2020-10-15
This website was moved from blogs.upb.de/kbrassat to katharina-brassat.com
2020-09-16
#fürdasWissen DFG campaign video
This year, the German research foundation DFG is pursuing a campaign under the spirit of #researchmatters #fortheKnowledge in order to underline the fundamental importance of scientific research for our world. Researchers from all fields were asked to contribute stating why they think that research, knowledge and innovation are the keys to enable an open and informed society living in a sustainable world.
I also contributed with a statement which you can find as a video here.
„Without research – no technologies, no innovation, no future – and none of this without education!“
2020-06-02
Scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) paper published
My first SoTL paper is finally out and available online!
I evaluated the ‚Student acceptance and perception of relevance of a discipline specific workshop on ‚Scientific oral presentations in physics“. I reported earlier about these communication skill workshops I create and give in collaboration with Anna Bauer from physics didactics.
Basically, we asked students about their willingness to attend such events and analyzed the effect of such a workshop on the students performance. Have a look at the paper for details!
2020-04-27
Online workshops on science communication skills
During this time of new appreciation e-learning tools are giving us, I transferred some of my workshops on communication skills for scientists in natural sciences from presence-centered events to an e-learning experience.
I created an e-workshop on giving scientific oral presentations and one on scientific literature search and efficient reading of journal papers.
Both these workshops are created using the didactic approach of cognitive apprenticeship, i.e. I do not only show how to communicate in science but also explain why one should do so and make thoughts and decision making transparent.
The workshops consist of videos, pdfs and tasks.
The oral presentation workshop consist of three parts. The first part is a video on the preparation of a talk including story telling and content. Several tasks within this video allow the workshop attendee to work simultaneously on a future presentation.
The second part gives advice on slide design, to present data and to help to transport the presentation key message non-verbally. The third part reports about personal experiences and advice on presentation skills, including body language, Q&A session, does & don’ts and avoiding stage fright. These two parts are available as pdf files and include some interesting references.
The workshop on literature search is split into two parts, both available as videos with accompanying tasks. The first workshop part deals with the actual search – search questions, sources, judgment on source quality, search strategies, … An additional pdf gives in introduction to the literature management system Citavi. The second video deals with the structure of journal papers on natural sciences and engineering. It aims to improve the efficiency in reading papers.
All workshop material was created for academic teaching purposes only!
If you are interested in attending one of these online-workshops, please contact me and I will provide you the access link!
2020-04-06
Effects of the Corona virus
Due to the spreading of the Corona virus our university is closed now already since 3 weeks – time in home office to write manuscripts and read the pile of papers that was never time for.
However, unfortunately, both of my next exciting work trips, the EMRS Spring Meeting 2020 where I had an invited talk and co-organized a Young Scientist Forum, and the 70th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting 2020 for which I was selected to join, are cancelled. Or postponed to next year. This is for sure the only responsible decision to make, but still I am disappointed as I was very much looking forward to these events!
Also, teaching duties for this summer term need to be rearranged. I am currently working on creating learning videos, extra task sheets and chat/feedback/etc possibilities on digital learning platforms. In particular, I continue my workshop series on scientific communication skills with a new (now digital) workshop on literature search and efficient reading of scientific papers.
And of cause, students who just started working on a thesis now need modified, new topics which are not based on experiments, but on literature, experiment design, …
… and use some spare time to sew face masks for people around me.
So, many changes in these strange times…
Stay save and healthy!
2020-03-03
70th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting 2020
I was selected to participate in the 70th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting this year! Great news and a real distinction! I am especially curious about this as the meeting topic is interdisciplinarity which is of cause of personal importance to me. Interdisciplinary work enables bringing diversity into STEM, which imo the academic field lacks…
2020-03-03
2020 #RSCPoster Twitter Conference
I am just attending the RSC Poster Twitter Conference. It was already great last year and led to nice new contacts – I hope it will be similarly fruitful this year. I am attending with this poster advertising our latest publication:
2020-02-05
Next EMRS Spring Meeting
I will give an invited presentation at the next EMRS Spring Meeting 2020, taking place end of May in Strasbourg. I will talk about advances on our works on bionanoparticle assemby on prepatterned surfaces. In particular, we have some nice new results on ferritin arrays!
