NEWS



2007-07-05 NRW Graduate Schools Meet Dalai Lama
The NRW Graduate Schools are happy to announce the visit of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama at the University of Münster in September 2007. He will meet with students from the seven NRW Graduate Schools to discuss about "Universal Responsibility in Science and Society". The NRW Graduate Schools organize this event in cooperation with the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung and the Münstersche Zeitung . His Holiness will give a public lecture on this topic on 21. September 2007, 14.30 h, in the Halle Münsterland. Tickets can be obtained at the MZ Ticket Corner (Drubbel 20, 48143 Münster, 0251 5925252, www.muensterland-ticket.de). See more information.

2007-05-03 Zachary Quinkert receives the 2007 NRW Undergraduate Sciene Award in Chemistry
Zachary Quinkert received the Undergraduate Science Award in Chemistry 2007 for an outstanding scientific publication form the Minister of Innovation, Science Research and Technology of North Rhine Westphalia, Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart. The paper entitled "Nanoparticle-Templated Assembly of Viral Protein Cages was published in Nano Letters 6 (2006), 611-615. Virus-like particles were generated by protein self-assembly on a gold core. Properties such as a pH-induced swelling transition in direct analogy to the native virus were observed. Such hybrid biomaterials have potential applications in medical imaging and in bioanalytical sensing. Together with other coauthors, Zachary Quinkert has carried out this work as an undergraduate student at Indiana University (Bloomington, USA) in the laboratory of Bogdan Dragnea.

2006-10-16 Three Companies, Degussa AG, Chemetall GmbH and Volkswagen AG, donate 2.25 million Euro for new Professorship
The three German companies Degussa AG, Chemetall GmbH and Volkswagen AG have decided to donate 2.25 million Euro for the coming five years to support the installation of a new Professorship on "Applied Material Science for Energy Storage and Conversion" at the University of Münster.
The storage of energy, especially for applications in the automobile industry, is currently not developed to a satisfactory level. The future in automobile technology clearly lies in the use of electric power storage and conversion. This is the reason why the three industrial partners have come together for this unique project. They represent the entire product line from raw materials (Chemetall) via the developer of battery components (Degussa) to automobile application (Volkswagen). The professorship will be permanently affiliated within the Institute of Physical Chemistry. The yet to be assigned scientist will work on fundamental aspects related to the storage and conversion of electrical energy for automotive applications and closely collaborate with the industrial partners.
The NRW Graduate School of Chemistry has been an important factor for the decision to establish this research project at the University of Münster in the department of Chemistry and Pharmacy. It is planned that the position is to be filled in April 2007. Students, who are interested to carry out their doctoral research in this area are welcome to apply for the new term to begin in October 2007.

2006-05-03 Georgios Markopoulos receives NRW Undergraduate Sciene Award in Chemistry
Georgios Markopoulos received the Undergraduate Science Award in Chemistry 2006 for an outstanding scientific publication from the Minister of Innovation, Science, Research and Technology of the Federal State of North Rhine Westphalia, Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart. Georgios Markopoulos was at Cornell University as an exchange student. He was honored for his contributions to computational modeling of Carbon-carbon bonds ("Squeezing C-C bonds"; Angew. Chem. 117 (2005), 7721-7725).

2006-2-15 GSC-MS goes to ACHEMA, 15.-19.May 2006
With some 4,000 exhibitors from all continents, over 200,000 visitors from 100 countries the Achema is one of the largest platforms for the chemical industries. The NRW Graduate School of Chemistry will be present to meet prospective students as well as interested representatives from industry and academia.

Please visit us in hall 1.2, booth A29.

2005-12-16 GSC-MS Celebrates third Graduation Day
At our third Graduation Day, Poonam Balani, Olesya Chayka, Kishore Sripada, Pariya Na Nakorn, Martin Paas, Stefan Puls and Puravankara Sreeraj received their certificates. They had started in October 2002. Altogether 25 graduates from the NRW Graduate School of Chemistry started promising careers in Academia and Industry.

2005-04-14 Tamara Niazov receives NRW Undergraduate Science Award in Chemistry 2004
The NRW Undergraduate Science Award in Chemistry 2004 for an outstanding scientific publication was awarded to Tamara Niazov from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Ms. Niazov received the award from the Minister of Science and Research of the Federal State of North Rhine Westphalia, Hannelore Kraft, on a reception at Düsseldorf together with the other 2004 NRW undergraduate awardees. Tamara Niazov was honored for her work on the development of a DNA sensing system, using a nanotechnological approach (Nano Letters 4 (2004), 1683-1687, and J. Am. Chem. Soc. 126 (2004), 7430-7431).
Tamara Niazov is on the left, and the Minister of Science and Research on the right.

