The Young Investigator Network is the platform and democratic representation of interests for independent junior research group leaders and junior professors at the Karlsruhe Institut of Technology.
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Dislocations as line defects in crystalline solids play a crucial role in controlling the mechanical and functional properties of materials. Yet, they are hard to realize in ceramic oxides due to the strong chemical bonds. In Advanced Energy Materials, Xufei Fang and colleagues demonstrate the feasibility of generating dense dislocations in ceramic oxides via ultrahigh-pressure sintering. The induced shear stresses surpass the critical strength for dislocation nucleation, followed by dislocation glide and profuse multiplication, leading to a high dislocation density. These dislocations greatly suppress the phonon transport to reduce the lattice thermal conductivity, resulting in a record-high zT figure of merit of 1.69 in BiCuSeO thermoelectric ceramics.
Advanced Energy Materials
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.
KIT strives for predictable and reliable career perspectives for young scientists. The recognition as a KIT junior research group leader (JRGL) marks the transition from recognized scientist to career level R3 Established Scientist. The most important aspects of the Career Development Meeting between newly recognized KIT JRGL and the responsible Head of Institute are to outline individual possibilities and perspectives based on the four models for subsequent junior scientists' careers at KIT. As a result, the JRGL shall know their options at KIT and initiate the next steps to successfully pursue the respective career model with the support of the head of institute and possibly the division.
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