01-2019 The results of the master thesis of Andreas Leber have been published on the cover of Advanced Functional Materials. The stretchable optical fibers and their applications as kinematic sensors were developed with the lab of Mathias Kolle at MIT. Congratulations! 12-2018 Junweis Paper on magic number colloidal clusters arising from confined self-assembly processes has been featured at the homepage of the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg! Read the details here. 10-2018 Junwei is awarded the best poster price at this years particle-based materials symposium. Congratulations! 06-2018 Yara’s paper is featured on the cover of Langmuir. Congratulations, Yara!
05-2018 The Vogel group introduces their research areas to the general public at the “Markttage des Wissens” in Erlangen. The initiative is part of the 275 anniversary of the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg and provided a forum for citizens to get to know researchers and their work in an informal and interactive setting. See coverages of the events here: Article on the university homepage and in the local newspaper. Television coverage (in German): Frankenrundschau and Bayerischer Rundfunk Even the president likes the Lotus plant
03-2018 Nicolas discusses repellent surface coatings at the bioinspired materials conference in Potsdam. Hear a feature of the radio station Deutschlandfunk about the topic as part of their coverage of the conference: http://ondemand-mp3.dradio.de/file/dradio/2018/03/21/bionische_werkstoffe_forschende_imitieren_glitsch_tricks_dlf_20180321_1650_765c254c.mp3
02-2018 Nicolas travels to Japan to present the research of the group at the JAIST world congress and at invited seminars at Osaka Institute of Technology and Kyoto University.
01-2018 Nicolas presents bioinspired approaches for the design of materials to the general public at the “Wissenschaft auf AEG” lecture series. Click here for the complete video of the lecture (in German)
12-2017 Satoshi Watanabe from University of Kyoto visits the Vogel lab for discussions in a joint collaborative project. The visit was timed perfectly to coincide with a beloved German tradition, the Christmas market.
08-2017 Our research on the ability of liquid-infused coatings to prevent mussel adhesion has been featured in the media around the world. The study was performed in collaboration with Joanna Aizenberg of Harvard University and Ali Miserez of Nanyang Technical University, Singapore and published in Science.

Deutschlandfunk Audio Interview with Nicolas Vogel (in German)

NRC Handelsblad (in dutch)

Science news story

Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg news posting (in German)