Also, I am co-organizer of the Young Scientist Forum on ‚Functional surfaces and interfaces‘ within Symposium R on ‚Bioinspired and biointegrated materials as new frontiers nanomaterials‘.
2020-01-13
New paper out!
Productive times at the moment allowed us to publish yet another paper within such short time. In particular, publication of this one was quite straight forward: from first submission to online availability within less than a month, despite Christmas in between!
So read this one on analytical STEM investigations of the PS-PMMA interface in phase-separated block copolymers, again available open access!
2019-12-16
New invited progress report out!
Our new progress report on block copolymer self-assembly is out. It’s an invited progress report which is published as part of a special issue on ‚Bottom-up Micro/nanostructures‘ in Advanced materials interfaces. It is available with open access!
2019-12-05
Goldener Rotstift 2019 – teaching award
I was awarded with the Goldener Rotstift 2019 – golden red pencil 2019 for the best teaching of the year! The award is based on student evaluation comments and announced by the student representatives of physics! Thanks a lot for this acknowledgement of my efforts!
2019-11-25
New paper on block copolymer self assembly out!
Our new work on the creation of tailored hierarchical nanostructures by local film-thickness control of block copolymers on pre-patterned surfaces is available online and open access here!
2019-09-13
New lab building!
Yesterday we celebrated the official inauguration of the new lab building of the ‚Institute of lightweight design with hybrid materials‚ (ILH) at Paderborn University. We spend a great day with scientific presentations and industry panel discussions and a nice party afterwards.
You can find an image movie of the ILH with insights into the new building here!
2019-09-04
Panel-interview at ‚Best MINT‘ conference 2019
I just gave an interview at the ‚Best MINT‘ conference at Paderborn University. This conference deals with the decision-making phase of study programs and career-choices of girls and young women. I was happy to contribute with an interview on my experience from a female scientists point of view.
Great that there are so many people facing this problem and trying to improve the system!
2019-08-09
DSA Symposium 2019 on directed self-assembly of block copolymers in Milano
We will join the DSA Symposium 2019 in Milano, Italy this October. I will present our resent results on
Hierarchical nanostructures by controlled block copolymer film thickness modulation on pre-patterned surfaces
in an oral presentation and on
Correlation between morphology and coordination of nanopores created by block copolymer lithography
at the poster session.
I am very much looking forward to meet many expert in the field of block copolymer lithography and our dear colleagues from Poland and Italy!
2019-07-04
Funding of a student helper by the Forschungskommission Naturwissenschaften
My proposal submitted to the Forschungskommission Naturwissenschaften at Paderborn University was accepted and I can offer a student helper position (WHB) for a master student (from material science, physics or chemistry) to work on the project:
Self-organized large area arrays of functional bionanoparticles for alternative bionanoelectronics and smart biointerfaces
2019-07-01
Conference ISSIB 2019
I will be giving an invited talk at the International Symposium on Surfaces and Interfaces of Biomaterials ISSIB 2019 taking place in Quebec, Canada in July.
The presentation will give an overview on currently running projects on arrays of bionanoobjects (protein micelles, DNA origamis, protein nanoparticles) on nanostructured surfaces.
I am very much looking forward to meeting dear colleagues and visiting Canada!
