Our Speakers from the 2024 edition

Yasin Bayram was born in Kadıköy, Istanbul, in 1996. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from the Eskisehir Technical University, in 2020 and 2023. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in Photoncis Science and Engineering at Gazi University. From 2020 to 2022, he was a Graduate Researcher with the Thin Film Laboratory in Eskisehir Technical University. He is currently a Researcher of the Sisecam, Science, Technology and Design Center, Kocaeli, Turkey. His research interest includes the fundamental study of light-matter interaction, development of thin film filters in wide range of electromagnetic spectrum, and fabrication of micro or nanostructured surfaces.

Karlheinz Blankenbach, has three decades of experience in displays. From 1988 until 1995 he was with AEG-MIS (a DAIMLER subsidiary) in Germany, developing display electronics, e-signage LCDs, and software. In 1995 he was appointed to full professor at Pforzheim University, Germany, where he founded the university’s Display Lab. His main R&D activities are (automotive) display topics such as optical measurements, display systems, evaluations, HMI, and LEDs, as well as display hardware and software. Blankenbach is a member of the Society for Information Display’s program subcommittee, Automotive/Vehicular Displays and HMI Technologies, and a member of SID’s International Committee for Display Metrology. He has served as a member of the board of the Displayforum (DFF) since 2000; after nine years as chairman he was appointed to honorary chairman in 2020.

Philipp Dürrenfeld is a research scientist at Advanced Energy. After years of work in the academia on the field of thin film spintronics, he joined Advanced Energy in 2020. The company operates its Customer Solutions Lab in Karlstein am Main, near Frankfurt, where he is part of the team to perform coating processes and material characterizations with the focus on the impact of power supply technologies on the thin film properties.

Wiebke Langgemach is coordinating the ultrathin glass business field at the Fraunhofer Institute for Electron Beam and Plasma Technology (FEP) within the department of plasma coating/sheet-to-sheet technologies. Since 2018, her research focuses on coating and properties of ultra-thin glass with a special focus on its mechanical characterization. Before that, she studied Ceramics, Glass and Building Materials at the TU Bergakademie in Freiberg.

Prof. Dr. Stéphane Lucas is a physicist with knowledge in materials science, nuclear medicine and radiobiology. He is the Chief Research Officer of Ion Beam Applications (IBA, Be), and a Professor at the University of Namur, Belgium. He founded the companies IBA-Radioisotopes (2001), Innovative Coating Solutions (ICS, 2018) and Anaptysso (2022). He published more than 200 articles in life sciences (protontherapy and nanotoxicology), materials science (plasma surface treatments), the environment (elimination of persistent pollutants by physical methods) and technologies related to low-pressure plasma and particle accelerators.

Dr. Chanel (Hayden) Linnane is an accomplished professional with a background in Applied Physics and Engineering. She earned her PhD in Plasma Physics from Dublin City University in 2009 and a Higher Diploma in International Selling from Technical University Dublin in 2018. Over the last 16 years her experience spans various sectors including Semiconductor, Research, Academia, and Industry. She has applied her technical expertise in roles ranging from commercialising Photo Acoustics at DCU to Dry Etch Process Engineering at Intel. Since joining Impedans in 2013, she has helped grow the brand through roles in Sales, Marketing and Customer Success. Passionate about business and customer engagement, she continues to emphasize the importance of understanding plasmas globally. Dr. Linnane is dedicated to advancing Plasma Processing through RF measurement and plasma diagnostics.

Dr. Georg Ockenfuss is an accomplished inventor. He is inventor or co-inventor of over 60 US patents, mainly in the field of photonic sensing. He is currently Director of R&D at VIAVI Solutions, in charge of advanced prototyping. Dr. Ockenfuss has been with VIAVI Solutions since 1998, starting at OCLI (Optical Coating Laboratories). OCLI was acquired by JDS Uniphase in 2000 and renamed Viavi in 2015. During his tenure at VIAVI Solutions, Dr. Ockenfuss has been involved in the development of coating equipment, processes, and unique solutions for customer requirements in the optical coating market. Previously, Dr. Ockenfuss was at the Research Center Jülich where he received his PhD in the field of reactive sputtering of thin film high temperature superconductors. He earned his Master (Diplom) in Physics at the Technical University Munich and is a member of OSA, SVC and ICCG.

