2009
Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius
Faculty 5 – Geosciences
Antje Boetius has been professor of geomicrobiology in the Faculty of Geosciences since March 1, 2009. Born in 1967, Dr. Boetius studied biological oceanography in Hamburg and San Diego. She completed her doctoral thesis at the Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research of the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) and received her doctorate from the Faculty of Biology/Chemistry at the University of Bremen. After postdoctoral stays at the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research in Warnemünde and at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Antje Boetius was appointed a scientist at the AWI in 2001 and named assistant professor at the International University Bremen, now Jacobs University. Antje Boetius has headed the Microbial Habitats research group at the Max Planck Institute since 2003, as associate professor at Jacobs University and as full professor since 2008. In 2009, Antje Boetius received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the DFG and was elected member of the Leopoldina German National Academy of Sciences. As head of the research group for deep-sea ecology and technology at the AWI and MPI, her future focus will be on the effects of climate change on the biogeochemistry and biodiversity of the Arctic Ocean; her work will involve expeditions to extreme deep-sea habitats.
Prof. Dr. Matthias Günther
Faculty 1 – Physics/Electrical Engineering
Matthias Günther accepted the professorship for magnetic resonance physics and spectroscopy at the University of Bremen in the Faculty of Physics/Electrical Engineering as of November 1, 2009. This position is associated with a position at the Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing (MEVIS), where Matthias Günther is to establish the field of medical imaging with a focus on magnetic resonance tomography. After studying at Heidelberg University, he completed his doctorate in 1999 at the German Cancer Research Center on contrast-medium-free methods for perfusion measurement. Günther then worked for a research company in California for several years. Back in Heidelberg, he founded mediri GmbH, a company for research services, in 2004. His work focuses on contrast-medium-free perfusion imaging, for which he has established an international network to make the technique ready enough for application that it can be used as a clinical routine technique.
Prof. Dr. Karl-Ludwig Krieger
Faculty 1 – Physics/Electrical Engineering
Prof. Dr. Karl-Ludwig Krieger appointed to the Chair of Automotive Electronics and Foundations of Electrical Engineering at the Institute of Theoretical Electrical Engineering and Microelectronics (ITEM) in the Faculty of Physics / Electrical Engineering at the University of Bremen.
He studied electrical engineering in Kaiserslautern and Bremen and received his doctorate in 1998 at the University of Bremen for the modeling and simulation of microsystems. He then moved to Daimler AG, Stuttgart, where he worked in electronics development. Most recently he was head of function and algorithm development for automated powertrain systems in commercial vehicles. There he dealt with software-based functions for real-time systems in the powertrain. Both the realization of safety-relevant electronic systems and their integration were in the foreground.
In Bremen, Karl-Ludwig Krieger will continue to research automotive electronics. His activities will be in the field of new electronic architectures and their application. He also focuses on the modeling and simulation of system functions. Since these tasks are highly interdisciplinary, he intends to initiate interdisciplinary collaborations
Prof. Dr. Doris Elster
Faculty 2 – Biology/Chemistry
Prof. Dr. Doris Magpie took over the professorship of Biology Didactics in the Faculty of Biology / Chemistry on October 1, 2009.
The Austrian scientist studied zoology, botany, biology and environmental studies at the University of Vienna. After graduating, she worked at the Institute of Wildlife Biology and Nature Conservation (Vienna) as a research associate before obtaining her doctorate in 2004. She then moved to the University of Kiel, where she worked as a research assistant and lecturer. She continued her work in Vienna with the help of an Elise Richter habilitation scholarship. Here she was able to intensify her research in the field of teacher professionalization for a context-oriented and competence-promoting teaching. She has participated in several European educational projects on knowledge communication and international comparative surveys on the interests of young people.
Doris Elster wants to continue this work in Bremen and develop learning programs in order to provide students not only with specialist knowledge but also with competencies for gaining insights. To this end, she intends to work closely with the working groups Didactics of Chemistry and Physics and to intensify international cooperation.