2019-06-06
Certificates for advanced academic teaching
I just received my certificates for the professional academic teaching program by the Netzwerk Hochschuldidaktik NRW after completing 10 full-day workshops on different aspects of academic teaching, such as communication skills, e-learning, thesis advising and many more. I continue this program with a SOTL-project (Scholarship of teaching and learning) on the integration of workshops on skills a scientist needs (giving scientific talks, preparing sci. posters, working with literature) into the physics and material science study program…
2019-05-16
Workshop on ‚How to give a scientific talk‘
Today, I am giving a workshop for Physics Bachelorstudents on How to give a scientific talk.
The workshop is part of the 4th term lab course in experimental physics and I will give it in collaboration with Anna Bauer from Physics didactics. It will take approx. 5 h and contains input-phases as well as active participation with the students working on a presentation about their own lab course project.
Detailed information can be found in the Workshop-Wiki (for internal use).
I plan to give an adjusted workshop on this topic for Materials Science Master students with more focus on conference-specifics in winter term 2019/2020!
I am very much looking forward to it and hope for motivated students!
2019-04-03
3rd Fulbright-Cottrell Junior Faculty Professional Development Workshop
Fulbright and the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) offer a Workshop for early career researchers from chemistry, physics and astronomy where topics such as leadership skills, networking, public outreach and teaching/mentoring will be covered. I just registered to attend this workshop which will take place in early June 2019 in Göttingen.
I am very much looking forward to this event!
2019-03-05
#RSCPoster #RSCNano #RSCMat – Twitter Poster Conference
I just attended my first scientific Twitter Conference. Organized by the Royal Society of Chemistry one could twitter a scientific poster – just as at a real conference – under certain hashtags. I attended the ’symposia‘ #RSCNano and #RSCMat on Nanoscience and Materials with our work on „Nanopores by block copolymer lithography on different material surfaces“. It was really fun and people asked questions and liked our work!
2019-02-27
Giving a talk at the next E-MRS Spring Meeting 2019 in Nice
Our abstract on
Self-assembled nanoparticle arrays on nanostructured surfaces for tailored large-area biointerfaces
was just accepted for oral presentation with Symposium L: New strategies for smart biointerfaces at the next E-MRS Spring Meeting taking place May 27-31, 2019 in beautiful Nice!
2019-02-12
Community member HFDcert
HFDcert is a network for digital teaching and learning in academia. People who teach and try out new e-learning-based concepts participate in this network and share ideas and experiences.
The HFDcert (HochschulForum Digitalisierung certificate) is a project by the Stifterverband, CHE Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung and the HRK Hochschulrektorenkonferenz and supported by the BMBF Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung.
Find here a link to the network and my current community certificate.
2019-02-14
Newest paper on block copolymer lithography is published
Our newest paper on ‚Modification of block copolymer lithography mask by O2/Ar plasma treatment: Insights from lift off experiments, nanopore etching and free membranes‘ was just accepted for publication in Nanotechnology!
Find the ‚just accepted‘ manuscript here: DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ab06dd
2018-12-19
Award for the best PhD Thesis 2018
I just received the price of the ‚Präsidium der Universität Paderborn‘ for the best honoured dissertation of the year 2018.
I am of cause very excited about this nice appreciation of my work!
Thanks a lot to the selection committee!
2018-11-05
‚Jung-Chemiker Forum‘ organized a ‚Bring your poster-Session‘
The local ‚Jung-Chemiker Forum (JCF)‘, which is part of a national group within the ‚Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh)‘ organized a
Bring your poster- Session
Everyone from the chemistry department was invited to bring a recent research poster and present it to the local colleagues – to get to know what really happens in the lab next door.
As a former member of the chemistry department I was allowed to join and added a note of materials sciences and physics to the event.
Thanks to the organizing team!
2018-09-25
Successful Young Scientist Forum
From September 17 – 20 the EMRS Fall Meeting 2018 took place in Warsaw, Poland. Within Symposium E: Bioinspired and biointegrated materials, I was lucky enough to be invited by the Symposium organizers to coorganize and chair the
Young Scientist Forum – Frontiers in nanomaterials, nanosystems and interfaces
which gives young researchers a chance to attend the conference presenting their research in either 15 min talks or within a session of 7 min-pitches. Within these short pitches, their had the chance to advertise their research and invite people to meet them later at their matching poster.