Robert studied physics at the University of Magdeburg, specializing in semiconductor physics, particularly III-V semiconductors, and graduated in 2012. He then continued his studies in Engineering Physics in Oldenburg. Since 2016, he has been working at scia Systems in research and development, focusing on ion beam milling. He also holds the role of Product Manager for the scia Mill 200 systems.

Burak Okan hold B.S. and M.S. degrees in Materials Science and Nanoengineering from Sabanci University (with a minor in Physics), Turkey, a M.S. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA and a Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Rensselear Polytechnic Institute, USA. He is a senior research scientist at Sisecam’s corporate R&D department, Turkey specializing in atmospheric large area CVD technologies, thin film optical design and industrial laser processing.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Edda Rädlein is head of the group for Inorganic-Nonmetallic Materials (ANW) at TU Ilmenau since 2017. She is giving courses for bachelor and master students in material science, mechanical engineering, and biomedical engineering. Current research topics of the ANW group are phase separating glasses, microstructured glasses, and glass surfaces. Glass surface analysis and experiments are focused on cleaning, degradation and coating. Diffusion and radiation defects are under investigation, coatings with protective, photocatalytic and transparent-conductive properties are developed. Current projects focus on the surface reactions in microstructuring via photolithography, wet chemical and plasma etching. Production processes are scrutinized regarding sustainability and recycling. Former affiliations: University of Bayreuth, scientific coordinator of WOPAG (materials and surface processed glass products made of glass). TU Clausthal, habilitation on scanning probe microscopy as a tool for the characterization of glassy materials and films and PhD on simulation of interaction of space radiation with glasses and glass ceramics. FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, diploma in physics, thesis on atmospheric binary stars.

Michael Robinson is an American designer/futurologist who has lived in Turin for 44 years, always pushing global mobility towards the impossible, towards the unknown, towards the future. For the past 28 years he has held Design Director positions at the Lancia Design Center, the Fiat Design Center, Bertone, and ED Design. In 2013 he was inducted into the Car Design Hall of Fame at MAUTO, the Italian National Automobile Museum. The English magazine Magneto recently positioned Robinson in 31st place in the list of the 50 best car designers of all time. His multifaceted experience has generated many provocative cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, yachts, eVTOLs, high-speed trains, business jets, etc. Today Michael is the Design Director of Blue in Torino.

Thomas Schmidt has been closely linked to glass as a material his entire professional life. After graduating from high school, he completed training as a physics laboratory technician at a quartz glass manufacturer and processor. After studying physical engineering at the Jena University of Applied Sciences, he found his way into laser material processing at the ifw in Jena. In his almost 20 years at the institute, he has carried out numerous research projects and services on a wide variety of laser applications, in which glass is one of the main focuses.

He lives with his family in the countryside near Jena. In his free time he works as a hobby farmer and is the head of the community’s volunteer fire department. As a cyclist, he is also involved in a sports club.

Dr. Kerstin Täschner, based at the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology (FEP) in Dresden, Germany, is a distinguished scientist and the current group leader of the sheet-to-sheet Sputtering & PECVD research group in the department of plasma technology. With over 15 years of experience in the field, Dr. Täschner specializes in reactive pulse-magnetron sputtering processes.
She earned her PhD in 2006 from Fraunhofer IOF Jena and Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, focusing on plasma ion-assisted vacuum evaporation processes for optical coatings on polycarbonate. Prior to this, she studied Optometry and Precision Engineering at the University of Applied Sciences Jena.
Dr. Täschner’s primary research interests lie in multifunctional optical coatings, optical multilayer design, plasma coating processes, flexible thin glass, and optical metrology. Her work contributes significantly to advancements in optical technology and materials science.

Since 2008, Dr. Peter van Nijnatten is the owner and currently director of research of OMT Solutions. In his current and previous occupation he has been responsible for the technical and scientific content of over 500 projects in the past 35 years on optical characterisation of materials, resulting in 7 patents and over 80 publications as author and co-author on optical measurements and testing of coatings, glass products and solar energy materials. He is currently Vice-Chairman of the ICG Technical Expert Committee TC10 on Optical Properties of Glass and glazing materials.

