MSE Ph.D. Student Sabrina Curtis Invited to Attend 70th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting

Sabrina Curtis, a doctoral student in the UMD Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), has been selected to attend the 70th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting (Interdisciplinary) set to take place this summer in Lindau, Germany. During this week-long event, Curtis - along with 660 other young scientists from over 100 countries - will have the opportunity to interact with 70 Nobel-prize winners from an array of disciplines, as well as one Laureate of the ACM Prize in computing.

“Participation in the 2020 Lindau meeting will help me identify how I can make a significant contribution to the scientific community,” said Curtis. “I look forward to the opportunity to personally interact with the Nobel Laureates. This experience will definitely inspire my future research direction, and I hope it will foster new and innovative international research collaborations with the other participants!”

Curtis is MSE’s first bi-national doctoral student, being simultaneously enrolled at UMD and Kiel University in Germany, co-advised by MSE Professor, Ichiro Takeuchi, and Prof. Eckhard Quandt of Kiel University. The primary focus of her doctoral research is to functionalize thin-film nickel titanium-based super elastic and shape memory alloy materials into novel applications, including magnetoelectric sensors, stretchable/wearable electronics and bi-stable actuators. Curtis aims to fabricate deformable solar cells and batteries onto shape memory substrates that can be stretched, flexed, folded and rolled. She postulates this type of device could instrumental to revolutionize off-grid energy production across the world.

“I am extremely honoured to be selected to attend such a high profile meeting this early in my career,” Curtis said. “In addition to my co-advisors, I would like to thank my prior research mentors Drs. Nathan Lazarus, Randy Tompkins, Marina Leite,Ray Phaneuf, Gary Rubloff, Manfred Wuttig and Kelsey Hatzell.“

Published March 12, 2020