University Alliance Ruhr Resolv gets inter-university professorship
The Cluster of Excellence Resolv will receive the boost of an inter-institutional professorship, to expand laser spectroscopy technology within the research field of solvation science.
The interdisciplinary research field of Solvation Science will receive a further boost within the University Alliance Ruhr (UA Ruhr). The Mercator Research Center Ruhr (Mercur) is investing almost 1 million euros in turning the professorship of Martina Havenith-Newen into an inter-institutional UA Ruhr professorship. The goal is to build a technological platform within the UA Ruhr for developing new laser spectroscopy methods.
Prof Dr Martina Havenith-Newen is the Speaker of the Cluster of Excellence Resolv, which is short for “Ruhr explores solvation”. Within this cluster, researchers from the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB), TU Dortmund University (TU) and the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) work with German and international partners to explore the role of solvents in chemical processes.
Collaborative field – collaborative mandate
Solvation Science has become a Flagship Programme of the UA Ruhr. In the forthcoming excellence strategy, the Ruhr-Universität Bochum and TU Dortmund University will jointly apply as equal partners for funding of the Resolv excellence cluster. TU Dortmund University and the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) will establish additional professorships to strengthen this interdisciplinary field.
With the UA Ruhr professorship, Mercur is backing the further expansion of Resolv into an interdisciplinary center for Solvation Science in the Ruhr region. The funding runs for a period of five years.
New laser laboratory in Dortmund
The focus is on the installation of a shared laser laboratory as a technological platform at TU Dortmund University. Laser spectroscopists from TU Dortmund University and Martina Havenith-Newen, Chair of the Department of Physical Chemistry II at the RUB, will pool the existing expertise of both institutions in state-of-the-art laser technology. The goal is to develop innovative, non-linear laser spectroscopy methods in the terahertz and infrared frequency spectrum to study solvation dynamics. These methods are to be employed at a later stage within the Cluster of Excellence Resolv in order to investigate elementary chemical processes such as charge transfer in liquids or at the solid-liquid interface.
The Faculty of Physics at TU Dortmund University intends to expand this research area in a targeted manner. As part of the UA Ruhr professorship, TU Dortmund University plans to provide new modules for research-oriented teaching within the Medical Physics degree programme.