Head of the Group
High school (Abitur) and undergraduate (Diplom-Chemiker-Vorprüfung)
- 1982 Abitur, Dreikönigsgymnasium Köln (Germany)
- 1986 Diplom-Chemiker-Vorprüfung (B.S.), University of Köln (Germany)
Graduate (Diplom-Chemiker-Hauptprüfung and Dissertation) and post graduate (Habilitation and Universitätsprofessor)
- 1988 Diplom-Chemiker-Hauptprüfung (M.S.), University of Köln (Germany)
- 1990 Dissertation (Ph.D.), University of Köln (Germany) / Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Israel)
- 1999 Habilitation, University Leipzig (Germany)
- 2004 Universitätsprofessor, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany)
His scientific career began at the University of Köln/Germany, from where he graduated in Chemistry (1988) and from where he received – jointly with the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev/Israel his PhD (1990). After a postdoctoral stay at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg/USA (1991/1992), he took a position at the Hahn-Meitner-Institute Berlin/Germany (1992-1994). Following a brief stay as a Feodor-Lynen Fellow at Syracuse University/USA he joined the faculty of the Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory/USA (1995). Then, after nearly a decade in the USA, the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg/Germany succeeded in attracting Dirk M. Guldi back to Germany, despite major efforts by the University of Notre Dame/USA (2004), who offered him a position as Director of the Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory & Full Professor in the Physics Department, and the University of Bowling Green/USA (2005) as Ohio Board of Regents Eminent Scholar in Photochemical Sciences.
Commencing with his move, Dirk M. Guldi took upon a number of administrative duties. Most notably, he served (2007 to 2013 as well as 2019 to 2023) as Head of the Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy and as Vice-Dean of the School of Sciences with their 28 and 120 appointed faculty members, respectively. Between 2013 and 2019, he was Associate Dean for Research of the School of Sciences. Ever since joining the FAU, he has been an active Member of the Curriculum Reform Committee of Chemistry, which focuses on running, incorporating, and consolidating teaching and training programs in Chemistry and Molecular Life Science/Molecular Nano Science. In addition, he is a major driving force behind and Founding Principal Investigator of the “Cluster of Excellence: Engineering of Advanced Materials (EAM)”, “Graduate School Molecular Science (GSMS)” (2008 – funded by the Bavarian Initiative Bayern Excellent), the “Interdisciplinary Center for Molecular Materials (ICMM)“, “Collaborative Research Center: Synthetic Carbon Allotropes”, “Collaborative Research Center: Next-generation printed semiconductors”, “Research Training Group: Planar Carbon Lattices”, and the “Solar Technologies Go Hybrid (SolTech)”. All of the aforementioned networking involves multi-PI centers and institutions that offer platforms for interdisciplinary teaching, training, and research in the fields of Molecular Materials and Nanotechnology.
