2008

Every year the ETH Students' Association (VSETH) awards a "Golden Owl" prize to lecturers whom the students judge to be particularly good and inspiring teachers. The distinction is awarded at the "Dies academicus" which commemorates the foundation of the academic institution and takes place around 20 November, ETH Zurich’s anniversary. This year’s winner in the Department of Materials is Walter Caseri (polytech). Congratulations!

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore is celebrating its Centenary in 2008. The Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Biology have jointly appointed Prof. Nicholas D. Spencer (surface) as an IISc Centenary Visiting Professor, starting in November, for a period of one year.

Dr. Holger Frauenrath has received the Reimund Stadler Award from the German Chemical Society (GDCh) at the September 2008 Meeting of the Division of Macromolecular Chemistry of the GDCh in Aachen, Germany.

The Department of Materials is happy to announce that on September 23/24, the Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology has appointed André R. Studart as an Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) of Complex Materials. Studart will take up office in February 2009.

Prof. Hans Christian Öttinger (polyphys) is receiving the 2008 Bingham medal of the Society of Rheology for his outstanding contributions to the field of rheology. Congratulations!

The Department of Materials Science honors its longtime lecturer and associate professor: On the occasion of the Big Luncheon of 4 April, the head of the department, Prof. Dieter Schlüter, presented the Staudiger-Durrer Medal to Prof. Urs Meier in recognition and appreciation of his special and diverse services to the department and the study course Material Science.

Researchers in ETH Zurich’s Department of Materials have developed a new nacre-like composite that is twice the strength of naturally-occuring mother-of-pearl.