Since July 1st the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Innsbruck has a new Scientific Director: Experimental physicist Francesca Ferlaino. The successful researcher is also Professor at the University of Innsbruck.
Francesca Ferlaino, born in Naples in 1977, came as visiting scientist to Innsbruck in 2006. From 2009 to 2012 she worked as research assistant at the Institute for Experimental Physics at the University of Innsbruck. In the same year Francesca Ferlaino received the Austrian START prize, the most highly renowned award for junior scientists in Austria, and in 2010 she was awarded an ERC Starting Grant. In 2012 she became full Professor for Atom Physics at the University of Innsbruck. With her ground-breaking experiments in the field of quantum physics, Francesca Ferlaino has become a renowned researcher internationally and an exceptional representative of her scientific discipline. One of her pioneering experiments is the realization of a Bose-Einstein condensate of erbium atoms for which she received several awards.
Alexander von Humboldt Professorship
In 2013, the scientist, who specializes in ultracold quantum gases, was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship. Worth up to five million Euro, it is the most highly valued German research award. She is the first female scientist at an Austrian university to receive this international German research award. A job offer by the University of Ulm, Germany, which nominated Ferlaino, was part of the award.
“I would like to thank the Austrian Academy of Sciences for this fantastic offer to become Scientific Director at the IQOQI in Innsbruck,” says Ferlaino. “This position and the Professorship at the Institute for Experimental Physics at the University of Innsbruck provide me with the best conditions and environment to conduct research at the highest international level.” “The appointment of Mrs. Ferlaino shows that through constructive cooperation between the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University it is possible to make attractive job offers to the brightest minds in science, create an excellent framework for research and be competitive internationally,” says Anton Zeilinger, President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.