Franz Roters appointed associate professor

RWTH Aachen University honors Max Planck materials scientist

Dr. Franz Roters has been appointed associate professor by the RWTH Aachen University. This is an honorary title awarded to scientists who have made outstanding contributions to research and teaching.

Roters earned his doctorate and habilitation at the RWTH Aachen University. He has been teaching there as a private lecturer since 2011. After receiving his doctorate, he initially worked in research at VAW (now Speira) in Bonn. Since 2000, he leads the "Theory and Simulation" group at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung (MPIE). Roters and his team developed the Düsseldorf Advanced Material Simulation Kit (DAMASK). It enables a comprehensive and user-friendly simulation of the structure-property relationships of materials. In addition to mechanical equilibrium, the development of other fields such as temperature, damage or the concentration of certain elements is also considered. This coupling allows the consideration of complex processes such as hydrogen embrittlement. DAMASK brings these functions together in a open access program. This is a pioneering step towards making flexibly applicable methods accessible to the scientific community and developing them further. 

Requirements for appointment as an associate professor are a very good doctorate and outstanding scientific achievements beyond the doctorate. In addition, successful, independent teaching experience of five years, at least one year of which must be at the RWTH Aachen University, must be documented.