Biography

Research Experience

Currently I am working on the development of new polydimethylsiloxane based adhesives for facade, fenestration and assembly line applications. I am based in Widen (CH) in the silicone research and development department which is part of the competence centre for FFI in the Sika Corporation (Facade, Fenenstration and Insulating Glass). Before that, I have studied the synthesis and characterization of novel main group cations and complexes in Victoria (CAN) in the Burford group. My main interest was the synthesis of new highly charged molecules which have potential as catalysts and may activate small molecules. Over the past years, I have worked in different groups in different areas in chemistry and applied material sciences. For my master thesis, I went to Bristol, working with one of the leading groups in metal containing polymers, (Manners group) on the dehydrocoupling of main group hydrides. My PhD studies were performed at ETH Zürich, where I studied the reactivity of Na(OCP) a low valent phosphorus anion (Grützmacher group). Insight into silica surface modifications (Copéret group) and sorption enhanced methanation of carbon dioxide on a nickel catalyst (Züttel group) equipped me with the fundamental skills in solid state chemistry.

Development

since 10/18
SIKA, Widen (CH)
Project Leader Silicones

10/16-06/18
UVic – University of Victoria, Victoria BC (CAN)
Postdoctoral Fellow
Group of Prof. N. Burford

12/12-08/16
ETH – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Zürich (CH)
PhD Student and Postdoctoral Fellow
Group of Prof. H. Grützmacher

02/12-08/12
ZHAW – Zürich University of Applied Sciences, Wädenswil (CH)
Research assistant for the processing of hemp fibers into yarn for textile  applications.

10/11-02/12
Empa – Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Dübendorf
Research assistant for the methanation of CO2.
Group of Prof. A. Züttel

Education

12/12 – 02/16
PhD in Chemistry at ETH Zürich
From Elemental Phosphorus to Functionalized Azadiphospholes
ETH Zürich, Prof. H. Grützmacher

10/2011
Master in Chemistry at ETH Zürich
Dehydrocoupling of Main Group Hydrides
Investigation of skeletal nickel catalysts for the dehydrocoupling of amine boranes.
Bristol University, Prof. I. Manners

Lanthanide Based Luminescent Silica Nanoparticles
Synthesis of lanthanide complexes with further grafting on silica nanoparticles.
ETH Zürich, Prof. C. Copéret

Synthesis and Reactivity of 2,2,6,6-Tetramethylphosphinan-4-one
Synthesis of tetramethylphosphinanone from Na(PH2) and phorone.
ETH Zürich, Prof. H. Grützmacher

2007 – 2010
Bachelor in Chemistry at ETH Zürich