This years edition of the Young Scientist Forum was with 12 postdoc or finishing ph d student presentation, approx 20 pitches from graduate students and more than 30 posters very successful.
I would like to thank the symposium organizers Evgenia Buzaneva and Arzum Erdem very much for having me as a co-organizer of this event. Special thanks also go to Donata Kuczynska and Vidya Chamundeswari for their help!
2018-07-04
Buzy EMRS Fall Meeting 2018 ahead
The EMRS Fall Meeting 2018, taking place in September in Warsaw, will become a buzy meeting with me giving an invited presentation in the Bioinspired materials symposium E on
Protein and DNA origami arrays on large areas by directed self-assembly
and two contributed talks in Sympo M on organized nanostructures:
Hierarchical nanopore and nanoring arrays by self-assembly techniques
With directed self-arrangement of DNA origami to large-area quantum dot arrays
Thanks to all symposium organizers!
2018-05-14
Paper accepted! – DNA origami arrays
Our work on the adsorption of DNA origamis on pre-patterned surfaces was accepted for publication in a Langmuir Special Issue. The ‚just accepted‘ version is available here and was advertised by Langmuir on Twitter!
2018-04-28
Invited talk at EMRS Fall Meeting 2018
The scientific committee of EMRS Fall Meeting 2018 – Symposium E invited me to give a talk on my research. The Symposium is about ‚Bioinspired and biointegrated materials as new frontier nanomaterials‘.
The EMRS Fall Meeting 2018 takes place on Sept. 17-20 in Warsaw, Poland.
2018-04-25
Paper accepted
Our paper on ‚Hierarchical nanopores by block copolymer lithography on surfaces of different materials pre-patterned by nanosphere lithography‘ is accepted for publication in Nanoscale and already available in a ‚just accepted‘ version!
2018-03-29
PhD finished
I finished my PhD! Find my thesis here.
2018-03-14
Paper accepted
Our paper on ‚Easily accessible protein nanostructures via enzyme mediated addressing‘ is accepted for publication in Langmuir!
2018-03-14
EMRS Spring Meeting 2018
There will be two contribution of our research on block copolymer lithography at the EMRS Spring Meeting 2018 in Straßbourg, France, June 18-22, in a symposium, which is exclusively focused on this technique (Sympo M: Block copolymer self-assembly: fundamentals and applications)
‚Nanoscopic protein arrays on BCP prepatterned surfaces‘ (oral presentation)
and
‚Morphology investigation of nanopores by block copolymer lithography on different material surfaces‘ (poster presentation)
2018-02-02
MRS Spring Meeting 2018
I will attend the MRS Spring Meeting 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona, from April 02-06, giving a talk on
‚Hierarchical nanopatterns by site-selective DNA origami adsorption on pre-patterned surfaces‘
in Sympo SM04: Understanding and controlling the structure and function of biomolecules at material interfaces. The presentation is scheduled for April 3rd, 11:45 am.
Travel funding by the DAAD is greatly acknowledged.
2017-09-18
Paper published in Optics Express
Our paper on ‚Two-dimensional switchable blue phase gratings manufactured by nanosphere lithography‘ just got published in Optics Express!
2017-09-15
EMRS Fall Meeting 2017
I will attend the EMRS Fall Meeting 2017 taking place in Warsaw, Poland from September 19 – 21, where I will give a contributed talk on our material design in Sympo U: Engineering surfaces to control and elucidate cellular response.
2017-05-17
Young Investigator Forum
I am invited to attend the ‚Young Investigator Forum‘ at the EMRS Spring Meeting 2017 in Strassbourg, France, which is organized within Symposium K: Bioinspired and biointegrated materials as new frontier nanomaterials.