Postdoc Perspectives & Picnic

Outi Supponen, Multiphase Fluid Dynamics (D-MAVT)

Outi Supponen is an Assistant Professor of Multiphase Fluid Dynamics at D-MAVT. She holds an MEng in aeronautical engineering from Imperial College London and a DSc in mechanics from EPFL. Her research explores high-speed multiphase fluid dynamics with applications in biomedical engineering, material science, and hydraulic machinery.

Robert Katzschmann, Soft Robotics (D-MAVT)

Robert Katzschmann is an Assistant Professor at D-MAVT. In his Soft Robotics Lab, he advances robots' adaptability for real-life applications. He earned his Diplom-Ingenieur from KIT in 2013 and his PhD from MIT’s CSAIL in 2018. A TED Fellow, Robert’s work has appeared in Science Robotics and major media outlets. Besides MaP, he  is also involved with the ETH AI Center and the Max Planck ETH Center for Learning Systems.

Prof. Kjell Jorner, Digital Chemistry, D-CHAB

Prof. Kjell Jorner is an Assistant Professor of Digital Chemistry in the Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering at the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences. He received his PhD from Uppsala University on the photochemistry of aromatic compounds. Postdoctoral studies at AstraZeneca UK focused on reaction prediction using computational chemistry and machine learning. Further postdoctoral studies at the University of Toronto focused on molecular design of catalysts and organic electronic materials.  

Prof. Wenchao Xu, Experimental Quantum Engineering, D-PHYS

Prof. Wenchao Xu is a tenure-track assistant professor in the Physics Department. She currently is also a group leader at Paul Scherrer Institute. Before joining ETH Zurich, she worked as a postdoctoral associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology between 2018 and 2022. She received her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2018. Her research interests are centered on quantum simulation, quantum computation, and quantum nonlinear optics with experimental platforms based on neutral atoms.

Your trainer

Prof. Dr. Max von Delius (PhD) is a W3 Professor for Organic Chemistry at the University of Ulm. He´s a highly successful group leader since 2013. He received funding from the Emmy-Noether programme of the DFG as well as an ERC starting grant. His research interests encompass the synthesis of functional organic materials and the investigation of complex chemical networks. As young professor (born 1982), he´s aware of all the challenges that young group leaders in the natural sciences face and addresses these in an interactive setting.

Dr. Tanner Jankins received his PhD from the Scripps Research Institute in 2022. He received the SNSF Swiss National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in July 2023. His research focuses on reversible catalytic reactions for chemical waste valorization at the Department of Chemistry (D-CHAB), where he works under Prof. Bill Morandi. He is currently applying for independent positions in the USA and Europe.

Dr. Minghan Hu recently received the SNSF Swiss National Science Foundation Ambizione grant. He will focus his future research on microrobots at the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT), where he will soon start his own junior group under Prof. Brad Nelson & Prof. Salvador Pané i Vidal. Until July 2023, he was a postdoc in Prof. Lucio Isa’s group (Soft Materials and Interfaces).

Dr. Alexander Henkes received his PhD from the Technical University of Braunschweig in October 2022. He received the ETH Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2023, starting in September. His research focuses on artificial neural networks and neuromorphic computing for physical simulations at the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT), where he works under Prof. Dr. Laura De Lorenzis.