Materials Research Prize awards outstanding research

“With the Materials Research Prize for Young Investigators, we would like to acknowledge the achievements of young researchers who have not yet firmly established themselves in academia,” explains Ralph Spolenak, Professor of Nanometallurgy and Head of the Department of Materials. The response to the first call for nominations was very positive: “We received applications from most of the world’s leading universities.

Bozhi Tian, Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago, triumphed over the stiff competition. Tian researches interactions between biological and electronic systems; for example, he examines how the behaviour of cells can be mimicked with semiconducting nanomaterials or how special nanomaterials can be used to measure the electrical conductivity of cells.

“Tian combines hard and soft materials in his research and connects the living with the lifeless,” explains Spolenak. “The bridge between these two poles is a major area in today’s materials science, one that is not only important for medicine, but also enables interesting applications in many other areas.”

The new prize is worth CHF 10,000 and will be awarded every two years. It is financed by the revenue received by the department from an emeritus professor’s lucrative patent.