Dr. Karsten Walzer, a physicist since 1995 with a PhD earned in 2000, boasts over three decades of expertise in organic electronics. His journey began at TU Chemnitz, Germany, culminating in a PhD focused on surface physics of molecular adsorbates. Following this, he served as an Assistant Research Professor at Mikroelektronik Centret, DTU Copenhagen, Denmark, delving into scanning probe spectroscopy of molecular nanosystems. From 2003 to 2008, he led the OLED group at TU Dresden’s IAPP under Prof. Leo, before joining Heliatek GmbH, Germany, in 2008. Here, as Head of Organic Semiconductors, he orchestrates the entire spectrum of organic semiconductor development for Organic Solar Cells, from molecular design to mass production readiness. Dr. Walzer’s contributions extend to over 90 patents and 80 peer-reviewed publications in esteemed journals like Nature and Advanced Materials.

Dr. Marja Vilkman is a Principal Scientist at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. She has a MSc degree in chemical engineering and DSc degree in physics, both from Aalto University. Marja has worked with functional materials and their processing for more than 20 years. She develops materials and processing methods for sustainable next generation batteries, such as solid-state batteries and batteries that use more abundant or even bio-based materials. Marja is a coordinator of two European projects, HIDDEN and SOLiD, which aim at producing Li-metal batteries with long lifetime and high energy density. She is also the research chair of the Batteries Europe/BEPA Working Group of Raw Materials and Recycling.

Jaroslav Vlček is Professor of Applied Physics at the Department of Physics, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen (Czech Republic) since 1997. He received his doctorate in Plasma Physics from the Czech Technical University in Prague in 1986. His research activities are focused on processes in electrical discharges (plasma diagnostics and modelling), plasma-surface interactions, novel plasma sources for film deposition (e.g., reactive high-power impulse magnetron sputtering) and magnetron sputter deposition of novel thin-film materials (hard and thermally stable protective coatings, functional oxide and oxynitride films). He is author or co-author of more than 140 refereed journal papers with more than 4500 citations in the WoS database, his H-index is 37. He is a representative of the Czech Republic in the Advanced Surface Engineering Division of IUVSTA.

Dr Stephan Ulrich is a physicist and completed his doctorate in 2005 at the Institute for Solar Energy Research Hameln/Emmertahl (ISFH) on CdTe thin-film solar cells. He has been a project manager at the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films in Braunschweig since 2005. His areas of work range from the development of low-e and interference-based layer systems to the use of sputtering processes in solar water splitting. He is currently leading the project on the upscaling of vanadium oxide-based thermochromic coatings.

Director of Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron beam and Plasma Technologies (FEP)/Professor for Coating Technologies for Electronics TU Dresden, Professor for Coating Technologies for Electronics, Faculty for Electrical Engineering since 2021 at the Technical University Dresden.

After receiving his degree in electrical engineering, Thomas Bretz worked 16 years in the HW and firmware development at IBM. In 2009, he left IBM to work on customer projects for a service contractor. In 2013, he founded Intrinex, a small company dedicated to develop demanding HW and SW solutions for critical applications, i.e. explosion safety. After many years of experience, Thomas is still eager to tackle any challenging development task.

Fangfang Huo received the M.S. degree in Material Processing Engineering from Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China, in 2017. She is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in epitaxial growth and thin film deposition process by reactive hollow cathode gas flow sputtering (GFS) technology with Thin Film Device (TFD) group, institute of High-Frequency and Semiconductor-System Technologies of Technical University Berlin University, Berlin, Germany. Her research interests include coating technology, epitaxial growth process and thin film characterization.

Dr. Shoji Kaneko is a distinguished figure in the field of science and technology, based in Japan. In 1985, he earned his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo, marking the beginning of his illustrious career. After serving as a Professor at Shizuoka University until his retirement in 2004, Dr. Kaneko embarked on a new journey by establishing the SPD Laboratory, where he currently serves as Director. Throughout his career, Dr. Kaneko has demonstrated a deep commitment to advancing scientific knowledge and fostering innovation. His leadership at the SPD Laboratory continues to drive groundbreaking research and development, solidifying his legacy as a pioneering force in Japanese academia and industry.

