David Landau of the University of Georgia and Hartmut Zabel of the Ruhr University Bochum appointed MAINZ Visiting Professors
31.10.2013
The Graduate School of Excellence "Materials Science in Mainz" (MAINZ) has founded a MAINZ Visiting Professorship. This can be used to invite scientists from abroad to carry out their research at the graduate school and cooperate with MAINZ doctoral candidates. The visiting professorship can be awarded to up to two recipients each year. The holders may spend up to 12 months at MAINZ over the following three years. During their stay, they will also help train the doctoral candidates at the graduate school by means of lectures, workshops and alike. The first two recipients are Professor David Landau of the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, USA, and Professor Hartmut Zabel of the Ruhr University Bochum in Germany.
Professor David Landau is a member of the Center for Simulational Physics at the University of Georgia. He is a pioneer in the development of computer simulation methods in the field of Condensed Matter Physics. He enjoys considerable international prestige as a result of his Monte-Carlo and spin dynamics simulations. Landau has published a total of more than 400 research papers. His popularity as a speaker at international conferences and summer schools bears witness to his reputation as a lecturer. He began collaborating with Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in 1985, resulting in the publication of the book "A Guide to Monte-Carlo Simulations in Statistical Physics" by Cambridge University Press in 2000. It is now seen as the standard work on the subject and Professor Landau is currently editing a fourth edition in cooperation with Professor Kurt Binder of Mainz University. Landau was previously in Mainz in 1988 and 1994/1995 as an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation laureate.
Professor Hartmut Zabel is one of the world's leading Materials Science researchers. His research interests are broad and varied. In his earlier work, he examined the phase transitions of hydrogen in metals; later he turned to researching graphite intercalation compounds, which now, about 25 years later, have recently attracted new scientific interest in the form of graphene. He is also one of the few scientists to have made important contributions to understanding both soft and hard condensed matter. His publications include more than 480 research papers and he is the author of five books and has received numerous awards. Zabel's research interests coincide with those of the MAINZ Graduate School of Excellence at many levels, including the investigation of Heusler compounds as materials for spintronics.
The MAINZ Graduate School of Excellence was initially approved under the Federal and State Government Excellence Initiative in 2007 and received a five-year funding extension in the second round in 2012 – a huge success for the Mainz materials scientists and a massive boost for the promotion and mentoring of young research talents. The graduate school is composed of work groups of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, the University of Kaiserslautern, and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research. One research focus is spintronics, whereby cooperation with leading international partners also plays an important role. The Graduate School "Materials Science in Mainz" provides excellent training in the field of materials science to top rank doctoral candidates in the natural sciences from Germany and abroad.