Our unit continues to grow this Autumn semester 2023

The new semester ?? brings incredible new people to our ever-expanding team! Join us in welcoming Nicolai St?vring , Amit Barua , and Tomasz Galica (L-R)! We asked them a few questions about their research, and a few extras to get to know them better! What motivates them, how do they recharge, and who inspires them? ?? Let's find out! #MaterialsEngineeringMondays

? Hello, welcome to Materials Engineering! It would be great to start by telling us something about yourself and your background.??

Nicolai: Hi, I’m Nicolai, I’m from Denmark and I am working as a Ph.D. student at DTU - Technical University of Denmark under DTU Nanolab with Stephan Keller as my main supervisor. I have gotten both B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees at DTU in Physics and Nanotechnology. My specialization during my studies was cleanroom processing/fabrication (Microchip fabrication) and biophysics.?

Amit: Hi, I am Amit, a versatile engineer with a background in electronics, material science and nanotechnology. I have joined as a Research Assistant in the Flexible Device group headed by Vipul Sharma .? Previously, I completed my MSc in Electronics at 南丹麦大学 and have previously conducted as a student research assistant in the Smart Materials Group. Check here: https://www.sdu.dk/en/forskning/c_nanosyd/forskningsomrader/smart-materials?

Tomasz: Hi, I’m Tomasz, I came from Poland. I did my PhD in crystallography at Wroc?aw University of Science and Technology , and my last position was at 筑波大学 , Japan. I have some non-academic experience in programming and cloud server technology. Now I’m working in the Materials Informatics Laboratory with Milica Todorovi? .??

?We would love to hear a brief overview of the exciting work you're involved in. Could you provide us with some insights into your current project???

Nicolai: My research has primarily been focused on the cleanroom fabrication of pyrolytic carbon electrodes with some electrochemical characterization. The carbon electrodes are to be used in electrochemical sensing and the goal has been to investigate novel fabrication schemes to improve sensitivity and reproducibility of the electrodes. I have come to Turku to research under the wings of Emilia Peltola and her group to apply the electrodes fabricated on relevant electrochemical sensing use - cases such as #dopaminesensing.???

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Amit: We are looking into biological architectures and producing novel bioinspired materials that are highly durable and sustainable, as well as how we can use them to fabricate #flexibledevices and #electronicskin for IoT and healthcare applications. My responsibilities are to fabricate and characterize flexible sensors, develop these sensors as electronic-skins and demonstrate electronic-skins in real-world conditions.??

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Tomasz: I am working together with Milica Todorovi? and Matilda Sipil? in #DeeperMaterials project. We are collaborating with the #TurkuNLP group to implement machine learning methods in materials engineering. We are interested in natural language processing (#NLP), for extracting data from scientific publications. My current task is to visualize textual information and reduce high-dimensional data to a form which is easy to analyze and understand for humans.?

Fascinating insights on your research! Now, let's dive into some fun and personal queries!

? What makes you excited and motivated to do this work???

Nicolai: I like working on challenging problems, and usually the more issues I face, the more motivated I become, I like working in a multidisciplinary environment where many experts come together to make better results. I feel like research is giving me a lot of this. Of course, a rather cliché reason for wanting to make a difference is also a key component of my motivation.?

? What do you usually do to recharge and get inspiration???

Tomasz:? The best way to relax after a long day of research and coding is to just focus on small daily pleasures such as getting good coffee and reading a book in the park, enjoying a meal with friends, or doing something creative as painting or writing. I get a lot of inspiration from art, and if I have some time, I like to go to contemporary art exhibitions.?

? Is there a particular scientist, researcher, or innovator who has been your personal hero or role model? In what way did they inspire you???

Amit: Nikola Tesla is my personal hero, who was not only an innovator but also an engineer who would demonstrate his ideas in real-life applications. A scientist and an engineer, what a combination.???

Many thanks for your time, Nicolai, Amit, and Tomasz! All the best!

??: Naela Delmo

??: The first two photos were taken by Bahar Mostafiz, and the last one was taken by Tomasz Galica