RheoFuture 2002

The main event of Thermo's RheoFuture^® initiative in 2002 was the "International Forum For Material Characterization" which took place in Karlsruhe December 2-3. Renown experts have been invited from different application areas like food, polymers, pharma and construction materials to discuss trends in rheology and material characterization.

The highlight of the event was the presenting of the RheoFuture "Young Scientists Award" that has been offered for the first time. Since the beginning of 2002 young scientists worldwide have been invited to submit their application oriented papers. Thermo Electron set up an international jury (Nestlé, L’Oreal, Petrobras, Deutsches Kunststoff Institut) that accepted in total 52 papers for the competition.

The winners of the award are Christian Clasen from Germany, Wendy Loyens from Belgium and André Studart from Brazil. Their papers have been selected to represent the most outstanding innovative contributions using rheological techniques. Part of the price for the three winners was a weekend trip for 2 persons to Paris or Berlin, respectively.

After the award ceremony Thermo
invited for a press conference. Here
the winners, representatives from
companies and the RheoFuture
founders were available for the questions
of journalists from the technical
press. The main part of the discussion
handled the requirements and
potential profiles of candidates to
start their careers as researchers
in industry.
 

Trends in rheology/discussions at RheoFuture^®

There were three main topics at the RheoFuture^® conference:

• Combined methods
  Lecture Norbert Willenbacher, BASF Ludwigshafen
  Chairman Manfred Wilhelm, Max Planck Institut Mainz
• On-line
  Lecture Sejal Ravji, Nestlé Nestec Research Center Lausanne
  Lecture Christian Fuchs, Fuchs-Oil Mannheim
  Lecture Guy Schlatter, University of Straßburg
  Chairman Manfred Wilhelm, Max Planck Institut Mainz
• Reaktive Extrusion
  Vortrag Alain Michel, University of Lyon
  Vortrag Francoise Couenne, University of Lyon
  Chairman João Maia, University of Minho

The Winners of the Young Scientists Award 2002

click to enlarge

Christian Clasen, Dr. rer. nat., 29 years old
Study of chemistry at the university of Hamburg, Germany 1992–1998; PhD in chemistry university of Hamburg, Germany 2001; Postdoc at MIT Cambridge, USA 2002 (making of Award contribution)
Current position: assistant professor at university of Hamburg

The winning paper: "A new flexure based microgap rheometer (FMR)"
Academic supervisor: Prof. Gareth McKinley, MIT Cambridge Boston USA


Wendy Loyens, Dr. rer. nat., 29 years old
Study of chemical engineering (KIHL Diepenbeek), Belgium; Master Polymer and Composite Engineering, Belgium 1996: PhD in chemistry university of Leuven, Belgium 2001 (making of Award contribution)
Current position: Postdoc Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden.

The winning paper: "Phase morphology development in reactively compatibilised polyethylene terephtalat/ elastomer blends"
Academic supervisor: Prof. Groenincks, Universität Leuven, Belgium


André Rocha Studart, Dr. rer. nat., 28 years old
Study of chemical engineering, University of Sao Carlos, Brazil 1992–1997; PhD Materials Engineering University of Sao Carlos, Brazil 2001; (making of Award contribution)
Current position: Postdoc Materials Department ETH Zurich, Switzerland

The winning paper: "Gelling of ceramic suspensions using an algae derived polymer"
Academic supervisor: Prof. Victor Carlos Pandolfelli, Universität Sao Carlos

» Review RheoFuture 2001