Prof. Dr. Vasily Ploshikhin
Faculty 1 – Physics/Electrical Engineering
Vasily Ploshikhin took over the endowed professorship for materials science at the University of Bremen on December 1, 2009. He supports the Faculty of Physics / Electrical Engineering with the newly established chair "Multiscale Simulation and Modeling of Materials".
The new professorship is intended to fulfill the function of a scientific bridge between the Bremen Center for Computational Materials Science and other industry-oriented research facilities at the University of Bremen. Close collaboration is planned with both materials scientists and the Center for Engineering Mathematics. In teaching, he will participate in both the newly established Master's program Computational Materials Science as well as in the interdisciplinary graduate education.
After studying materials science and academic work at the Technical University in St. Petersburg, Russia, Vasily Ploshikhin came to Germany in 1995. In three years he graduated with honors from the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg. He then worked as a research associate at the University of Bayreuth on the development of new methods and software for the numerical simulation of material structure on the meso and micro scale. The focus of his work is the development and application of new methods for material and process simulation as well as the use of numerical simulation for the experimental development and optimization of innovative manufacturing processes.
Prof. Dr. Uwe Nehls
Faculty 2 – Biology/Chemistry
Uwe Nehls followed the call to the Botany Professorship at the University of Bremen in the Faculty of Biology / Chemistry and has been teaching here since April 2009. He studied biology at the University of Düsseldorf from 1981 to 1987 and in 1992 acquired his doctorate in the Faculty of Chemistry with a thesis on the complex I in the mitochondrial respiratory chain. After a postdoctoral period on the subject of respiratory chain complex IV at the University of Dusseldorf, Nehls changed his field of work and dealt with ectomycorrhizal symbiosis (from 1993 to 1995) as a postdoc at the INRA Champenoux (France) - a topic that continues to fascinate him to this day.
Following his transfer to the University of Tübingen, where he habilitated in the field of plant physiology in 2001, he specialized in transport processes and the molecular mechanisms of interaction between fungal and plant partners. After a short stay at the INRA Nancy (France), he finally moved to Bremen. His main interest here is the interaction between endophytic fungi and plants. In addition, however, the question of material allocation in higher plants and fungi has come to the fore. In this context, Uwe Nehls plans to become involved in the field of marine biology
Prof. Dr. Kurosch Rezwan
Faculty 4 – Production Engineering
Kurosch Rezwan was appointed to the professorship of Ceramic Materials and Components in the Faculty of Production Engineering in August as part of his tenure-track process as successor to Professor Georg Grathwohl.
The procedure enables suitable junior professors to transfer to a permanent professorship before the end of their six-year employment period. Born in Switzerland, he graduated with honors in materials science from ETH Zurich. After research stays in the USA and in England, he was appointed a junior professorship in Bremen in 2006. Since then, he has been building up the new field of bioceramics here. Recently, the EU Research Award Winner was appointed to the Standing Committee for Research and Young Scientists of the German Rectors' Conference (HRK) on the basis of his international research experience and his work as Federal Chairman of the German Society of Junior Professorships.
In addition, in July he has been elected Chairman of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering at the University of Bremen.
Prof. Dr. Simone Kasemann
Faculty 5 – Geosciences
Simone Kasemann has been Professor of Isotope Geochemistry in the Faculty of Geosciences at the University of Bremen since October 2009.
After studying geology and paleontology in Münster, she worked from 1996 to 2000 as a research associate at the TU Berlin and the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam. After receiving her doctorate in Berlin in 1999, she moved to the Joint Research Center of the European Commission in 2000, where she worked on the development and certification of clinical and geological reference materials. During a research stay at the University of Bristol she began her work on extreme environmental changes in the Earth's history, was responsible for the Ion Probe Laboratory of the University of Edinburgh until 2009, and has taught since February 2009 as a professor at the FU Berlin.
The research focus of Simone Kasemann’s work lies in researching of the geochemical development of the Earth and the oceans and essentially covers materials transport and recycling processes on active continental margins as well as signatures and mechanisms of global and extreme climatic changes. She wants to set new accents in research and teaching by setting up a laboratory for mass spectrometry at the University of Bremen.
