In April 2019, YIN was among the first to welcome the candidates for the first round of the new Young Investigator Group Preparation Program at KIT. The idea is to provide funding and mentorship for outstanding postdocs to prepare a proposal for third-party funded junior research groups. As part of the CRYS council, YIN members were involved in the election process. They will also be among the mentors sharing their experience on how to successfully move on to the next career step. The program aims to increase the number of YIGs at KIT and also to attract more international and female scientists.

Quantencomputer rechnen parallel und können große Datenmengen effizient verarbeiten. Ihre Informations- träger, die Qubits, nehmen nicht nur die Werte „0“ und „1“ an, sondern auch Überlagerungszustände dazwischen. Je mehr Qubites im Einsatz sind, desto schwieriger ist es, solche Quantenzustände aufrechtzuerhalten. Ein Forscherteam um Nachwuchsgruppenleiter Dr. Ioan Pop hat nun erstmals supraleitendes granulares Aluminium eingesetzt und eine damit Kohärenzzeit von bis zu 30 Mikrosekunden erreicht. Sie berichten in der Fachzeitschrift

The Center for Electrochemical Energy Storage Ulm & Karlsruhe CELEST reinforces joint research on high-performance and environmentally friendly energy storage systems. The activities will range from fundamental research toward the development of new battery technologies and technical applications with a particular focus on training early career researchers.The platform was co-founded by KIT, Ulm University, and the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg. YIN members Dr. Julia Maibach and Dr. Dominic Bresser are among the (co-)spokespersons.

In the project PRINTPERO, German and Greek researchers have teamed up with industrial partners to develop printed perovskite semi-conductors for building integrated photovoltaics. In ACS Applied Energy Materials, they report how a strong color perception can be achieved by inkjet-printing luminescent layers on top of the Perovskite solar cells at a relatively small (∼17%) reduction of power conversion efficiency. Gerardo Hernandez-Sosa and Ulrich Paetzold, both YIN members, added their know-how in electronic printing and photovoltaics respectively.

Five YIN members have taken on new positions as professors within the last six months. Anne Koziolek has just been announced professor for software engineering at KIT. Petra Schwer is now professor for geometry at the University Magdeburg. Bastian Rapp relocated to Freiburg University starting as professor for Process Technology. Frank Schröder has become assistant professor at the University of Delaware. And Cornelia Lee-Thedieck was welcomed as professor for cell biology at the University Hannover. Congratulations! As of now, there are 50 professors among YIN alumni (49%).

Dr. Frank Biedermann and Dr. Ulrich Paetzold each run a collaborative project supported by the Heidelberg Karlsruhe Strategic Partnership (HEiKA). Frank Biedermann and Prof. Thomas Kuner plan to apply artificial neurotransmitter receptors  for the monitoring of dopamine levels in neuronal tissues as well as in prefrontal cortex and basal nuclei of intact mice. Ulrich Paetzold and JProf. Yana Vaynzof aim to utilize the inkjet printing deposition method for fabrication of high yield and high performance perovskite solar cells. Since 2013, YIN members have been involved in 11 HEiKA projects.