Nine million for particle technology

University establishes a unique centre within Germany

The University of Erlangen-Nuremberg has reason to celebrate: the German federal Joint Science Conference (GWK) has decided to provide around 9 million Euros in funding for the construction of a new building for materials research. Erlangen’s application was placed top of the GWK’s priority list beating numerous other projects. The new building is to be constructed on the southern part of the Erlangen campus and will be developed into a centre for the university’s research activities in the field of particle technology. Here researchers from the fields of chemistry, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, physics, mathematics and material science will be able to work together on joint projects.

Erlangen researchers aim to bring together science-based fundamental research and its engineering implementation in the centre, with the goal of researching and developing new hierarchically structured materials with tailor-made electrical, optical, catalytic and mechanical properties. Researchers from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg are already pursuing this approach in the “Engineering of Advanced Materials” Cluster of Excellence, part of Germany’s Excellence Initiative, which will form the heart of the new centre. “This interdisciplinary collaboration between material research and particle technology with a particular focus on photonics, electronics and catalysis, which we have built up here in Erlangen, is unique in Germany,” said the cluster’s coordinator, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Peukert. “The new research building will create unique opportunities for our researchers.”

Professorships which have been created within the framework of the Cluster of Excellence will be assigned space in the new building. Rooms will also be provided for research assistants and guest researchers. The new building will also have physics and chemistry laboratories, a test centre for the production and processing of particles, and offices – all available for researchers to conduct joint research work.

“We are very proud of the fact the GWK were won over with our particle research centre. This means that we can continue to develop the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg’s existing focus on new materials and processes and continue to sustainably expand after the Excellence Initiative phase of funding,” said the rector of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Prof. Dr. Karl-Dieter Grüske. He went on to congratulate all researchers working with Professor Peukert on their success.

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uni | media service | news No. 145/2009 of 10.06.2009