Prof. Dr. Friedhelm Hase
Faculty 6 – Law
Friedhelm Rabbit has been Professor of Public Law since April 2009 with a focus on German, European and International Social Law, Administrative Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Bremen.
Friedhelm Hase studied law at the Universities of Marburg and Giessen. After the Second State Law Examination, he was a research associate at the Chair of Public Law and Political Science at the University of Giessen. Friedhelm Hase earned his doctorate in 1981 with a dissertation on the foundations of state jurisdiction in the Weimar Republic. His habilitation thesis on the "Insurance Principle and Social Compensation" deals with the constitutional preconditions and implications of German social security law.
The legal scholar gained practical experience in the field of social security at the umbrella association of German pension insurance funds. Since 1989 he has worked as a university lecturer at the Universities of Bamberg and Siegen. He is a member of the Federal Arbitration Office for Contract Dental Care and of the Association Committee of the German Social Rights Association.
Prof. Dr. Kerstin Martens
Faculty 8 – Social Sciences
Kerstin Martens was appointed Professor of International Relations and World Society on 1 July 2009 in the Faculty of Social Sciences.
Born in Rotenburg, she studied Political Science, Modern History and International Law at the Universities of Münster, Bordeaux and Nottingham, where in 1998 she earned her Master of Arts (International Relations). Subsequently, she completed her doctoral studies at the European University Institute in Florence, including a research semester at New York University. In 2003 she earned her doctorate on the relationship between non-governmental organizations and the United Nations. Martens had already worked as a research associate at the University of Bremen before being appointed junior professor for "International Relations and World Society" in 2007.
Since 2007 she has been directing work in the project "Internationalization of Educational Policy" at the Collaborative Research Center "Transitional Statehood". This project will examine the impact of the PISA study and the Bologna process on national education systems. Martens is a member of the Junge Akademie. In October 2008 she turned down a call for a temporary professorship at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg.
Prof. Dr. Uwe Schimank
Faculty 8 – Social Sciences
Uwe Schimank has been Professor of Sociological Theory at the University of Bremen since October 2009.
Born in 1955, he studied sociology at the University of Bielefeld and received his doctorate there in 1981 on "Neoromantic Protest in Late Capitalism". After working in a research project in Bielefeld, he was from 1985 to 1996 research associate at the Cologne Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies. He habilitated in 1994 with a dissertation on the suppression of research through teaching at German universities. Since 1996, he has been Professor of Sociology at the FernUniversität in Hagen until his move to Bremen. His main areas of interest are comparative theories in sociology, sociological diagnoses of time, organizational and decision theories, governance research, and science and university research.
He brings to Bremen two new empirical research projects: a DFG-funded project "Publishing Decision-Making between Economic and Scientific Logic: The Science Publishers of German Sociology and Chemistry" and a collaborative project on "Re-Structuring Higher Education and Research" funded by the European Science Foundation Scientific Innovation ".
Prof. Dr. Andreas Klee
Faculty 8 – Social Sciences
Andreas Klee has been working since June 2009 as a junior professor at the Faculty of Political Science with a focus on political science and its didactics at the university. Prior to his appointment, he worked since 2005 as a lecturer in this field.
After completing his education as a primary and secondary school teacher in Baden-Württemberg, he received a Georg Christoph Lichtenberg PhD scholarship in 2003 as part of the academic excellence program of the state of Lower Saxony. As a member of the "Didactic Reconstruction" research program at the University of Oldenburg, he wrote his dissertation in the context of professional didactic professional research, which he completed with honors in 2007.
In the period from 2003 to 2007 he completed a postgraduate course in didactic teaching and learning research - also at the University of Oldenburg. At the University of Bremen, Andreas Klee has set himself the goal of establishing a research-oriented, interdisciplinary center of socio-scientific subject didactics in the Faculty. The main tasks of this center are to improve the organization of studies, to promote innovative teaching, to initiate and accompany empirical research projects in the field of social science teaching-learning research and to expand cooperation with schools and other institutions involved in teacher training and extracurricular educational strategies.
