Get to know newly appointed professors at the Faculty of Engineering – this time: Prof. Dr. Ian Marius Peters, Professorship for Sustainable Materials for Renewable Energy Conversion in the Department Materials Science
and Engineering since July 17, 2026.
What is your main area of research?
Sustainability of renewable energy and specifically photovoltaics.
Why did you choose these topics?
Photovoltaics is the key technology for clean energy in the 21st century. For me, this is about a better future for our planet.
Where were you before coming to FAU?
I have been in Erlangen since 2019 and work here at the Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy Production (HIERN). Before that, I was at MIT in Cambridge, in Singapore and at Fraunhofer ISE in Freiburg.
Where did you study and what subjects?
In Freiburg, physics.
Which events and activities would you like to take part in in Erlangen and the surroundings?
I like being outdoors. There are plenty of places to visit in and around Erlangen.
What is your most useful tool as a professor?
In lectures? My voice.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Sailor.
Do you have a role model? If so, did they influence your academic or professional career?
David Attenborough. I find his love of nature and his continued commitment to protecting it well into old age incredibly impressive! Has that influenced me? Perhaps in the sense that I hope to have a similar kind of positive impact.
Have you got any hidden talents?
I can fold a boat out of almost any piece of paper (see childhood career ambition).
Is there something you’ve always wanted to do?
I actually also do the things I’ve always wanted to do. Or do you mean things I’d still like to do at the moment? Watching a whale shark in the wild, preferably while diving, would be one.
Contact
Prof. Dr. Ian Marius Peters
Chair of Sustainable Materials for Renewable Energy Conversion
ian.marius.peters@fau.de