Harvard University

06-2017 Nicolas’ lecture “Polymer Science and Processing” was rated as one of the best lectures (2/67) of the technical faculty of FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg. 05-2017 The Vogel lab mourns Sergei Romanov Dr. Sergei Romanov passed away unexpectedly on 24 April 2017. Dr. Romanov studied physics at the Polytechnic Institute of Leningrad and received his PhD in 1986 from the Ioffe Institute at the USSR Academy of Sciences, where he carried on working as a research professor.   Dr Romanov was an expert in solid state physics with a special focus on the optical properties of ordered assemblies of nanoparticles, materials commonly known as photonic crystals. His career saw him contribute to breakthrough work in this field, often in collaboration with leading research groups. Following periods of research in Wuppertal and Glasgow and at the Tyndall Institute in Cork, Ireland, Dr Romanov came to Erlangen in 2008. He contributed to EAM Research Area C as a senior scientist in the group of Professor Ulf Peschel, Institute of Optics, Information and Photonics. His research in the first EAM funding period focused on the understanding and engineering of plasmonic-photonic properties from dielectric-metallic particle assemblies. With his work he built a strong connection between EAM Research Areas C and A1 that was a valuable cornerstone for the continued collaboration in the second funding period. When Ulf Peschel took a position at the Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena in 2014, Dr Romanov remained at FAU and joined the group of EAM professor Nicolas Vogel. Throughout his career, Dr Romanov contributed substantially to our understanding of the interaction of light with matter, especially in complex materials that combine absorptive, transmissive and emissive properties. He will be fondly remembered as a passionate and dedicated scientist.  During his career he published over 180 peer-reviewed articles (15 on his EAM research), several of which have accrued many hundred citations. We will all treasure him as an honest, friendly and helpful colleague and passionate scientist. Our sincerest condolences and thoughts are with his family.
02-2017 Serious scientists celebrating serious science. Congratulations to Junwei, Nemanja and Roman for graduating as fresh Masters of Science!
 02-2017 Amanda and Eric win poster prices on the annual poster presentation workshop of Advanced Materials and Processes (MAP). Congratulations! Eric was also awarded the best student award for the class of 2015. The picture shows the happy winners at the award ceremony.
01-2017 Nicolas’ lecture “Polymer Science and Processing” was rated as best lecture (1/50) of the technical faculty of FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg.
01-2017 The German radio station Deutschlandfunk broadcasts a report about slippery surfaces in the show “Forschung aktuell” from January 25th. Hear live footage of Nicolas in the lab. 01-2017 The Cluster of Excellence – Engineering of Advanced Material will host an international congress in October: International Congress Engineering of Advanced Materials ICEAM2017 ICEAM2017 is organized by the Cluster of Excellence Engineering of Advanced Materials (EAM) and will be held from 10 – 12 October 2017 in Erlangen, Germany. The aim of ICEAM2017 is to place 10 years of interdisciplinary research at the EAM in the international context of state-of-the-art science and engineering research. Our target audience is local, national and international researchers working in fields where EAM is active. With a mix of invited plenary, keynote and submitted talks and posters, the congress will focus on EAM’s four application fields, Nanoelectronic Materials, Photonic and Optical Materials, Catalytic Materials and Lightweight Materials. Furthermore, the key role played by our cross-sectional topics, Functional Particle Systems, Nanoanalysis and Microscopy, and Multiscale Modeling and Simulation will be apparent throughout the congress. Details Topics: http://www.iceam2017.fau.de/topics/ Deadlines Abstract Submission: 30 April 2017 Registration: 31 July 2017 www.iceam2017.fau.de 11-2016 Junwei wins the best poster award at the annual meeting of the cluster of excellence – Engineering of Advanced Materials. 11-2016 Nicolas presents his work on the particle-based materials workshop in Würzburg, Germany. 10-2016 Nicolas gives an overview on the groups activities on colloidal self- assemblies at the self-assembly in confined spaces conference in San Sebastian, Spain. 10-2016 Nicolas gives an invited presentation at the HYMADE meeting at the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Vienna. 09-2016 Our publication on maintaining a clear field of vision by coating the lenses of endoscopes with a liquid-infused, repellent coating has been featured on the homepage of the University of Erlangen and of the WYSS institute at Harvard. Check out the comparison of a coated and uncoated endoscope on the Harvard website! FAU press release (german) Harvard press release 08-2016 Nicolas presents his latest results on colloidal assembly structures and has a lot of fun visiting former colleagues at the Aizenberg lab at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, USA. 08-2016 Nicolas presents an invited talk at a joint workshop of the University of Minnesota and the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg in Minneapolis. 08-2016 Our group now is a member of the ChemieCluster Bayern: The companies and research institutions of the Bavarian chemical industry are linked via Chemie-Cluster Bayern. As part of the Bavarian State Government’s cluster initiative, Chemie-Cluster Bayern promotes product and process innovations for new, usually international markets. 08-2016 An almost regular day in the office. 07-2016 The best group of the world surprises Nicolas at his wedding party to deliver an awesome but hard-to-open wedding cake. Thanks a lot, you are the best!. 04-2016 The Vogel lab proudly presents its latest members! A family of birds moved in to our gas bottle storage room right outside of the lab. The chicks only hatched one week ago and are all very hungry indeed!
