Home

Interview with PhD Student Muchao Qu

Muchao Qu came to Germany in 2010 to study the language of German in Stuttgart for one year. Afterwards, he commenced a Master´s degree in Chemistry at the Technische Universität Chemnitz (Technical University of Chemnitz) which he finished in 2014. Since 2015, he is pursuing his PhD at FAU´s Institute of Polymer Materials (LSP) where he carries out research on Conductive Polymer Composites (CPC). Read on …

FAU hosted a special edition of the Brown Bag Breaks with the FAU-Ambassadors:

Professor Dr. Enrique Zuazua from Spain and Professor Vijay K. Bhargava, PhD from Canada provided interesting insights into their international academic careers and transnational experiences.

Go to photo gallery

The warning message that tells you a visit to the garage is needed and the engine that stalls at the traffic lights: it seems that no car can manage without communication and power networks.

But they are also essential components in trains and aeroplanes, various types of machines, telecommunications systems and computers, household appliances and entertainment electronics, wind power and photovoltaic systems, not to mention control equipment and medical devices. Researchers at FAU are looking at ways to make these highly complex on-board networks meet the ever greater demands placed on them. The European Regional Development Fund is funding the project ‘E|Connect – efficient communication and power networking in mechatronic systems’ with 2.2 million euros. Read on …

The origin of the granular capillary effect – the rise of sand or other granules in a tube – was a long-standing mystery. Only recently did an international team of physicists succeed in unveiling it. Further research may open up new ways to move materials, leading to promising new applications in trade and industry.

Dipping a tube into a container filled with water will make the water rise in the tube. This phenomenon is called liquid capillarity. It is responsible for many natural and technical processes, for example the water absorption of trees, ink rising in a fountain pen, and sponges absorbing dishwater. Read on …

Researchers’ reputations are often measured by how often their publications are cited. The CWTS Leiden Ranking shows that FAU researchers are among the most frequently cited. FAU was even able to improve on its excellent ranking of the previous year at both the national and international levels.

In Germany, FAU progressed three places in comparison with the previous year, climbing from 13th place into the top ten. On an international level as well, FAU is holding its own: within Europe as a whole, FAU has improved eight places to reach rank 80. Internationally, it has reached 186th place and is now in the top 200, moving up two places from 202nd place in the previous year. Read on …

It has only been one year since the material scientists around Prof. Erdmann Spiecker from the Centre for Nanoanalysis and Electron Microscopy (CENEM) at FAU were granted funding for one of the world’s best X-ray microscopes and they could already help unravelling an open question in butterfly research with fascinating 3D analyses. Their results have recently been published in the renowned scientific journal Science Advances.

Fascinating colours generated by photonic crystals Who is not fascinated by the wonderful iridescent colours of butterfly wings? Those who want to find out more about this phenomenon will realise that often the colour is not generated by pigments, rather by periodic structures made of chitin, a structure-forming polysaccharide. Read on …

FAU is synonymous with innovation: In Reuters latest ranking of Europe’s most innovative universities, FAU is ranked at number 6. This is in line with last year’s position. FAU also remains at second place among German universities.

Although at first glance Europe’s most innovative universities appear to have little in common – there are just as many denominational, state and private universities occupying the top spots as traditional establishments and some which are just a few years or a few decades old – they do share one thing: their power of innovation. Read on …

FAU has once again performed excellently in the Centre for Higher Education’s (CHE) current university ranking and is ranked among the best for business law, information systems, industrial engineering and management, and business studies.

Information systems and business studies were each awarded top marks in two categories. Both subjects were praised for the support offered at the beginning of study programmes, as was industrial engineering and management. In addition, information systems was rated highly for the number of its research publications, and business studies for the high number of students completing their degree course within a reasonable time. Read on …

Jiao Tong University, Shanghai – FAU, 2nd Joint Workshop on Combustion and Material Processing/Engineering, March 2017

FAU: Prof. Stefan Will, Prof. Jürgen Karl, Prof. Günter Leugering, Dr.-Ing. Florian Klämpfl, Prof. Michael Schmidt, Dr.-Ing. Hinnerk Hagenah, Dr.-Ing. Lars Zigan – SJTU: Dr.-Ing. Yi Gao, Prof. Xincun Zhuang, Prof. Dong Han, Prof. Junliang Zhang, Prof. He Lin, Prof. Fei Qi

FAU researchers help develop research infrastructure in Slovakia

FunGlass is the title of an EU project with funds of 15 million euros aimed at establishing a new centre of excellence for improved glass materials in the Slovakian city of Trencin. The Institute of Bio-materials at FAU is participating in the scientific development of the centre. FunGlass is financed through an EU Horizon 2020 Teaming project that supports EU countries with a developing research infrastructure. The Institute of Bio-materials at FAU is one of four international partners cooperating in the development of the centre of excellence, the others being Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Padua University in Italy and the Madrid Institute for Ceramics and Glass in Spain. Research activities will focus on the functional properties of glass and how they can be used in new applications. Read on …

FAU ranks among the best 150 universities worldwide in four subject areas according to the latest QS World University Ranking published by the education information service provider Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).

In addition to materials science and chemical engineering, chemistry and physics are now also among the top 150. In medicine, humanities, engineering, economics, natural sciences and social sciences, FAU was listed as one of the best 350 universities in the world in twelve subjects. FAU was listed in four out of five subject groups and is now among the top 200 in engineering and medicine, and among the top 150 in natural sciences. This year’s ranking saw the humanities climb six places with engineering making the greatest leap forward, improving by 48 places. Read on …

FAU material researchers have come a step closer to their goal of providing large diamond foils for practical applications.

In a test reactor, they have succeeded in producing the world’s largest diamond foil with a diameter of 28 centimetres. Diamond foils can be used as ultimate wear protection in industrial applications and for research into thermoelectric power generation – an emerging market. The researchers have recently published their findings on diamond foils in the acclaimed journals ‘Philosophical Transactions A’ and ‘Carbon’.* Read on …

FAU material researcher receives 2 million euro ERC Consolidator Grant

While his childhood friends built things, Erik was always more intrigued by how and why things break. Prof. Dr. Erik Bitzek has consistently followed this passion for materials, their structures, and their breaking points. This Ludwigsburg Native never minded if his observations were drawn from stones in his mineral collection, his favorite chocolate, or steel. After studying physics in Stuttgart, Bitzek started his doctorate at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research (now MPI for Intelligent Systems), turning this vocation into a profession. Now he has received a coveted ERC consolidator scholarship worth two million euros from the European Research Council (ERC) – to explore even more intensively why things break apart. With his latest research project ‘microKIc – Read on …

2017 challenge focuses on medical engineering to help treat movement disorders

In spring 2017, Germany’s Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) invites researchers in medicine and engineering from around the world to enter the second FAU Open Research Challenge. The global online contest this year focuses on FAU’s major research area of Health Technology and medical engineering. The winner will receive access to a three-month trial at their home location (or other if appropriate) using the new eGaIT mobile sensor based gait analysis system, developed by a FAU consortium in Germany’s Medical Valley innovation hub. Read on …

An outstanding success for FAU – the German Research Foundation (DFG) has extended the Collaborative Research Centre SFB/TRR 73 which will be funded with approximately EUR 4.7 million over the next four years. The objective of the upcoming project phase is to develop manufacturing processes for sheet bulk metal forming in industry. Read on…