Vincenzo Grillo is the Scientific Coordinator and Principal Investigator of the Q-SORT Project. He graduated in physics from the University of Genova (110/110 cum laude). He received his PhD in electron microscopy at the University of Parma, while performing collaborative work with Erlangen university (Germany). In 2001 he was a visiting scientist at the Tokyo Institute of Technology working on cathodoluminescence in TEM. Since 2003 he has been working in the INFM (now absorbed by CNR) as a Senior Fellow researcher in electron microscopy. He has developed innovative TEM-STEM methodology and published the first quantitative use of STEM with HAADF detector for chemical analyses. He is now working on Vortex beams and holographic beam generation. He and his group are now among the world’s leading groups in this sector for their work on phase holograms, large vortex beams and the theory of spin-orbit coupling with vortex. In 2015 he was a visiting researcher at the University of Oregon. In 2016 he received the Humboldt Foundation’s BESSEL research award for his work on Beam shaping. Dr. Grillo is co-author of at least 100 articles and 5 book chapters. The H-factor of his publications is 31.
The Q-SORT Team
National Research Council (Italy)
Gian Carlo Gazzadi received his PhD in Physics from the University of Modena in 1997. He is a Senior Technologist at the CNR-NANO-S3 center in Modena where he is the coordinator of the nanofabrication facility. His primary research interest are the nanofabrication with Dual Beam focused ion beam (FIB) – scanning electron microscope (SEM) systems. FIB activity includes: nanofabrication of holographic plates and samples for electron interference experiments, nanopatterning of surfaces for nanomagnetism and nanotribology studies, fabrication of nanogap electrodes, nanomachining of scanning probe tips. Regarding electron-beam nanofabrication, the main interest is about focused electron beam-induced deposition (FEBID) of nanostructures from gas precursors, and their characterization from a structural and electrical viewpoint. He has 88 publications on international journals (ISI h-index 17), 3 book chapters, 1 national patent. He is a steering committee member of the focused electron beam-induced processing (FEBIP) international workshop.
Alberto Roncaglia received a M. Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering and a Ph. D. degree in Electronics and Computer Science in 1998 and 2002, respectively, both from Bologna University. In 2001 he joined the Institute of Microelectronics and Microsystems (IMM) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) as a scientific researcher. His research interests include design, simulation and technology development for the fabrication of micro- and nano-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS).
Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH (Germany)
Rafal Dunin-Borkowski is Director of the Institute for Microstructure Research and the Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons in Forschungszentrum Jülich and Professor of Experimental Physics in RWTH Aachen University in Germany. Between 2007 and 2010, he was Director of the Center for Electron Nanoscopy in the Technical University of Denmark. From 2000 to 2006, he held a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in the University of Cambridge. He has also held postdoctoral appointments in Oxford University, Arizona State University and the University of Cambridge. He obtained his first degree (physics, 1990) and PhD (materials science, 1994) from the University of Cambridge. He specializes in the characterization of magnetic and electronic materials at the highest spatial resolution using advanced transmission electron microscopy techniques, including aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, quantitative image analysis in electron microscopy, electron tomography and off-axis electron holography. He has published more than 250 journal papers and book chapters and given more than 230 invited lectures and seminars. In 2009, he was awarded the Ernst Ruska Prize of the German Society for Electron Microscopy. In 2012, he was awarded an Advanced Grant by the European Research Council. His H-factor is 41 on ISI WEB and 47 on GScholar.
Giulio Pozzi received his Master Degree in Physics in 1968, with a thesis on “Magnetic field investigations for observing superconductivity in the electron microscope” under the supervision of Professor Ugo Valdrè. In 1983, he became Associate Professor of Spectroscopy in the Faculty of Science, University of Bologna and in 1987 Full Professor of Physics in the Faculty of Science, University of Lecce. In 1993, he moved back to Bologna as Full Professor of Physics in the Faculty of Medicine until his early retirement in 2011. At present, he is Professor Alma Mater of the University of Bologna until 31.10.2017, where he is carrying out editorial activity and research in the fields of electron interferometry and electron holography applied to the investigation of long-range electromagnetic fields, basic electron optics and fundamental experiments. In 2013, his book “Microscopia e Olografia con Elettroni” was published by Bononia University Press. A revised English version of the book has been published by Academic Press, Elsevier, with the title “Particles and Waves in Electron Optics and Microscopy”. He is a co-author on approximately 200 papers.
Amir Hossein Tavabi is a scientific staff member in the Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons in Forschungszentrum Jülich, focusing on advanced transmission electron microscopy and spectroscopy of new materials, in situ working devices and novel electron wavefronts. He obtained his first degree in materials science in 2005 and completed his PhD (in electrical engineering and computer science) in Nagoya University, Japan in 2012. In 2012, he worked in the EcoTopia Science Institute in Nagoya. He joined the Ernst Ruska-Centre in 2013 as a postdoctoral research scientist.
