YIN Day

The Highlight of this year, certainly was the YIN Day Lunch with the Vice President Research, the Vice President Higher Education and Academic Affairs, the Vice President Digitalization and Sustainability and all the Heads of Division. It gave the YIN members ample opportunity to informally chat with the highest decision makers at KIT. The former Vice President Research and Honorary YIN member Professor emeritus Detlef Löhe gave an opening address to the afternoon part. After a Focus Lecture on Sustainable Energy Storages, the YIN Grant winning projects were presented and the YIN Certificate Academic Leadership awarded. The festive day was rounded off by a reception for all participants.

Personal presence was a huge asset facilitating lively exchange and interaction at this year’s YIN Day. Highlights were project blind dates to find innovative collaborative ideas, greetings from Vice President Oliver Kraft and the Head of Division I Andrea Robitzki as well as three scientific careers talk: YIN member Susanne Benz shared a glimpse into the YIG Preparation Program and her Freigeist Fellowship; alumna Anna Böhmer (l.), Professor of Experimental Physics, especially Solid State, spoke of her research at the Ruhr University Bochum; and Martin Dienwiebel (r.), long-standing YIN alumnus and Professor for Applied Nanotribology, talked about tribology at the cross section between Fraunhofer, KIT, and industry.

The 11th YIN anniversary started with a workshop on Digital Self-Marketing, followed by a working lunch with poster session. One Highlight was the YIN Lecture by YIN alumnus Bastian Rapp. Now professor at the University of Freiburg, he was recently awarded one of the prestigious Consolidator Grants of the European Research Council ERC. He spoke about Advanced Materials for Additive Manufacturing and 3D-printing in glass - for which he is particularly known since his Nature publication in 2017. An informal get-together afterwards encouraged networking.

After a workshop on business etiquette and an interactive poster session, the day was topped off with an inspiring talk given by Georg von Freymann. As a former YIN member and current professor of physics at the University of Kaiserslautern, Freymann reflected on his detouring efforts to become professor, gave insights into bizarre appointment procedures and offered advice on how to deal with setbacks.

This year's YIN-Day offered a platform for lively discussions, amplified by a poster session, presentations of the new YIN-Clusters and the YIN-Science Awards as well as an invited talk by YIN-Alumnus Prof. Chris Eberl.

This year the YIN annual meeting focused on the networking aspect between YIN members and alumni and consolidated their connection to KIT. Within an amicable atmosphere it gives the opportunity to exchange scientific, professional and private experience. A highlight was the talk by YIN alumnus Prof. Dominik Möst.

On May 12, 2009 the Young Investigator Network (YIN) celebrated its foundation. This network is the first initiative of this kind throughout Germany and a forum for excellent young scientists. YIN is to serve as platform and democratic representation of interests. Highlight was the panel discussion „Perspectives of the Academic Future Leaders Today" with guest from the German Research Foundation (DFG), the ETH Zurich, and BASF.