Following the recommendations of the Scientific Committee, four new scientists have joined IMDEA-materials to develop the research lines of the Institute.
Dr. Alf A. Zhu (Ph D in Materials Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1993) held a senior position at the University of Virginia. He has previously held positions at the US Air Force Research Laboratory, the Forschungszentrum Jülich, and the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He joins IMDEA-materials as a Senior Researcher to lead the research group on the Development of Advanced Engineering Alloys. His research interests are focused in the intelligent design of new Mg-, Al- and Ni-based engineering alloys with particular structures (amorphous, nano-structured and in-situ coatings) and in the microstructural optimization of multi-phase alloys for high performance engineering applications. Dr. Zhu has published over forty papers on these topics and has received the Lise-Meitner Award from the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Jon Molina (Ph D in Materials Science and Metallurgy, Cambridge University, 2002) was a tenured researcher at CEIT and associated professor of Materials Science at the University of Navarre. He joins IMDEA-materials as a Junior Researcher to lead the research group of Nanomechanics and Micromechanics of Advanced Materials. He has held post-doctoral positions at the Department of Physics, University of Linköping, and at Intel Corporation, and his research interests cover the design and optimization of the mechanical properties of thin-films, interfaces and nanocomposites, and he is currently coordinator of the European Project INTERFACE, funded by the European Union, which comprises 11 European institutions. Dr. Molina has published more than twenty papers in international journals.
Dr. Margarita Darder (Ph D in Chemistry, Autonomous University of Madrid, 2000) was a research associate at the Institute of Materials Science of Madrid (CSIC) and has been awarded a Ramón y Cajal grant to join IMDEA-materials as a Junior Scientist and to lead the research group on Polymer-based Nanocomposites. She has held post-doctoral positions at the Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie des Polymères et des Milieux Dispersés (Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles) and at the Microelectronics Institute of Barcelona (CSIC). Her research activities cover the area of synthesis and characterization of new hybrid materials with tailored structural and functional properties, based on the assembly of synthetic and natural polymers with inorganic solids of porous texture and lamellar or fibrous morphology such as clay minerals. She has published more than thirty papers on these topics.
Dr. Fernando Lasagni (Ph D in Materials Science, Technical University of Vienna, 2006) joins IMDEA-materials as a post-doctoral research associate. His research activities have been focused in the microstructural characterization of the engineering materials using novel techniques (FIB, microtomography, etc.) and has co-authored ten publications in international refereed journals on these topics.
