Physicist Dr Marc Radu from Hessen, who obtained his PhD from University of Luxembourg last year, has won the renowned Best Doctoral Thesis Award from the Amis de l’Université (Friends of the University). The President of this association, Erna Hennicot-Schoepges, presented the young scientist with the 10,000 euro award for the best doctoral thesis of 2014 during a ceremony at the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce on 3 July 2014.

Marc Radu worked on his PhD research at the University’s Physics and Materials Science Research Unit under the supervision of Professor Tanja Schilling from 2010 to 2013, on an AFR scholarship from the "Fonds National de la Recherche" (FNR, the National Research Fund). For his PhD research the scientist studied the process of crystallisation. “Crystallisation is a process that occurs frequently in everyday life – for example when water freezes and becomes ice – and that is used in technology, for instance in metal casting,” the researcher explains. “Surprisingly, crystallisation as a physical phenomenon is not truly understood yet and it is a mathematical challenge to predict in which form a liquid solidifies when it cools.”

In his research the physicist simulates these crystallisation processes on the computer, using known yet disputed models. “Marc Radu has made both an important contribution to shedding light on these international scientific controversies and to the general understanding of the physics of crystallisation processes ,” Tanja Schilling evaluates. “Moreover his work forms an important building block for our research group, which is specialised on the theory of soft matter.”

With their annual award for the best doctoral thesis the Amis de l’Université wish to:

• promote excellence in research;
• and the international visibility of University of Luxembourg, which is still quite new.

“Marc Radu’s doctoral thesis was innovative and attracted international attention,” according to Erna Hennicot-Schoepges.

Marc Radu, aged 32, currently lives in Rüsselsheim and has a postdoc position in the research group of Professor Karsten Albe at the Technical University of Darmstadt. He is researching the modelling of new materials, such as metallic glasses and nanoglasses there.

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Photo (from left) : Erna Hennicot-Schoepges, President of the association « Amis de l’Université du Luxembourg », Dr Marc Radu and Christine Valenza, head of marketing at Compagnie de Banque Privée Quilvest who sponsored the award.

© Michel Brumat / Université du Luxembourg