Niall Killilea is the CTO at AMPERIAL Technologies, leading the development of retrofit electrochromic devices for use in improving existing window facades. Graduated from Imperial College London with a Masters in Chemistry, Niall went on to specialise in colloidal nanocrystal technology with a PhD focusing on quantum dot technologies for applications in short wave infrared photodetection and emission. His work then expanded towards electrochromic technologies, applying the learnings in surface chemistry and ink formulation to ceramic nanocrystals with the goal of creating a roll-to-roll electrochromic device on flexible, clear substrates.

Martin Letz works with SCHOTT, a special glass company, as a senior principal scientist in the central R&D. He joined SCHOTT in 2001 and was involved in several projects regarding materials for semiconductor structuring. Since several years he focusses on glasses and glass ceramics for electronic applications and their properties. One focus is on materials for antenna and filter structures for wireless data transfer. A second focus is on miniaturization of high frequency electronics. Prior to that he received his PhD in solid state physics from the University of Stuttgart in Germany and had several positions in research institutions and Universities (Tartu University (Estonia), Max-Plack Institut (Stuttgart, Germany), Queens University (Kingston, Canada), University of Mainz (Germany)) working on different aspects of strong correlations in condensed matter.

Daniel Mann holds a PhD in chemistry from RWTH Aachen, Germany. He works since 5 years as senior scientist at TNO and Brightlands Materials Center in the Netherlands. Here he develops new optical materials for sustainable buildings. Focusing on nanometer-sized pigments, coatings and nanocomposite polymer films adding advanced functionality to energy-efficient windows and building integrated photovoltaics.

Paul Mogensen obtained a PhD in Applied Physics from the University of Wales Cardiff in 1996. After completing a postdoc in applied optics at Risoe National lab in Denmark, Paul Joined Saint-Gobain in 2001 and has since worked for Saint-Gobain in a wide range of roles in R+D, process development and operations. Paul has over 20 years’ experience in thin film PVD coating of Glass with Saint-Gobain with experience in photovoltaics, electrochromic coatings and large area glass coating. This has included 6 years in R+D developing coatings for PV and smart glazing applications, 6 years working on Process and equipment development for thin Film PV at Avancis in Germany and 6 years in operations management of electrochromic film production at Sageglass in the US. He is currently the Deputy Director for Transformation Process R+D at Saint-Gobain Glass France.

Dr. D.P. Monaghan, the Managing Director of Gencoa Ltd in Liverpool, UK, has been immersed in vacuum technology for over three decades. He completed his Engineering Metallurgy degree at the University of Salford in 1988 and earned his PhD there from 1989 to 1992, focusing on unbalanced magnetron sputtering for novel PVD films. After working as a technical manager at Teer Coatings Ltd (TCL), he founded Gencoa Ltd in 1994. Gencoa, an independent company with 40 employees, manufactures sputter cathodes, plasma sources, and related vacuum hardware. Dr. Monaghan has authored over 50 scientific papers, delivered 300+ presentations at global conferences, and holds several international patents for plasma control in sputtering and vacuum processes. His achievements include receiving the John Matteucci Technical Excellence Award in 2023 and the C.R. Burch Prize in 1993. He also served as the Past Chairman of the UK Institute of Physics, Thin Film and Surfaces group, and as the UK representative for Thin Film Technology at the International Union for Vacuum Science and Technology (IUVSTA).

Since 2024, I have been leading the Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Team in the Technology General Division at AGC. Prior to this, I spent a year as a Visiting Researcher at the National University of Singapore from 2022 to 2023. Simultaneously, I held the position of Executive Director at AGC Asia Pacific Pte Ltd from 2020 to 2023. My career in academia included a tenure as an Appointed Professor at Nagoya University from 2015 to 2020. Earlier in my career, I led the Dry Coating Function Group in the Central Research Centre of AGC from 2010 to 2015. During the same period, from 2010 to 2014, I also led the CIGS Solar Cell Project at AGC. This diverse set of experiences has provided me with a comprehensive understanding of both the academic and industrial aspects of technology.

