OUTDATED BIO. PLEASE SEE UPDATED BIO AT LINK BELOW.
Please see this link for biography: https://gerdschroeder-turk.org/biography/
I am a Research & Teaching academic at Murdoch University in Western Australia in the School of School Mathematics, Statistics, Chemistry and Physics. I am also an Honorary Associate Professor at the Australian National University.
I refer to my field of research as ‘Materials geometry’, that is, the materials science and physics of complex nano- or micro-structured materials addressed through the goggles of geometry, including hyperbolic, computational and stochastic geometry. A particular research focus are ordered network-like nanogeometries based on triply-periodic surfaces and nets, particularly the so-called Gyroid structure. I investigate their formation or growth by self-assembly or in biological systems, and their resulting functional properties, including photonics, transport and mechanics. I enjoy interdisciplinary work, between mathematical modeling, physics, physical chemistry, biology and materials science.
I also enjoy opportunities to shape international research communities and to contribute to the governance of the higher education sector, through my role in Murdoch University’s Senate and Academic Council and in the Australian Institute of Physics.
Education
2013 Habilitation (Dr. rer. nat. habil.), Physics, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
2005 PhD, Physical Sciences, Australian National University (pdf of thesis)
2000 Diplom-Physik, Universität Köln, Germany, with minor subjects (Wahlpflichtfächer) Mathematics and computational physics
Employment
Mar 2015 – present: Murdoch University, Mathematics and Statistics (Mar 15 – Oct 18: Senior Lecturer; Oct 18 – Mar 22: Associate Professor, Mar 22-present: Professor)
Oct 2006 – Feb 2015: Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Theoretische Physik (Oct 06 – Nov 13: Akad. Rat / lecturer; Dec 13 – Sept 14 Akad. Oberrat / senior lecturer; Oct 14 – Feb 15 Professor i.V.)
Feb 2005 – Aug 2006: Australian National University, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering (Postdoctoral Fellow)
Jun 1999 – Jun 2000: Forschungszentrum Jülich, John Von Neumann Institute for Computing, Forschungszentrum Jülich (Research Assistant)
Oct 1993 – Dec 1994: School for Mentally Handicapped Children (now Förderschule Redwitzstraße), Cologne, Germany (Class room assistant, as replacement for compulsory military service)
Visiting fellowships & other affiliations
Dec 2020 – Dec 2025: Honorary Associate Professor, Department Applied Maths, Research School of Physical Science, Australian National University
Jan-Jul 2019: Visiting scientist at Copenhagen University (Niels Bohr Institute and Department of Food Science) and Lund University (Physical Chemistry)
Feb 2011 – Dec 2020: visiting scholar (campus visitor), Department Applied Maths, Research School of Physical Science, Australian National University
2013 – 2018 ‘Privatdozent‘, Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
2013 – 2018 Member of the Cluster of Excellence “Engineering of Advanced Materials“
2012: visiting fellow, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne (2 months)
2011 – 2018: Founding member and principal investigator of DFG funded research group “Geometry and Physics of Spatial random systems“
Jun – Aug 2000: Visiting research student, Laboratory of Physics, Technical University Helsinki (HUT, now Aalto University), Finland (Host: Prof Mikko Alava)
Professional service
2023 – present: Chair of the Academic Courses and Admissions Committee, Murdoch University
2023 – present: Deputy President of the Academic Council of Murdoch University
2022 – present: Member of the People and Safety Committee, Murdoch University
2021 – present: Elected member of the Academic Council of Murdoch University (election term: 2021-2023)
2018 – present: Elected member of the Senate of Murdoch University (re-elected in March 2021 for a second term 2021-2024)
2018 – present: Member of the Honorary Awards and Ceremonial Committee, Murdoch University
2019 – present: Member of the National Executive of the Australian Institute of Physics, as Special Projects Manager
2017 – 2018: Chair of Organising Committee for 2018 AIP Congress (9-13 Dec 2018, Perth).
2017 – 2018: Chair of the Western Australian Branch of the Australian Institute of Physics.
2017: Member of the GSOFT Sorting Committee of the Scientific Programm of the 2018 March Meeting American Physical Society (APS).
2016: Member of Murdoch University’s Academic Council
2016: Deputy Chair (2016) of the Western Australian Branch of the Australian Institute of Physics.
2016 – 2018: Member of the Dean’s Advisory Group of the School of Engineering and IT, Murdoch University
2016 – 2018: member of the Research Committee of the School of Engineering and IT, Murdoch University
2017: Member of the Murdoch University Childcare Association Committee
Professional development
2021: Mental First Aid (accredited course)
2018: Australian Institute of Company Director (AICD) course “Foundation of University Governance”, Perth 14-16 Nov 2018
Conference organisation
Mar 2020 Organisation of Focus Session “Chirality in Polymers and Soft Matter: From Molecular to Hierarchical Scales” (R33), invited speaker: Prof Mohan Srinivasarao and Dr Prerna Sharma) at the American Physical Society (APS) Spring Meeting in Denver, 2-6 Mar 2020 (CANCELLED, as the March meeting was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic)
Sept 2019 International Union of Materials Research Societies – International Conference in Asia (IUMRS-ICA), Perth, Member (with minor role) of the organising committee, 22-26 Sept 2019
Mar 2019 Organisation (with Greg Grason, Lisa Manning and Michael Klatt) of Focus Session “Hyperuniformity and optimal tessellations“, invited speaker: Prof Jasna Brujic and Prof Salvatore Torquato) at the American Physical Society (APS) Spring Meeting in Boston, 4-8 Mar 2019
Dec 2018 Australian Institute of Physics Bianniel Congress, Chair of the organising committee and member of programme committee, 9-13 December 2018
May 2018: ‘Living Light 2018‘, Cambridge, 3-7 May 2018, I had a minor role on the scientific committee for this conference.
