{"id":114,"date":"2019-11-29T13:48:29","date_gmt":"2019-11-29T13:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waitukaitis.pages.ist.ac.at\/?page_id=114"},"modified":"2026-04-20T14:59:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T14:59:52","slug":"team","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/waitukaitis.ista.ac.at\/?page_id=114","title":{"rendered":"Team"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Principal Investigator<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Asst. Prof. Dr. Scott Waitukaitis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

E-mail: 
scott.waitukaitis@ist.ac.at<\/a>
Phone: +43 2243 9000 2148<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott Waitukaitis was born in Phoenix, Arizona. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in physics (honors) from the University of Arizona. He then earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Chicago, where he was a Robert Millikan Fellow and the inaugural recipient of the Bruce Winstein Prize for Instrumentation. He did his postdoctoral work at Leiden University and AMOLF in the Netherlands, where he was the winner of a prestigious Veni grant from the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research. In 2019 he became Assistant Professor at the IST Austria, where he runs the Soft and Complex Materials Lab. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Postdocs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Dr. John Hoffman<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Office: I24.O1.015
E-mail: john.hoffmanjr@ist.ac.at <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Hoffman was born in Toledo, Ohio. He obtained his bachelor\u2019s degree in chemical engineering (with honors) from the University of Toledo in 2016. He received his PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 2021, under the supervision of Dr. William Phillip. He performed postdoctoral work at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where he was awarded a National Research Council postdoctoral fellowship award. He completed this postdoc in 2023 and joined IST Austria as a postdoc in 2024. His research background is in polymer modification through rapid functionalization reactions, which he previously utilized in membrane separations and in adsorptive materials. His work at IST Austria will utilize these skills to examine contact electrification of ionomers.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Simon Janta\u010d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Office: I24.O1.015
E-mail: <\/a>simon.jantac@ist.ac.at<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon Janta\u010d was born in Bene\u0161ov, Czechia. He studied chemical engineering at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague, where he obtained his bachelor\u2019s, master\u2019s, and PhD degrees. During his studies, he worked on contact electrification, waste separation, and electrospraying.
He then moved to Germany for his first postdoctoral position, where he worked with Holger Grosshans on contact electrification in particle-laden flows. His main research was focused on the contact electrification of single particles.
In 2024, he and his colleagues were awarded the Helmholtz Fonds e.V. Award. At ISTA, he will focus on contact electrification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ph.D. Students<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Vicente Luis Diaz Melian<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Office: I24.O1.015
E-mail: vicenteluis.diazmelian@ist.ac.at<\/a>
Phone: +43 (0)2243 9000-2167<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vicente Luis Diaz Melian was born in Havana, Cuba. He obtained your Bachelor’s Degree in physics (summa cum laude) from Havana University, Cuba.  The topic of his thesis degree was the study of the penetration dynamic of an intruder into the granular matters. From 2018, He worked as an assistant teacher at Havana University, Cuba. In 2020, He joined IST Austria as a Ph.D. student to continue his development as research.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Felix Pertl<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Office: I24.O1.015
E-mail: felix.pertl@ist.ac.at <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Felix Pertl was born in Klagenfurt, Austria. He moved 2015 to Graz, where he obtained 2019 his bachelor’s degree in Physics from the Technical University of Graz. Right after, he started with his master’s in Technical Physics focusing on surface science, semiconductor devices and laboratory technique. His thesis consisted of investigating defects and particles on bare silicon wafers in cooperation with Lam Research. In April 2021 he joined the Waitukaitis group to determine the amount and spatial distribution of charge on surfaces after contact electrification with KPFM. Outside the lab Felix enjoys a challenging tennis match or freeriding in deep powder.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Andrea St\u00f6llner<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Office: I24.O1.015
E-mail: andrea.stoellner@ist.ac.at<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrea Stoellner was born in Freistadt, Austria. In 2013 she moved to Vienna, where she obtained her bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degree in physics from the University of Vienna, focusing on aerosol and environmental physics. In September 2021 she joined the Waitukaitis and Muller group at ISTA to explore the charging of aerosols and clouds on a single-particle microscale using optical tweezers. Outside the lab Andrea loves playing music and getting involved in the freiSOUND music festival in her hometown Freistadt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Eavan Fitzgerald<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Office: I24.O1.015