04-2016 Our publication on the control of surface wettability via the geometry of surface coatings from colloidal templates has been featured on the FAU homepage and in online media. Read the full story at one of these websites: Cluster of Excellence -Engineering of Advanced Materials Chemie.de Materials Gate 01-2016 The joint review article a colloidoscope of colloid-based materials and their uses with the group of Prof. Joanna Aizenberg is featured on the cover of the January edition of Chemical Society Reviews. The article discusses established and emerging application of colloidal-based materials in a variety of research fields.
01-2016 Nicolas was appointed co-chair of the international Masters program “Advanced Materials and Prozesses (MAP)”. MAP is an international, English language degree programme which aims to train excellent Bachelor’s graduates from the fields of Materials Science and Engineering and Chemical and Biological Engineering or related backgrounds. The interdisciplinary programme was previously established as an elite masters program and funded within the framework of the Elite Network of Bavaria.  MAP is hosted at the School of Engineering at the Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Teaching contributions are also made by the University of Bayreuth and the University of Würzburg. The MAP curriculum combines topics of Materials Science and Chemical and Biological engineering and aims at providing students with a broad background on both of these fields, enabling them to understand structure-property relationships in materials as well as process-structure relationships for the fabrication of materials with desired structures. The program is taught entirely in English and provides small class sizes, an international and interdisciplinary environment, practical education via miniprojects in different research groups and soft skill seminars. 12-2015 Nicolas talks about Mimicking Materials Design in Nature by Self-Organisation processes in the observatory in Nuremberg during the Cauchy Forum series on “Die Welt der Elemente – Leitfossilien der Chemie”.
11-2015
 Houda Ichanti was selected for the FAU scholarship for international students funded by the state of Bavaria. Congratulations, Houda! 11-2015 Amazing burgers for amazing scientist: the Vogel lab during the farewell dinner for Grant England. We will miss you, Grant!
11-2015 Nicolas was appointed head of the ERASMUS comittee at the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. The committee is committed to provide opportunities  FAU students to spend a semester at top universities throughout Europe and increase the attractivity of the Department for European students spending time in Erlangen in the framework of Erasmus. We encourage all students to seize the opportunity to get to experience university life in a different country and culture and we heartly welcome guests from anywhere in Europe! A list of current partner universities and general information about ERASMUS at CBI can be found here.  11-2015 Research from the Vogel lab has been highlighted in the MRS Bulletin, the monthly scientific journal published by the Materials Research Society. Click here for the full story in the November edition of the MRS Bulletin. 10-2015 Strike! Bowling with members of the Vogel lab
10-2015 Nicolas travels to the Materials Science in Mainz (MAINZ) workshop in Portugal to present his research field and to talk to graduate students about career pathways in academia. Nicolas is an alumni of the Materials Science in Mainz graduate school which supported him with a scholarship for his PhD at the Max Planck Institute of Polymer Research. More information on MAINZ can be found here.
07-2015
Summer barbecue in front of the lab
07-2015
Nicolas presents his career path and talks to young researchers about careers in academia at the first Brown Bag Break (BBB) at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU). The meeting under the heading “Networking for hungry researchers”, was hosted by the Faculty of Engineering on 10th July 2015. BBB has been recently established at FAU with the aim to stimulate the exchange between young researchers up to the doctorate level enabling networking, information about assistance by the university and sharing of experiences with senior academics in an informal atmosphere. The activity was opened by Prof. Peter Greil (Deputy Dean for Research and International Relations of the Faculty of Engineering) and it was attended by international and German young researchers based at FAU. Nicolas was one of the invited speakers together with Prof. Aldo Boccaccini, Prof. Sanna Virtanen and Prof. Kyle G. Webber (all at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering).
07-2015
Nicolas presents aspects of the group’s activities on cell-surface interactions at the university hospital in Erlangen
06-2015 Nicolas visits the Leibniz Institut für neue Materialien in Saarbrücken to talk about functional materials from colloidal assemblies (click here for more information).
06-2015 The new EAM newsletter features an interview with Nicolas and his position as an EAM professor. Click here for more information.