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (Germany)
Gerd Leuchs is Full professor of physics at the Institute of Optics, Information and Photonics of the University Erlangen-Nuremberg. Since 2009 scientific member of the Max Planck Society and director at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light. Member of the Germany national Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, German Physical Society, European Physical Society, German Society of Applied Optics, Optical Society of America, Institute of Physics (London), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. More than 200 publications in scientific journals and editor of 3 books. 2005 he obtained the Quantum Electronics and Optics Prize of the European Physical Society. Since 2013 he is visiting professor at University of Ottawa.
Ebrahim Karimi received his BSc in Physics with emphasis in mathematics from Kerman University. He joined the mathematical physics group in IASBS for the graduate study and was ranked 18th among all incoming students in Iran. His MSc research focused on “Laser Cooling and Trapping of Natural Atoms”, and got graduated in 2002 under the supervision of Prof Arashmid Nahal and Prof Yousuf Sobouti. During his MSc degree, he also worked on Singular Optics. In 2009, he received PhD degree from the University of Naples “Federico II”, under the supervision of Prof. Lorenzo Marrucci and Prof. Enrico Santamato. He won the best PhD thesis award for his thesis titled “Light orbital angular momentum and its application on the classical and quantum information”. After the PhD, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow under Phorbitech FET project (led by Prof. Lorenzo Marrucci), and in Prof. Robert Boyd’s Quantum Optics group. Prof Ebrahim Karimi is currently holding the Canada Research Chair in the field of Structured Light, and is the group leader of Structural Quantum Optics (SQO) at the University of Ottawa. He is also an adjunct professor at IASBS, and is an Associate Editor of Optics Express (Optical Society of America). Applications of structured quantum waves (light and particles) in modern science are the main subject of his research team.
University of Glasgow (United Kingdom)
Miles Padgett is the Kelvin Chair of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow and is a Royal Society/Wolfson Merit Award holder. In 2001 he was elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, of the OSA in 2011, of SPIE in 2012 and in 2014 a Fellow of the Royal Society – the UK’s National Academy. In 2008 Padgett won the Institute of Physics Optics and Photonics Prize, in 2009 the Institute’s Young Medal and in 2014 the Kelvin Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He is internationally recognised for his leadership in the field of optics and in particular of optical momentum. His best known contributions include an optical spanner for spinning micron-sized objects, use of orbital angular momentum to increase the data capacity of communication systems and an angular form of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) quantum paradox.
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy)
Elisa Molinari is Full Professor of Condensed Matter Physics at University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, and coordinator of CNR-NANO-Modena. She is the Director of ‘MaX – Materials at the exascale’, the European Center of Excellence for HPC applications (www.max-centre.eu). Her main research interests are in computational nanoscience and ab-initio quantum theory of materials, including organics of relevance for the present project. In these fields, she has published over 250 papers in international journals and coordinated many EU and national projects (h-index=45 isi). Elisa Molinari is part of national and international ‘women in science’ networks. She has been Associate Secretary General of IUPAP, the International Union for Pure and Applied Physics, and in such capacity she has promoted/joined the main ‘women in science’ initiatives worldwide.
Stefano Frabboni 2005-now: Associate Professor of General Physics, University of Modena e Reggio Emilia. 2003- now: Scientific Director of the Nanofabrication facility -S3 Research Center, Modena (of INFM-CNR, then NANO-CNR since 2010). 2008-10: Director, Ph.D Course in Physics-University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. 2003- Commissioning and start-up of Nanofabrication facility of the S3 Research Center. 1990- Commissioning and start-up of the Transmission electron microscopy laboratory for material science of the University of Modena. His present research interests are in transmission electron microscopy and nanofabrication methodologies. Author of over 130 papers (134 quoted Isi WEB) in international journals; h-index (ISI-Web): 23.