- 1985 & 1986
Summer Student, Bayer AG, Monheim (Germany) - 1987 – 1988
Student Tutor, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Köln (Germany) - 1988 – 1990
Teaching Assistant, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Köln (Germany) - January 1991 – April 1992
Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Chemical Kinetics and Thermodynamics Division (USA) - April 1992 – July 1995
Researcher, Hahn-Meitner-Institute, Physical Chemistry (Germany) - January 1995 – July 1995
Feodor Lynen Stipendiat (Alexander von Humboldt Gesellschaft), Syracuse University, Department of Chemistry (USA) - August 1995 – July 1996
Assistant Professional Specialist, University of Notre Dame, Radiation Laboratory (USA) - August 1996 – March 2004
Associate Professional Specialist, University of Notre Dame, Radiation Laboratory (USA) - since April 2004
Full Professor, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, (Germany) - February 2007
Visiting Professor, Osaka University (Japan) - February 2008
Visiting Professor, Osaka University (Japan) - February 2010
COE Invited Professor, Osaka University (Japan) - July 2011 – September 2011
Visiting Professor/Sabbatical, University of Wollongong (Australia) - since 2013
Adjunct Professor, Xi’an University of Science and Technology (China) - since 2013
Adjunct Professor, School of Materials Science and Engineering, HUST, (China) - since 2014
Partner Investigator, University of Wollongong, IPRRI (Australia) - August 2015 – March 2016
Visiting Professor/Sabbatical, University of California, Berkeley (USA) - February 2018 – April 2018
Visiting Professor/Sabbatical, University of Rome Tor Vergata (Italy)
Our research activities cover the timely topic of designing, devising, synthesizing, analyzing, testing, and modeling novel nanometer-scale MATERIALS as integrative components for ENERGY conversion and storage; both with time-resolution of femtoseconds and with spatial-resolution approaching the molecular level: Nanocarbon MATERIALS – mimicking and inspired-by biology – lie at the forefront of our ENERGY– and CATALYSIS-relevant studies regarding light- and charge-management in different environments, that is, solutions, interfaces, and membranes. A broad range of spectroscopic (i.e. time-resolved and steady-state measurements with spectrophotometric detection covering a time range from femtoseconds to minutes) and microscopic techniques (i.e. scanning probe microscopy, electron microscopy) are routinely employed to address aspects that correspond to the optimization and fine-tuning of dynamics and/or efficiencies of charge separation, charge transport, charge shift, and charge recombination processes.
A key feature of our activities is an integrated-systems approach that comes from focused, network- and team-oriented interdisciplinary research with close communication and coordination among collaborators. This is where the unique settings of a transdisciplinary research institution such as FAU with a critical mass of world-class researchers with unique capabilities and facilities evolve into real assets. This is documented in key publications in the Nature Family of journals (>15), the Journal of the American Chemical Society (>120), Angewandte Chemie (>60), etc.
We have established a research environment that spans across different fields (Science and Engineering) and that cultivates regional (Erlangen-Nürnberg), national (Bayreuth, Kassel, Muenster, Munich, Würzburg, etc.), and international (Australia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, etc.) collaborations including industry (Altana, Areva, Belectric, Siemens, etc.). Collaborations on the national and international levels foster mutual exchange of outstanding research personal and multi-PI funding.
- 1990
Abschlussstipendium (VCI) - 1999
Heisenberg Fellowship (German Science Foundation) - 2000
Grammaticakis-Neumann Prize (Swiss Society of Photochemistry) - 2000 – 2004
Secretary, Fullerenes, Nanotubes and Carbon Nanostructure Division, The Electrochemical Society (ECS) - 2001 – 2013
Editor-in-Chief, Fullerenes, Nanotubes and Carbon Nanostructures (Taylor & Francis) - 2003
JSPS Award (The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) - 2004
JPP Award (Society of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines) - 2004
Designated Director, University of Notre Dame, Radiation Laboratory (USA) - 2004 – 2008
Vice-Chairman, Fullerenes, Nanotubes and Carbon Nanostructure Division, The Electrochemical Society (ECS) - 2006 – 2007
Fachgruppensprecher, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy (Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg) - 2007 – 2013
Head of Department, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy (Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg) - 2008 – 2012
Chairman, Fullerenes, Nanotubes and Carbon Nanostructure Division The Electrochemical Society (ECS) - 2008 – 2013
Chairman, Editorial Board of Chemical Society Review, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) - 2009
Elhuyar-Goldschmidt Award (Royal Spanish Chemical Society) - 2010