With more than 25 years of experience in color management, Michael Saeger is General Manager Online Color Solutions at X-Rite Pantone since 2012.

Cesar is a Senior R&D Scientist specializing in renewable energy technologies. He holds a Doctorate in Engineering from FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg. With over five years of experience, he led innovative projects at FOM Technologies, pioneering and patenting disruptive slot-die coating innovations for mass-production protocols in silicon-based tandem solar cells and other semiconductors. He is currently the partner lead scientist on two prominent EU HORIZON projects accelerating Europe’s clean energy transition.

Harmen Rooms studied Applied Physics at the Fontys University in Eindhoven and received his Bachelor degree in 2003. He worked at Philips N.V. in the field of electro-optical characterization of OLED devices and at OTB as measurement and analysis engineer. At TNO and Holst Centre he continued his work on OLED, OPV and CIGS solar technology and expanded his field in optical simulations. During his time at TNO/Holst Centre, he participated in several funded projects such as CPV4All (Pilot production of concentrated PV modules) and co-initiated European Multiscale Modelling Platform (MMP) project and Clean4Yield (in-line measurement and yield control in Roll-to-Roll applications).
In 2018 he joined Coatema as Manager R&D Projects where he leads the team for coordination and execution of funded projects.

Lars Rebohle is coordinating the Helmholtz Innovation blitzlab that deals with the dissemination and the technology transfer of short-time thermal treatment methods, namely flash lamp annealing. He studied and graduated in Physics at the TU Dresden and the TU Bergakademie Freiberg. In addition to flash lamp annealing, his research is focused on the doping of semiconductors and the crystallization and phase formation in thin film materials.

Dr. Matthias Schiller is the CTO and Director of Product and Process Development at FLABEG Automotive Germany GmbH. With a tenure spanning two decades, he has navigated various roles within FLABEG, primarily focusing on research and development. Prior to joining FLABEG, Schiller excelled at Carl Zeiss Vision GmbH, culminating in his role as Manager of Process Engineering from 1997 to 2004. He holds a Doctorate in Physics and an Intermediate Diploma in Business Administration. Schiller’s expertise is further underscored by his certification as a Six Sigma Black Belt, highlighting his commitment to operational excellence. His leadership and innovative vision continue to drive FLABEG’s advancements, solidifying its position as a leader in automotive technology.

Julian Schwietering received his M.Sc degree in technical physics from the Technical University of Ilmenau, Germany. Since then, he has been employed at the Fraunhofer-IZM as a researcher in the area of EOCBs (electrical optical circuit boards) at Fraunhofer-IZM in the field of electrical optical circuit boards made of glass. He currently leads a team that focuses on the ion-exchange process to integrate optical waveguides and other optical structures into glass.

Alex Sobolev is the Channel Marketing & Insights Manager for Guardian Glass North America. He was one of the founding members of Guardian Glass’ Bird Friendly program and is an expert in avian collision research and prevention. His research in this space has developed new ways to characterize product performance, under a variety of lighting conditions, without requiring animal testing.

Dr. Michael Trubetskov graduated from Physics Faculty of Moscow State University in 1982. He obtained a Ph.D. Degree in Mathematical and Theoretical Physics in 1985 and a Dr. of Sc. Degree in Mathematical and Theoretical Physics from Moscow State University in 2002 with the title „Inverse synthesis and characterization problems in optics of multilayer coatings.“ Since 2012 he works as a senior scientist at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching b. Munich. Dr. Trubetskov specializes in thin film optics, coating design and characterization problems, optics, electrodynamics, applied mathematics, laser science in bio-medical applications, computational mathematics and physics, machine learning and data science, computer science, software development, and parallel computations. Dr. Trubetskov has more than 280 publications and his h-index value is 36 according to Scopus.

Jorma Vitkala is an influencer with over 20 000 glass professionals on LinkedIn, which is one of the largest networks in the glass industry. He is the founder and former chairman of Glass Performance Days and founder of the Glass Innovation Institute (GII) and the Old Fox Club. He has worked in over 50 countries and has over 40 years of industrial experience in the glass industry. He has also worked for Glaston and founded his own company in 2020. Vitkala Association Ltd can assist companies throughout the glass industry.