Organizational Chart

The global management and organization of CIC nanoGUNE are carried out along the lines displayed in the chart below, which shows the key roles of the center.

Director: This person is the head of the Center and the major responsible for the overall design, strategy, and performance of the Center. Other key roles in the Center’s general operation and management report to the Director.

Prof. José María Pitarke is the director of CIC nanoGUNE since its creation in 2006. J. M. Pitarke studied physics at the University of the Basque Country, where he received his Ph. D degree (with distinction) in 1990 studying some aspects of tunneling spectroscopy and electron and photon emission in solids. After a postdoctoral stay at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (USA) in the group of Rufus Ritchie, he obtained, in 1993, a permanent position at the University of the Basque Country, which he combined with sabbatical semesters at various USA Universities and the Imperial College of the University of London, UK. Since 2000, he has been full professor of condensed matter physics. His research interests include condensed matter theory, many-body interactions in solid surfaces, dynamical response of solid materials, nanophotonics, and the interaction of charged particles with matter. J. M. Pitarke is By-Fellow of the Churchill College of the University of Cambridge (2005). He is also Co-researcher Coordinator of the Consolider-Ingenio programme CIC nanoGUNE Consolider. Hardly a few months after the opening of nanoGUNE in January 2009, a special mention by the jury of the 9th Manuel Laborde Werlinden prize went to J. M. Pitarke for his business initiative on graphene. In April 2010, J. M. Pitarke founded nanoGUNE’s first start-up company Graphenea, as a joint venture of private investors and nanoGUNE, with the mission of commercializing good-quality graphene wafers and developing graphene-based technologies.

Research Director: This person, working closely with the Director, is responsible for the design, coordination, and operation of the research groups, formulating the research vision of the center and providing the research leadership.

Dr. Andreas Berger is the research director of nanoGUNE from July 1 2007. He is also the group leader of the nanomagnetism research group. Dr. Berger received his PhD (with distinction) in 1993 from the Technical University (RWTH) Aachen in Germany, where he worked on surface characterization and modification. From 1993 to 2001, he worked at various USA Universities and Argonne National Laboratory. In 2001, he moved to IBMs Almaden Research Center where he worked until his transfer to Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST) in 2003. In HGST, Dr. Berger was responsible for conducting technical feasibility studies of novel thin film structures for disk storage applications and complementary scientific research efforts on novel magnetic materials and deposition processing. Dr. Berger has been awarded the Research Visitor Fellowship (American Nuclear Society) in 1991, the Feodor Lynen Research Fellowship (Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung) in 1993, the BorchersMedal (RWTH Aachen) in 1994, and the Guest Lectureship by the Research Center Julich in 1999.

Finance Director: This person is responsible for the accounting, administrative, financial, and human resources of the Center.

Director’s Assistant: In addition to assisting the Director, this person gives administrative support to the Finance Director.

Facilities Manager: This person is responsible for the operations and maintenance of the base-building facilities. This person is also in charge of the data and information-system networks.

Projects Manager: This person is responsible for managing the project portfolio of the Center and the promotion of the cooperation of all the agents that are involved in the virtual section of nanoGUNE.

Techtransfer Manager: This person is responsible for issues related to technology transfer and industrial property.

Outreach Manager: This person is in charge of the organization of events, conferences, seminars, and training courses. This person is also in charge of the web page and leads the communication, science, society, and education activities of the Center.

Research Group Leaders: Group Leaders are responsible for the management of the research groups and laboratories. In coordination with the Research Director, they establish their research topics and recruit post-docs, pre-docs, and technicians for their respective laboratories. They are also responsible to maintain the corresponding facilities and equipment operative and upgraded.

Staff Scientists: They are part of nanoGUNE’s permanent staff. They can carry out their own research, typically within one of the existing research groups.

Post-doctoral Researchers: They temporary personnel who carry out their post-doctoral research activity at nanoGUNE with a temporary contract or, preferably, through a research grant. The duration for these contracts or grants is up to 3 years.

Pre-doctoral Researchers: They are temporary personnel who carry out their pre-doctoral research activity at nanoGUNE with a temporary contract or, preferably, through a research grant. The duration for these contracts or grants is up to 4 years and focuses on carrying out the PhD Thesis.

Cleanroom Manager, Equipment Engineer, and Technicians: They can be part of nanoGUNE’s permanent staff. They are in charge of the operation and maintenance of the research laboratories (including the cleanroom) and equipment.

Secretary: This person sits at the reception and gives secretarial and administrative support to the Center.