Special: Careers for Physicists

Special: Careers for Physicists
Wednesday, 15.06.2011, CE 104
Time ID Careers for PhysiCists i
Chair: Kai Hencken, ABB Baden
14:00 61 Physicists at ABB
Christian Ohler, ABB Switzerland Ltd., Corporate Research
Modern life depends on electricity. While often hidden from common people’s eyes, the infrastructure
for the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity is an essential asset of our economies.
ABB develops and supplies the components for this electricity infrastructure – power products – and
contributes to their progress. Power products become ever more reliable and powerful, and new
kinds of power products enable the transition to a sustainable electricity supply.
The development of power products is a meaningful work for engineers and scientists, - and in
particular for physicists. More than 20% of the employees at the ABB Corporate Research center in
Baden, Switzerland, are physicists. We start from fundamental science, like a university, and cultivate
product knowledge at the same time. We study and improve materials and their impact on the
product performance. We study manufacturing processes and designs and propose new concepts,
explore them by simulation and experiment, and provide proof of concept devices. The presentation
gives examples of a physicist‘s work in R&D of a multinational manufacturing company.
14:30 62 Physicists in Research Management
Veronica Cerletti, EMPA
The importance of collaboration in Science grows continuously. Whereas exchange of ideas was
always a pillar of the scientific activity, the focus on formal collaboration between groups, Institutes,
Authorities and Industry grows steadily in significance. More and more, Government and Funding
Agencies foster and demand multidisciplinary research, networks, joint projects with industry and
moreover, a dialogue of science with the society. This tendency has lead to an increased need for
scientists taking over management tasks. In this talk I will picture some of the tasks and requisites in
Science Management.
15:00 63 Once a physicist – always a physicist ?
David Banner, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Basel
Drawing on my own personal experience, I will look at opportunities in Biophysics, particulartly Molecular
Biophysics, and then specifically at opportunities in the pharmaceutical and related industries.
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I am of the firm belief that a rigorous scientific training is an excellent preparation to branch out into
other fields. I hope to be able to give a few tips and provide a seried of examples to encourage you
consider advancing into previously unknown territory.
15:30 64 Industrial Research and gender aspects – future for physicists in Europe ?
Doris Steinmüller-Nethl, Rhobest
16:00
Industry has a leading role in research, innovation and development. European companies need experts
and scientists to boost their innovation and competitiveness. Physicists can fulfill these requirements.
Industrial research opens the possibility to develop innovative technologies and products for
the benefit of humankind. Interdisciplinarity and diversity are key factors for success.In this presentation
the female physicist Doris Steinmüller-Nethl, will report about the challenges of her profession,
hurdles she was confronted with and her passion for technology. This short glimpse into promising
career options in industrial research should give an impetus for young physicists to trust and develop
their talents and realize their opportunities.
Coffee Break
Careers for PhysiCists ii
Chair: Kai Hencken, ABB Baden
16:30 65 Why physicists are well prepared for the business world of tomorrow
Adrian Honegger, Basler Versicherung
Physicists usually unify wonder, creativity, inquiry and perseverance with superior capacities in conceptual
reasoning and exact sciences. While some prefer experiments, others favour theories and
mathematical models. The tribe of the physicists can be characterized by a passionate curiosity to
understand the fundamental nature of things. Although impressive and valuable, the aforementioned
abilities don’t guarantee success in the corporate world with rapidly accelerating market dynamics
and ever increasing complexity. Sine qua non for sustainable business success is mastery in the
trade of getting people to collectively try new things despite paralyzing uncertainties, i.e. personnel
cutbacks or organizational changes. In other words, you need the capacity to understand complex
systems and to establish and adapt organizational structures and processes such that every employee
within the organization feels a purpose, autonomy and mastery in what he does. This will lead
to self-direction, higher engagement and ultimately to better performance, sustainably. In Einstein’s
words: “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” A good manager gets
his employees to make decisions and mistakes, to learn and to have fun. Things physicists are quite
good at, too, aren’t they?
17:00 66 A physicist in the cell - Or what a physicist can learn from biological systems.
Angelino Paolo, Laboratory of Computational System Biotechnology, EPFL
In the past few decades, research in biology has shifted from a descriptive to a quantitative science.
New advanced experimental techniques are at the basis of this revolution. These techniques allow
researchers to identify and quantify molecular components inside cells, thus unraveling the fine
clockwork of living organisms. In the last decade, a new revolution took place, where research in the
biological sciences moved from reductionist to systemic approaches. Using a clockwork analogy, a
reductionist approach consists to study the shape and size of single wheels in a watch, while a systemic
approach tells us how gears work together so accurately to give the precise time of the day. Accordingly,
Systems Biology, as this systemic approach is called, focuses on a global study of complex
networks of chemical reactions and signals within living systems, where a key role is played by the
interactions among the system components. This approach has proven to be useful in understanding
where the cellular fine clockwork fails and diseases develop, in the identification of new drugs, and in
the ‘design’ of microorganisms for the production of chemicals and biofuels. A field, the one of System
Biology, which apparently looks far away from my personal background as a physicist in plasma
theory. How the background of a physicist turns to be useful in the study of biological systems? What
a physicist learns and which skills he needs to develop to cope with the problems met in this field? In
this presentation, I will address these questions and give a glimpse of the life of a physicist in the cell.
17:30 END
18:30 Postersession and Apéro
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