CastIron Eunan McEniry

In this episode, I'm joined by Prof. Adrian Sutton, Emeritus Professor of Physics at Imperial College London in the UK. Adrian's research in understanding the interplay between processes at the atomic scale and the microstructural behaviour of real material systems has played a critical role in the establishment of the research field of computational materials science. We had an extensive discussion about his many contributions in materials development, his insights into university education and the funding of academic research, and his upcoming book which aims at explaining materials science to a younger audience.

The textbooks mentioned during the podcast are available under the following links:

Physics of Elasticity and Crystal Defects: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/physics-of-elasticity-and-crystal-defects-9780198860785?cc=de&lang=en&

Rethinking the PhD:
https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Adrian-P-Sutton/dp/B083XX3LZV

Interfaces in Crystalline Materials (with Robert Balluffi):
https://www.amazon.de/Interfaces-Crystalline-Materials-Monographs-Chemistry/dp/0198500610

Electronic Structure of Materials:
https://www.amazon.de/Electronic-Structure-Materials-Science-Publications/dp/0198517548

In this episode, I'm joined by Dr Anna Frank and Dr Christoph Freysoldt. In contrast to our usual emphasis on scientific research, we discussed the very important issue of role of mental health and job-related stress, and took the opportunity to discuss many of the challenges and issues that researchers may come across at different periods of their careers.

For employees of the Max Planck Society, the following links may be of help to those suffering from stress and/or mental health issues:

The Mental Health Collective of the MPG:
https://twitter.com/mpg_mhc

PhD Net page for mental health awareness activities:
https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/events-and-activities/mental-health

In this two-for-one episode, I'm chatting with two new group leaders in the Department of Microstructure Physics and Alloy Design; Dr Paravskevas Kontis, group leader in High Performance Alloys for Extreme Environments, and Dr Jaber Mianroodi, group leader in Computational Sustainable Metallurgy. We chatted about the challenges of being a new group leader, how to delegate responsibility to group members, and the development of materials to improve resource sustainability.

In this week's episode, I spoke with Dr. Baptiste Gault, who is the Group Leader of the Atom Probe Tomography Group in the Department of Microstructure Physics and Alloy Design at MPIE. He also holds a position of reader in the Department of Materials at Imperial College London, and is the holder of a prestigious European Research Council Consolidator Grant which funds his ground-breaking research. We had a extensive discussion about the atom probe tomography approach, and its applications to a broad range of material systems, as well as reflecting on the benefits of frank and open discussion with colleagues when writing proposals and papers.

In this episode, I'm chatting with Dr. Poulumi Dey, a former colleague at MPIE, who is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. We talked about her research in developing hydrogen-resistant steels, the juggling of research, teaching and administrative duties, and about her own career developments.

In this episode, I'm talking with Dr. Liam Huber, who heads the research group on the Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Defects within the Computational Materials Design department. We chatted about his research in improving light-weight metallic alloys, the challenges of parenthood during a pandemic, among a bunch of other topics during our discussion. I hope you enjoy the chat!

Additional resources at www.mpie.de
https://colah.github.io
https://martinfowler.com/books/refactoring.html
www.pyiron.org