Prof. Dr. Chris EBERL

Prof. Dr. Chris EBERL

Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM, Freiburg, Germany, EU

At the METAL 2017 conference Prof. Dr. Chris Eberl will present a plenary lecture.

Chris Eberl received his Diplom-Engineering (Master equiv.) and PhD degree in Materials Science from the University of Stuttgart in 2001 and 2004, respectively. During his doctoral thesis he worked at the Max-Planck-Institute for Metals Research together with Industry partners to understand fatigue at GHz frequencies in metal thin films. Between 2005 and 2007, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the Mechanical Engineering department of the Johns Hopkins University (JHU), Baltimore, USA. He still retains his formal relationship with JHU as visiting scientist. From 2007 to 2012, Chris Eberl lead the independent research group ‘Microreliability’ at the IAM-WBM of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, supported by the German Science Foundation (DFG). Since 2012, Chris Eberl has been leading a group at the Fraunhofer Institute for Meso and Micromechanics in Freiburg. In 2014 he accepted a joint appointment between the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg and the Fraunhofer society to become full professor and head of the department for Materials- and Micromechanics at the University Freiburg and Deputy Director at the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials.

In his research Chris Eberl is focusing on the experimental characterization and modelling of deformation and degradation mechanisms in materials. Together with co-workers he has investigated mechanical properties and fatigue of nano- and micro-structured materials as well as the complex properties of bio-materials. To better understand the physical mechanisms in such materials, his group has invested a considerable effort into enhancing experimental methods. The fundamental research will take place in the group at the Albert-Ludwigs-University which will work hand in hand with the group at the Fraunhofer IWM. The fundamental understanding of the physical degradation mechanisms enables investigations on the reliability of applied materials together with partners from industry. In the larger context of the Fraunhofer IWM, the aim is to couple multiscale experiments with multiscale modelling to offer a better understanding and therefore a more reliable prognosis of the lifetime of applied materials and applications.

Chris Eberl finished his PhD thesis with distinction and received the Otto-Hahn Medal from the Max-Planck-Society in 2005, a PostDoc scholarship from the MPI in Stuttgart in 2006, and was awarded an independent group leader grant through DFG in 2007. He was invited for an extended stay to the University of Singapore in 2009, Johns Hopkins University in 2010 and University of Roma Tre in 2011. In 2012 he was awarded an Attract group leadership from the Fraunhofer Society.

Besides his scientific career, he has taken on management responsibilities in science, and was one of the spokesman of the Young Investigator Network (~ 60 junior professors and independent group leaders) from 2008-2012 and is co-founder of the Karl Drais Society e.V. He participated in more than 300 hours of scientific management and leadership training which led to receiving a university accredited certificate in the field of ‘Academic Leadership’ from the KIT.

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