Maastricht University (The Netherlands)
Peter Peters has a long record of past achievements. Since his PhD in 1991 from Utrecht University, his research activities have led him to be recognized as one of the leading scientists in subcellular trafficking within the immune system using electron microscopy. He has made major discoveries about the subcellular trafficking of proteins and mycobacteria. Peters has participated in several prominent collaborations: one with Nobel laureate Stanley Prusiner to study the subcellular site of prion conversion, and another with Hans Clevers in his groundbreaking research on the Wnt pathway. More recently, he has proven himself to be a leader in specimen preparation for cryo-electron tomography and the development of bionanoscience. In addition to his research activities, Peters has held pivotal leadership roles. He has been a Principal Investigator and Professor since 1998. He initiated the establishment of the Netherlands Centre for Electron Nanoscopy (NeCEN, €18M project) that opened in October 2011 and is now part of the EU roadmap of large research infrastructure. He currently holds a Limburg distinguished professorship and codirects the Maastricht Multimodal Molecular Imaging Institute at Maastricht University. His research has been funded by EU, Dutch, and US institutions, totaling over €6M. Peters has published over 110 scientific papers and delivered over 250 invited lectures. Additionally, he holds two patents for his work. His H index is 57. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5wvMPtYhSg
Raimond Ravelli is a structural biologist specialised in X-ray crystallography and electron microscopy. After his study (chemistry, cum laude, 1992) and PhD (1998), he moved to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (Grenoble outstation) where he became team leader as well as principal beamline scientist on world’s first third-generation multiple wavelength anomalous dispersion beamline ID14-4 at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. Catalysed by a NWO personal career grant (Vidi, 2007), he moved back to the Netherlands as assistant professor in electron microscopy. In 2014, he started at the Maastricht University to help set up the new Institute of Nanoscopy. He employs physics, chemistry, engineering and informatics to study biological structures at the highest possible resolution and develops new methods for structure determination. He determined a wide variety of macromolecular structures and complexes, including proteins involved in neurotransmission, cytoskeletal components, viral infection, and protein secretion. He developed both hard- and software to streamline the process of automated data collection and processing on both X-ray crystallography beamlines as well as the electron microscope. His large-scale electron microscopic images have been displayed at the museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam (temporary exhibition Science and Art) and Naturalis Biodiversity Museum in Leiden (permanent exhibition), and have been included in the Guinness World Records book as largest digital recording (2013). He (co-)authored almost 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers (cited ~7100 times, H index of 43). He is scientific referee of numerous journals, member of numerous national and international advisory committees, chairman of the Dutch crystallography association, and (co-)organizer of numerous national and international meetings and workshops.
FEI Electron Optics BV – Thermofisher (The Netherlands)
Frank de Jong is world-wide Director of Research and Advanced Technology for FEI Company; a US-based company selling Tools for Nanotech, focusing on Electron Microscopy and Focused Ion-beam equipment. The European part of the company is based in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, and is a major centre for R&D. De Jong started his professional career at the Philips Research Laboratory in 1984. He graduated in Applied Physics at Delft University in 1990. In 1992 he started working for the Philips Electron Optics business group; which later merged with FEI Company. He became Director for Research and Technology in 2006; since 2011 acting in a global role.
Peter Tiemeijer studied experimental and theoretical physics at the University of Utrecht (NL). His PhD thesis was on numerical analysis of the relativistic dynamics of quarks in mesons. In 1994, he joined Philips Research (Eindhoven, NL) and later FEI Company (Eindhoven, NL) to work on the design and development of electron-optical instrumentation such as a monochromator for STEM, a chromatic aberration corrector for SEM, the optics of the Titan microscope, and the high-brightness field emission gun. Presently he is staff scientist at FEI. He has about 14 US patents and 25 scientific papers
QED Film & Stage Productions Ltd.
Luca Giberti is an award-winning director, producer, and cinematographer. After graduating in Physics at Genoa University and at Oxford University, he apprenticed under Abbas Kiarostami and Marco Bellocchio. His theatre shows have been performed worldwide – from the Piccolo in Milan to the Edinburgh Fringe, from the Oxford Playhouse to the Teatro Stabile in Genoa. Amongst these are the national premières for Italy of the science plays “QED” by Peter Parnell and “Breaking the code” by Hugh Whitemore, about Feynman and Turing respectively, both of which were translated by him. He has won prizes as a director, as a cinematographer, as a video artist, as a screenwriter, including accolades from the Italian Academy of Arts in Rome (Accademia Nazionale di San Luca) and from several film festivals (Berlinale Talents, Venice Biennale Cinema, et al.). For two years he was also full-time producer-director for the Italian Council for the Physics of Matter (INFM), responsible for the media output in its entirety – comprising short documentaries and promos for the public understanding of science. He has lectured on directing at Sapienza, University of Rome and at Middlebury College (VT, USA).
Raffaella Santucci is a communication specialist with experience in inter- and intra-institutional communications, media and PR, international relations, public affairs, event planning and management, as well as social media and Web content management. She provides high-quality communication services, helping to reach your target audiences, whether local or global, whether comprising specialists or the general public. A strategic thinker with sophisticated leadership skills. Committed and passionate, driven to achieve high standards. She acts or has acted as a consultant for several institutions, including Sapienza – University of Rome, Coventry University, the Auditorium in Rome (Musica per Roma), Sapienza Innovazione, Promoter SrL, Codice Idee per la Cultura, Wikimedia Italia and QED F&S Productions.
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