Editorial Board Award (Royal Society of Chemistry) - since 2012
Coordinator, Bavarian Initiative: “Solar Technologies Go Hybrid” (Bavaria) - since 2012
Liaison Officer, Bavarian Elite Academy (Bavaria) - 2013
RSC Fellow (Royal Society of Chemistry) - 2013
Lifetime Honary Professorship (Xi’an Jiaotong University, China) - 2013
ECS Fellow (Electrochemical Society) - 2013 – 2017
Treasurer, Fullerenes, Nanotubes and Carbon Nanostructure Division The Electrochemical Society (ECS) - since 2013
Associate Editor, Nanoscale, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) - 2013 – 2019
Associated Dean for Research, School of Sciences (Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg) - 2013
Vice-Chairman, Review Panel, European Research Council Consolidator Grants (EU) - 2014
Vice-Chairman, Gordon Research Conference on Electron Donor Acceptor Interactions - 2015
Richard E. Smalley Research Award (Electrochemical Society) - 2015
Chairman, Review Panel, European Research Council Consolidator Grants (EU) - 2016
Elected Member, EU Academy of Sciences - 2016
Chairman, Gordon Research Conference on Electron Donor Acceptor Interactions - 2016 – 2018
Frontiers Editor, Chemical Physics Letters (Elsevier) - since 2017
Member-at-Large, Nanocarbons Division, The Electrochemical Society (ECS) - 2017
Vice-Chairman, Gordon Research Conference on Photochemistry - 2018
Ziegler-Natta Award (Italian Chemical Society) - 2018
Chairman, International Conference on Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines (ICPP) - since 2018
Co-Editor-in-Chief, Nanoscale, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) - since 2018
Co-Editor-in-Chief, Nanoscale Advances, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) - since 2018
Associate Editor, Nanoscale Advances, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) - 2019
Honoris Causa (University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy) - 2019
Chairman, Gordon Research Conference on Photochemistry - 2019
I-APS Award in Photochemistry (Inter American Photochemical Society) - 2019
Iverson-Anslyn-Sessler Lectureship (University of Texas at Austin, USA) - 2019 – 2023
Head of Department; Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy (Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg) - 2020
AAM Innovation Award (International Association of Advanced Materials) - 2020
Elected Member, European Academy of Science - 2020
Masuhara Lectureship Award (Asian Photochemistry Association) - since 2020
Elected Member, Review Board (German Science Foundation) - since 2020
Chairman, Physical Chemistry Review Board (German Science Foundation) - since 2021
Editor, Photochem (MDPI) - 2022
Lifetime Achievement Award (Society of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines) - 2023
Vice-Chairman, Review Board (Academy of Finland) - 2024
Chairman, Review Board (Academy of Finland) - 2024
Elected Member, FAU Tenure Board - 2024
Robert Bunsen Award (Deutsche Bunsen-Gesellschaft)
Member of Scientific Board (Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry (Elsevier); Chemical Society Reviews (Royal Society of Chemistry); Energy and Environmental Science (Royal Society of Chemistry); Journal of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines (SPP); Advanced Energy Materials (Wiley); Chem (Cell Press); Faraday Discussions (Royal Society of Chemistry); Small Structures (Wiley); Chemical Physics Reviews (AIP); ChemPlusChem (Wiley); Conference Organizer; Symposium Organizer; Panelist; Advisory Board Member; Reviewer.
Dirk M. Guldi has built a unique career through implementing scientific concepts and expanding core areas of competence to enable interdisciplinary studies of greater depth than possible in more restrictive environments, and to attain excellence. His philosophy is characterized by an unsurpassed commitment to the development of undergraduate, and graduate students as well as early-career researchers into well-rounded, team-oriented, career-ready scientists, who can take on leadership roles in academia, industry, etc. He fosters in a multilingual and international laboratory – with more than 35% females and group members from at least 20 different countries – synergistic teamwork and networks to achieve greater research impact and to provide his students and early-career researchers with all the tools necessary to succeed. In such a unique setting, they can fully develop their academic potential and timely complete their academic degree: Bachelor of Science, B.Sc. (74); Master of Science, M.Sc. (115); Doctor of Philosophy, Ph.D. (136); Habilitation (3). Such a supportive work environment enables him to attract the most talented students and retain them; their achievements have been recognized by national and international prizes/scholarships. All of the former group members including early-career researchers have been offered attractive positions in world-wide leading companies: Bosch, Infenion, Lanxess, Merck, Siemens, Volkswagen to name a few. 13 of them hold academic positions at Universities in Germany (3), Spain (5), Netherlands (1), USA (1), France (1), South Africa (1), and Denmark (1).