Professor Appointments

Congratulations to Mingdong Dong and Jeppe Vang Lauritsen who have been appointed Professors in Experimental Surface and Interface Science at the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Aarhus University. The appointments are effective as of 1 April 2021.

Mingdong Dong and Jeppe Vang Lauritsen have been appointed Professors in Experimental Surface and Interface Science. (Photos by Maria Randima and Lars Kruse, AU Photo)
Mingdong Dong and Jeppe Vang Lauritsen have been appointed Professors in Experimental Surface and Interface Science. (Photos by Maria Randima and Lars Kruse, AU Photo)

 

Below you can read about Dongs and Lauritsens backgrounds as well as the focus of their research.

Mingdong Dong

The research of Mingdong Dong's group, the Bio-SPM Group, ranges from materials science, physical chemistry to biophysics. It covers problems in life science and nanoscience, and encompasses expertise in advanced surface science techniques in scanning probe microscopy (SPM).

Mingdong Dong has worked in the area of nanotechnology since 2003 with a focus on molecular self-assembly. After completing his Ph.D. at Aarhus University, he moved to Harvard University where he conducted his postdoctoral research. Since then, he has devoted himself to the advancement of SPM-based microscopy methods for extending conventional morphological characterizations to a wide range of physical-chemical information at a nanometer scale.

In 2009 he returned to iNANO as an Assistant Professor, principal investigator of the Bio-SPM group, and since 2013 as Associate Professor. The Bio-SPM group applies these advanced functional SPM techniques with sub-molecular resolution and quantitative analysis to investigate electronic, mechanical, thermal, chemical, and magnetic properties in biological systems and nanomaterials, which is critically important for a better understanding of the structure-function relationship.

Jeppe Vang Lauritsen

His experimental research group, the Interfaces and Catalysis Group, provides cross-disciplinary understanding of the physics and chemistry of nanomaterials, which are of strong importance in our society for e.g. sustainable energy production and storage. This line of research is in particular motivated by the fact that we now have excellent microscopy and spectroscopy tools at nearby synchrotron light sources that allow a rather complete physical description of complex materials at the atomic level – and under working conditions.

Jeppe was educated at Aarhus University with a Ph.D. from Department of Physics and Astronomy in 2002. Following employment with Haldor Topsøe A/S and postdoctoral projects, he was in 2008 employed at the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center, Aarhus University where he established a surface science laboratory. Although his research activities have a fundamental focus, the projects are strongly motivated by issues and questions of enormous importance to energy industries. He has built a very strong network in catalysis and materials physics research laboratories and industries worldwide.

Jeppe lives in Silkeborg with his wife and three children. In his spare time, he enjoys brewing his own beer, badminton and mountain biking in the challenging landscape near his hometown.


For further information, please contact

Mingdong Dong
Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center, Aarhus University
Email: dong@inano.au.dk

Jeppe Vang Lauritsen
Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center, Aarhus University
Email: jvang@inano.au.dk