Where did I grow up?
Behind the seven mountains, with the seven dwarves. Viernau, a village on the southern slope of the Thuringian Forest, was my direct home until September 1998 and is still my emotional home today.
Which university did I choose to study at and where did I do my doctorate?
After graduating from high school in 1998, I longed to have my own place, my own life. I found what I was looking for in the Brandberge, within the city limits of Halle (Saale), and began an on-campus program in chemistry at the Alma mater halensis. This was completed in 2003 with the defense of my diploma thesis. I then had the opportunity to work on a dissertation entitled "Synthesis and characterization of novel platinum complexes and clusters" under Professor Dirk Steinborn at the then Institute of Inorganic Chemistry at MLU Halle, which was completed at the beginning of 2007. During this time, I became a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Wrocław - a truly formative moment.
When was I appointed to Anhalt University of Applied Sciences?
I read the advertisement for the successor to my esteemed predecessor, Professor Eckhart Nietzschmann, in the weekly magazine Die Zeit in December 2014. I applied immediately - in retrospect, probably successfully - and was actually appointed on my birthday the following year. Coincidences do happen! Since December 2015, I have been in charge of the "Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry" department at Faculty 7.
What professional experience do I bring to Anhalt University of Applied Sciences?
After my dissertation in 2007, I completed a post-doctorate in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Under Professor Kay Severin, I learned new synthesis techniques for catalysts as well as methods for looking at catalysts off the beaten track. I gained my first industrial experience as a development engineer for elemental analysis systems at IDC-Geräteentwicklungsgesellschaft, a subsidiary of Analytik Jena AG. After a stay at the Departments of Physical Chemistry and Polymer Chemistry at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg - where research was carried out on terminal metal-functionalized amphiphilic block copolymers - I moved to AURA Technologie GmbH, a regionally based company that is very successful in catalyst recycling as its core business. Initially, I held the position of Product Manager in the area of catalyst purchasing in Eastern Europe and later became Head of Research and Product Development.