2004-11-18 GSC-MS Celebrates Graduation Day
After the first three students had finished their doctoral degree already in July (see 2004-07-12), there were now 13 graduates of the class of 2001, who followed with a celebration. Kristina Beck, Jan Dirk Epping, Gudimalla Nagaraju, Mar'yana Lukachuk, César García Plumed, Jens Reinisch, Björn Schröder, Pramod Sagar, David Schnieders, Deepak Shendage, Cun Wang, and Wenbin Zeng received their doctoral certificates from the Minister for Science and Research of the Federal State of North-Rhine Westphalia, Mrs. Hannelore Kraft. Most of the students of the class of 2001 had been able to finish their doctoral degree within three years. Minister Kraft spoke about an ongoing success story of the NRW Graduate Schools.

2004-10-23 Münster receives gold medal as the most liveable community worldwide
The city of Münster was awarded the LivCom Award 2004 as the most liveable community in category D (average daytime population 200,001 - 1,000,000). Every year since 1997, The International Awards for Liveable Communities are given to cities in 5 categories with different population numbers. The program Nations in Bloom is endorsed by the United Nations Environment Program for best practice in the management of the local environment. Münster has won the gold medal in 2004 ahead of Coventry (GB) and Seattle (USA). Other finalists in the same category were Bayamon (Puerto Rico), Changshu ( P.R. China), Newcastle upon Tyne (England), Okayama (Japan), and Poznan (Poland). (see LivCom homepage).

2004-07-12 First GSC-MS Graduation Day
Anne Adida (France), Alla Weidenfeller (Ukraine), and Christoph Jocher (Germany) are the first students leaving the GSC-MS with a doctoral degree. They have all started in the program in October 2001, and finished the dissertation within less than three years.

2004-06-30 GSC-MS and Sigma-Aldrich organize second joint Workshop on Materials Chemistry
The second Workshop on Materials Chemistry organized jointly by the NRW Graduate School of Chemistry and Sigma-Aldrich will take place in Münster on 25.-27. August 2004. Invited plenary speakers were Dr. J.A.A. Alonso (Madrid), Dr. Norbert Stock (München), Prof. A. Simon (Stuttgart), Prof. L. Bohatý (Köln), and Prof. M. Winterer (Duisburg). In addition, oral and poster presentations were given by PhD students.
Downloads (with right mouse button):
First Circular - Announcement and Application Form,
program

2004-01-29 Announcement of Undergraduate Research Paper Award
The NRW Graduate School of Chemistry announces an award (1500 Euro) to be donated to an undergraduate student for excellence in research. Application can be submitted, if an undergraduate student is coauthor of a paper which has been submitted to a renowned scientific journal before finishing the Master or Diploma thesis. The deadline is November 30, 2004.
See more details.

2004-01-13 GSC-MS and University of Eindhoven organize bilateral symposium on Materials Science and Catalysis
The NRW Graduate School of Chemistry and the Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry of the Technical University of Eindhoven organize a symposium on Materials Science and Catalysis on 05.02.2004. There are three plenary lectures by A. Liese (Münster), H. Eckert (Münster), and H. Niemantsverdriet (Eindhoven), along with eight student presentations. The philosophy of this event is to bring together scientists from different fields to foster discussions among people with different expertise.
Downloads (with right mouse button):
Symposium Program

2003-10-20 GSC-MS and Sigma-Aldrich organize first joint Workshop on Materials Chemistry
The first Workshop on Materials Chemistry organized jointly by the NRW Graduate School of Chemistry and Sigma-Aldrich was held at Münster on September 08.-10., 2003. Invited plenary speakers were Dr. J.A.A. Alonso (Madrid), Dr. C. Feldmann (Aachen), Prof. F. Schüth (Mülheim), Dr. H. Huppertz (München), and Prof. H. Lueken (Aachen). In addition, oral and poster presentations were given by PhD students. The Workshop, accommodation and lunch were free of charge for registered participants. PhD students were invited to submit a contribution. The large number of contributed papers, and the discussions at the meeting have made the first event of this kind very successful.
Downloads (with right mouse button):
First Circular - Announcement,
Second Circular - Abstract and Poster Guidelines, Program,
Registration Form,
Final Program.

2003-04-04 two new members in the institute of food chemistry join GSC-MS
Professor T. Hofmann and Prof. H.-U. Humpf join the NRW Graduate School of Chemistry (GSC-MS) as new members of the faculty. Both scientists have recently accepted an offer from the University of Münster, and they are now the first members of the institute of food chemistry in the GSC-MS.

2002-12-09 first meeting of the advisory board
The advisory board of the NRW Gradute School of Chemistry ha been assembled and held its first meeting on December 9, 2002. In this meeting, the strategic planning for the future was discussed. Dr. Alfred Oberholz (member of the management board of Degussa AG) was elected as chair of the advisory board.