E-mail: eavan.fitzgerald@ist.ac.at<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eavan was born in Dublin, Ireland. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree (with Honours) in Experimental Physics from Trinity College Dublin. Her Bachelor thesis focussed on non-classical nucleation and crystal structures. After her Bachelor’s, she took a year off to travel as much as possible in South America. She joined the Waitukaitis group to work on Quincke rollers. Her outside interests lie in food, music and travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sue Shi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Office: I24.O1.015
E-mail: Sue.Shi@ist.ac.at<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sue was born in Wuhan, China, and completed her secondary education in Richmond, Canada. She received her B.A. in Physics from Mount Holyoke College, and M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Brown University. Both her Bachelor\u2019s thesis and graduate research focused on quantum dot optoelectronics. She joined the group in August 2023 and now studies acoustically levitated charged particles. Outside of the lab, she enjoys making music, rock climbing, and traveling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Markus Felber<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Office: I24.O1.015
E-mail: <\/a>markus.felber@ist.ac.at<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Markus grew up in Salzburg, Austria. As his interest in physics began to outweigh his affection towards the mountains, he moved to Vienna to start his bachelor\u2019s degree at TU Wien. After moving on to work on his masters degree, he spent a semester abroad at Sapienza University of Rome as part of the Erasmus program. Over the course of his studies, he completed several internships with the Waitukaitis group at ISTA, including his master\u2019s thesis project. During that time, he developed a strong interest in contact electrification between materials, which is now the main focus of his PhD in this group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Scientific Interns<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Thorfinn Barton<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Office: I24.O1.019
E-mail: Thorfinn.Barton@ist.ac.at<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thorfinn Barton’s engagement with physics took hold on a cycle trip from Scotland, where he was born, to Senegal. During the trip he carried The Feynman Lectures in his pannier bag which made good company in the evenings and good food for thought while pedalling. Since then, Thorfinn’s interests have spanned a range of subjects from fundamental concepts to geometric structure, including recent independent work exploring the Platonic solids. Alongside study Thorfinn has worked as a tutor, amongst other things, while finding plenty of time to get out for adventures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Previous members<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Name<\/th>Position<\/th>Years<\/th>Currently<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Benedikt Weihs<\/td>Scientific Intern<\/td>2020<\/td>University of Innsbruck<\/td><\/tr>
Anna Drummond Young<\/td>Academic Visitor<\/td>2021<\/td>University of Oxford<\/td><\/tr>
Yihong Hu<\/td>Academic Visitor<\/td>2022<\/td>University of Oxford<\/td><\/tr>
Markus Felber<\/td>Scientific Intern<\/td>2021-2023<\/td>TU Vienna<\/td><\/tr>
Dr. C\u00e9cile Clavaud <\/td>Postdoc<\/td>2020-2023<\/td>Ma\u00eetre de Conference, Institut de Physique de Rennes<\/td><\/tr>
Dr. Isaac Lenton<\/td>Postdoc<\/td>2021-2024<\/td>University of Manchester<\/td><\/tr>
Elian Louwers<\/td>Scientific Intern<\/td>2025<\/td>ESPCI<\/td><\/tr>
Mars O’Connor<\/td>Scientific Intern<\/td>2025<\/td>University of York<\/td><\/tr>
Dr. Galien Grosjean<\/td>Postdoc<\/td>2019 – 2025<\/td>UAB Barcelona<\/td><\/tr>
Mario Navarro Rodr\u00edguez<\/td>Academic Visitor<\/td>2025<\/td>University of Murcia<\/td><\/tr>
Anna Garcia Martinez<\/td>Scientific Intern<\/td>2025<\/td>National Autonomous University of Mexico<\/td><\/tr>
Aarnav Panda<\/td>Scientific Intern<\/td>2025<\/td>Uni of Manchester<\/td><\/tr>
Juan Carlos Sobarzo Ponce<\/td>Ph.D. Student<\/td>2019-2025<\/td>TBA<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Principal Investigator Asst. Prof. Dr. Scott Waitukaitis E-mail: scott.waitukaitis@ist.ac.atPhone: +43 2243 9000 2148 Scott Waitukaitis was born in Phoenix, Arizona. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in physics (honors) from the University of Arizona. He then earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Chicago, where he was a Robert Millikan Fellow and the inaugural recipient Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":807,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-114","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/waitukaitis.ista.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/waitukaitis.ista.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/waitukaitis.ista.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waitukaitis.ista.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/807"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waitukaitis.ista.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":92,"href":"https:\/\/waitukaitis.ista.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3095,"href":"https:\/\/waitukaitis.ista.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/114\/revisions\/3095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/waitukaitis.ista.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}