Robert Vaßen

Robert Vaßen (born February 24, 1961 in Düren) is a German physicist and holds a teaching professorship at the Ruhr University Bochum at the Institute of Materials in the Department of Ceramics Technology. He is head of the department "Materials for High Temperature Technologies" and deputy head of the Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK-1): Materials Synthesis and Processing at Forschungszentrum Jülich.
==Life and career==
Robert Vaßen studied physics at the RWTH Aachen University from 1980 to 1986, where he received his diploma. At the same university, he received his PhD in solid-state physics under Prof. Uhlmaier with the thesis Diffusion of Helium in Cubic-Space-Centered and Hexagonal Metals in 1990. After his PhD, he was a scientific assistant at the IEK-1 Institute for Energy and Climate Research, Forschungszentrum Jülich, where he became head of department in 1998 and deputy head of the institute since 2014. During this time, he habilitated at Ruhr University Bochum in 2004 with the topic of development of new oxide thermal barrier coatings for applications in stationary and aero-gas turbines. Since 2010, he has been a visiting professor at the University West, Trollhättan, Sweden. In 2014, he turned down a call for a W3 professorship in coating technology at the Technical University of Berlin.
Since 2014, Vaßen has been a PhD supervisor of more than 75 students, 40 of them his own PhD students at the Ruhr University Bochum and the others as co-lecturer at various universities such as University West, Trollhättan , Sweden, University of Cambridge, Imperial College London and University of Manchester, all three United Kingdom, University of Stuttgart, University of Bayreuth, Mines Paris Tech, and others.
==Research focus==
Robert Vaßen's research focuses on the development of high-temperature materials and coatings also with additional functional properties such as sensing properties, self-healing capabilities or enhanced strain tolerance. He is also active in the development of functional coatings for solid oxide fuel cells and membranes for oxygen and hydrogen separation. Recently, repair technologies, especially by cold gas spraying, aerosol deposition processes, and coating solutions for alkaline and PEM electrolysis have also been developed.
==Memberships==
* Since 2008: Member of the DIN Standards Committee on Welding and Allied Processes (NAS)
* German Ceramic Society (DKG)
* Gemeinschaft Thermisches Spritzen e.V. (GTS) - Association of Thermal Sprayers 
* Reviewer for the German research foundation the Alexander-von-Humboldt-Foundation, the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung, the AiF, and several national research organizations
==Awards==
* 2017: Appointment as Fellow of the American Ceramic Society 
* 2017: Induction into the ASM/TSS Hall of Fame of Thermal Spray 
* Since 2017: Editor of the Journal of the European Ceramic Society 
* 2019: Appointment as Fellow of ASM/TSS 
* 2019: Elected as a member of the DFG Review Board "Materials Engineering" for "Coating and Surface Technology" 
* 2022: European SOFT Innovation Award (50,000 € prize money) together with scientists of KIT (Kalsruhe Institute of Technology () for the development of plasma sprayed, functionally graded coatings for fusion power plants 
Category:1961 births
Category:People from Düren
Category:German people
Category:RWTH Aachen University alumni
Category:Physicists