molecular building blocks can be – and oriented toward innovation in nanotechnology.
New insights are expected to bring new capabilities, such as advances in tuning electronic, magnetic, and optoelectronic properties on the molecular level. Discoveries at this junction of surface science, supramolecular chemistry, and materials engineering could open the way for molecular sensors, switches, catalysts, and devices. Auwärter is a member of the TUM Physics Department and the Excellence Cluster “Munich-Centre for Advanced Photonics” (MAP), and he has been supported by a Carl von Linde Junior Fellowship of the TUM Institute for Advanced Study.
Physik-Department captures a total of ten ERC Grants
The framework programs concentrate the research funding activities of the European Union, with FP7 covering the application period from 2007 to 2013.
ERC Grants, awarded to outstanding scientists by the European Research Council, are among the most important support programs of the EU. The ERC created a new category of support in 2013 with the Consolidator Grants. It awards them to young scientists who already show several years of postdoctoral research experience with promising achievements. Out of around 3600 project ideas submitted, the ERC selected just 312 to be funded, including those of Wilhelm Auwärter, whose project is going to run until 2019.
Already in June 2013 Dr. Zeynep Ökten from the Chair of Cell Bio Physics recieved an ERC grant as well.
All in all, the Physik-Department accounts for ten projects and about a third of all ERC grants attracted by TUM. Thus, it has a substantial contribution towards the leading position of TUM’s research funding.
So far, Physik-Department has attracted funding of the following ERC grants:
Starting Grants
- Prof. Dr. Franz Pfeiffer Lehrstuhl für Angewandte Biophysik Projekt: X-Ray Bioimaging
- Prof. Dr. Hendrik Dietz Physik Department - Fachgebiet Experimentelle Biophysik Projekt: DNA ORIGAMI DEVICES
- Dr. Pierre Thibault Lehrstuhl für Angewandte Biophysik Projekt: OPTIMAX
- Prof. Dr. Alexander Holleitner Fachgebiet Nanotechnologie und -materialien Projekt: NanoREAL
- Dr. Zeynep Ökten Lehrstuhl für Zellbiophysik Projekt: DissectIFT
Consolidator Grants
- Dr. Wilhelm Auwärter Lehrstuhl für Molekulare Nanowissenschaften und Chemische Physik von Grenzflächen (Prof. Barth) Projekt: NanoSurfs
Advanced Grants
- Prof. Dr. Johannes Barth Lehrstuhl für Molekulare Nanowissenschaften und Chemische Physik von Grenzflächen (Prof. Barth) Projekt: MolArt
- Prof. Dr. Andrzej Buras Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Physik IV Projekt: FLAVOUR
- Prof. Dr. Christian Pfleiderer Fachgebiet Magnetische Materialien Projekt: TOPFIT
- Prof. Dr. Andreas Bausch Lehrstuhl für Zellbiophysik Projekt: SelfOrg
Contact
Lehrstuhl für Molekulare Nanowissenschaften und Chemische Physik von Grenzflächen (Prof. Barth) Physik-Department Technische Universität München James-Franck-Str.1 85748 Garching Tel.: +49 89 289 12399 E-Mail: wau (at) tum.de
Links
- TUM press release ERC Grants for Wilhelm Auwärter and Thomas Misgeld
- EU projects at TUM (German)
- ERC-Grant-Programm
- European Research Council
- Wilhelm Auwärter’s project description’ at the European Commission