ICMM welcomes new scientists to its research groups

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For many people, the new year does not begin on January 1, but in September, with the school year 'governing' our lives beyond schools, institutes, or even university times. Once you have completed higher education, life does not end, much less when someone wants to dedicate themselves to research. At this point, centers such as the Materials Science Institute of Madrid (ICMM), CSIC, are options in which you can learn, grow and investigate in the most cutting-edge areas.

That is what many people who have joined ICMM since September are thinking about. They come from practically all parts of the planet and they all highlight their enthusiasm for working in a space such as the Institute of Materials Science in Madrid, where the good atmosphere and collaboration between those who do science can be felt from the moment a person sets foot in the building.

This is the case of Miguel Sánchez, for example, who in September joined Tobías Stauber's group to study his Ph.D. in bilayer graphene. He already knew the center, and the Novel platforms and nano-devices for quantum simulation and computation group, because he was lucky enough to do his Bachelor's and Master's Thesis at the institute. "I feel grateful, it was what I wanted to do since I started my career," he says. He knows that the path in research is not easy, but everything has to start: "It is an attempt to start and see if I can, I think I'll like it, I am ready," he says.

Why graphene? "Since it was synthesized, it is a topic that has attracted a lot of attention," explains the already researcher, who points out that since 2008, when "a Spaniard discovered that [graphene] was a superconductor", science has been greatly promoted in this area: "It also has other phases that are very interesting both theoretically and experimentally," adds this 24-year-old from Cáceres.

Wenjia Zhang, a Chinese citizen who has won a scholarship from her government to study for her doctorate at ICMM, just joined Marisa Ferrer's group. In her case, after studying environmental engineering in his country, she began to opt for energy studies and is now preparing for her doctorate in flow batteries. "The environment is getting worse and worse, and I think we can do something," she says convinced. Like any person fresh out of college, she had some ideas that turned into others as she began to have scholarships and more contact with science. "I had a tutor who told me about this line of research," she recalls. This is how she began to investigate supercapacitors, but she recognizes that their application is now more complicated, which is why she discovered flow batteries: "there we can do more," explains.

Her goal for the future is clear: this young researcher wants her discoveries to reach people: "I would like to be a great scientist, and my research to become real, connected with companies," she explains, noting that, for her, the transfer of knowledge from research centers to citizens is essential.

Also international is Maxime Sauvan, a Frenchman who has come to ICMM to work on his doctoral thesis with Dooshaye Moonshiram. His field of exploration? The characterization of molecules "that does something similar to photosynthesis," he mentions. "I am delighted, more happy than nervous," he confesses.

Bob McLarnon also arrived on the same day, he is from Ireland and is spending three months at ICMM. The reason for choosing this center? The technological development, the technologies with which you can work here. He has joined the 2D Foundry group: "I work with a machine to make something like very small gots, which would be very useful for electronic manufacturing," he sums up.

In recent weeks, the new contracts with the Investigo program of the Government of Spain have also been incorporated. Seven young people with nerves and a desire to give everything. Daniel Michel, Adriana, Arturo, Laura, Mario Salvador, Jaime, and Marta have just joined and value this opportunity as "a springboard" in their research career. Some, like Laura Manzón, have not yet started their doctorate, while others, like Arturo Galindo and Michel Pino, are already working on their Ph.D.

As this is such a large center, the scientific areas of these young researchers are equally disparate: Adriana Barreto, who also did her TFG at the ICMM, will study thin-film sol-gel deposition for microelectronics. "When I did the TFG it went well, the work environment was good and I liked the results. I had a try and it came out", she explains about his arrival at the center after studying the Degree in Chemistry at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

Arturo Galindo and Laura Manzón, who studied the Master's in Advanced Materials together and did their TFM at the ICMM, felt like Adriana, so they tried their luck in this Investigo call... and they did well. He is now studying solid-state batteries: "I think they have a future," he says. She, for her part, has started studying AFM microscopy, a new field in which she hopes to learn and develop a career. 

Michel Pino and Jaime Tejedor arrive to put the theoretical point to these latest arrivals (so far). Michel is working in Ramón Aguado's group to implement "hybrid topological semiconductor qubits with Majorana states". Jaime, for his part, studies the theoretical part of AFM microscopy: "The objective of my contract is to apply machine learning to interpret and characterize the response of cells and extract their mechanical properties and relate it to the metabolic state", details.

They are the first arrivals in the first two months of the course, but they are not and will not be the only ones. In fact, in these months a research group that has worked with the Stardust has already passed through the ICMM, and several research professors are currently doing stays. One more example of scientific and technological quality at CSIC's largest materials science institute.

-- Ángela R. Bonachera / ICMM Communication Unit --