Prof. Dr. Olaf Groh-Samberg
Faculty 8 – Social Sciences
Olaf Groh-Samberg Since August 2009, he has been supporting the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS) and the Faculty of Social Sciences as junior professor.
At the BIGSSS he coordinates the field "Social Integration and the Welfare State". Prior to his junior professorship in sociology, focusing on education, the labor market and social inequality, he worked as a research assistant at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin. There, he dealt with issues of poverty, income inequality, education and social mobility from an international comparative and survey-methodological perspective. He also leads a Franco-German research project that explores the strategies of young migrants in the transition to adulthood.
His work focuses on poverty research, the growth of social inequality and the reproduction of social positions over generations. In Bremen, Groh-Samberg will work on a project on intergenerational mobility in German-American comparison.
Prof. Dr. Sabine Doff
Faculty 10 – Linguistics and Literary Studies
In April 2009, she took over the professorship for foreign language didactics English in the Faculty of Linguistics and Literary Studies.
After studying English, German and Philosophy in Munich and Glasgow and the First and Second State Exams, Sabine Doff was Research Associate at the LMU Munich from 1999 to 2005. There she received her doctorate in 2002 for foreign language teaching for girls in the 19th century. This was also the time spent abroad at UBC Vancouver and the University of Illinois, Chicago. The habilitation at the LMU Munich took place in 2007. After an interim professorship in Karlsruhe, Sabine Doff taught as a professor at the University of Frankfurt. Her main areas of expertise include methodology, English-speaking countries and cultures (focus on Canada) as well as bilingual subject teaching.
In Bremen, Sabine Doff wants to expand her existing research and teaching focus and support the development of the working area on the history of foreign language learning and teaching in Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. Important accents are the cooperation with the subject sciences as well as the dialogue between the different phases of the education and training of English teachers.
Prof. Dr. Simone Seitz
Faculty 12 – Education and Educational Science
Since 1 February 2009 she is a professor in the Faculty of Education and Educational Science for the subject area "Inclusive Education, with a main focus on Spiritual Development".
After studying and second state examination at the University of Cologne, Simone Seitz initially worked as a teacher of special education before she went to the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg in 2001 as a "Georg Christoph Lichtenberg Fellow" of the state of Lower Saxony. There, she completed her doctorate in a graduate school for "Didactic teaching-learning research" with a study on the development of temporal skills of primary school children. In 2003, she joined the Heidelberg University of Education as a Research Associate and joined the Faculty of School Education and General Didactics at the University of Dortmund in 2004. In 2006 she came to the University of Bremen as a junior professor. At the beginning of 2009 she decided against an external call and stayed at the University of Bremen.
Her research interests include pedagogy and didactics in elementary and primary education, the professionalization of teachers for inclusive practice and the development of methods of child-oriented qualitative social research in inclusive settings.
Prof. Dr. med. Hajo Zeeb
Faculty 11 – Human and Health Sciences
Hajo Zeeb will take over a professorship in epidemiology with a focus on prevention and evaluation from January 2010 in the Faculty of Human and Health Sciences.
Hajo Zeeb heads the Faculty "Prevention and Evaluation" at the Bremen Institute for Prevention Research and Social Medicine (BIPS). Born in 1963, Hajo Zeeb studied human medicine at the RWTH Aachen University and received his doctorate there in 1990. He then worked as a doctor in German and English clinics, before he went to Namibia as a development worker for three years. After studying for a master’s in Public Health, he worked at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg and from 1999-2005 at the University of Bielefeld. At the World Health Organization in Geneva, Zeeb was responsible for international radiation and health projects. At the end of 2006 he was appointed Professor of Epidemiology at the Institute for Medical Biometry, Epidemiology and Computer Science (IMBEI) of the Mainz University Hospital.
His research interests include the evidence-based prevention of chronic diseases and epidemiological research on the health of migrants. With regard to health risk factors and their prevention, he is particularly interested in electromagnetic radiation, for example in medical diagnostics and UV radiation.