Mar 2018 Organisation (with Prof Doug Cleaver and Prof Karen Daniels) of Focus Session “Aspherical Particles in Soft Matter Self-Assembly and Granular Matter” (joint session 2.1.2 of GSOFT & GSNP), invited speaker: Prof Marjolein Djikstra) at the American Physical Society (APS) Spring Meeting in Los Angeles, 5-9 Mar 2018
Mar 2018 Organisation (with Dr Bodo Wilts and Prof Yuru Deng) of Focus Session “Physics of Intracellular Membranes and Organelles” (joint session GSNP&DBIO), invited speaker: Prof Nipam Patel) at the American Physical Society (APS) Spring Meeting in Los Angeles, 5-9 Mar 2018
Sept 2017 Member of organising committee of conference Geometry and Physics of Spatial Random Systems, Bad Herrenalb/Germany, 10-15 September 2017
Mar 2017 Symposium “Bioinspired Functional Materials: From Nature’s Nanoarchitectures to Nanofabricated Designs” (SYBM) at the Spring Meeting of the German Physical Society (DPG), Dresden 19-24 March 2017. (joint organisation with Karin Jacobs and Robert Magerle)
Mar 2017 Organisation (with Annela Seddon, Cecile Leal and Mahesh Mahanthappa) of Focus Session “New Mesophase Symmetries and Topologies in Self-Assembled Soft Matter” (invited speaker: Frank Bates) at the American Physical Society (APS) Spring Meeting in New Orleans, Mar 2017
Sept 2016 Organisation of Boden Research Conference 2016 “Animal, Vegetal, Mineral‘, 19-23 Sept 2016, Yallingup, Western Australia (more information)
Nov 2015 session organiser for Symposium ‘TT: Topology in Materials Science—Biological and Functional Nanomaterials, Metrology and Modeling‘ (joint organisation with Sanju Gupta, Zhong Fang and Avadh Saxena) at the MRS Fall Meeting, 29 Nov – 4 Dec 2015, Boston/MA
Sept 2015 member of organising committee of conference Shape Up: Exercises in Materials Geometry and Topology, Berlin, 14-18 September 2015 (joint organisation with Myfanwy Evans, Frank Lutz, Bodo Wilts and Andrew Kraynik)
Sept 2015 member of organising committee of conference Geometry and Physics of Spatial Random Systems, Bad Herrenalb/Germany, 7-11 September 2015
Aug 2015 Conference ‘Physics of Cells: From Molecules to Systems (PhysCell 2015)‘, 30 Aug – 4 Sept 2015, Bad Staffelstein, Germany (I played a lesser role as one of many members of the co-organisation committee)
Mar 2015 Focus session “Beyond the Gyroid: Complex Network Phases in Self-Assembled Soft Materials“, joint organiser with Jacob Kirkensgaard (Niels Bohr Institute Copenhagen), American Physical Society Spring Meeting, San Antonio / Texas, 2-6 March 2015
Sept 2014, chair (jointly with Thorsten Poeschel) of organising committee of conference Jam-Packed: Packing and Jamming of Particulate Systems , Erlangen/Germany, 15-18 Sept 2014
Oct 2011, member of organising committee of conference Geometry and Physics of Spatial Random Systems, Freudenstadt/Germany, 9-13 September 2013
Oct 2011, chair (jointly with Stephen Hyde) of conference organisation committee Geometry of interfaces – topological complexity in materials and biology, Primosten, Croatia, 3–7 October 2011
Jul 2011, member of organising committee of conference “Geometry and Physics of Spatial Random Systems”, Bad Herrenalb (Germany), 26-29 July 2011 (I played a lesser role in the organising committee consisting of the GPSRS principal investigators)
May 2010, scientific program committee of European Polymer Conference (EUPOC 2010) on “Hierarchically Structured Polymers, Gargnano Lago Di Garda, Italy, 30 May – 4 June 2010 (Joint organiser with Robert Magerle and Julio San Roman of the scientific program)
Scientific publications
Click here for a complete list of my publications (or here for google Scholar, ORCID, Scopus Author ID or Research ID). I have published over 100 scientific articles in total, including around 80 peer-reviewed articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. My publications have been cited just over 4,600 times, with a google scholar H-index of 37.
Editorial activities
2017 Co-organiser of the June 2017 issue of Interface Focus “Growth and function of complex forms in biological tissue and synthetic self-assembly” (jointly with Stephen Hyde, Myfanwy Evans and Bodo Wilts)
2012 Co-organiser of the October 2012 issue of Interface Focus (“Geometry of interfaces: topological complexity in biology and materials” (jointly with Stephen Hyde)
Invited and plenary presentations
I have presented around 50 invited talks at conferences, including at key professional meetings such as the APS March Meetings, the Faraday Discussion Meetings or the MRS Fall meetings. I have also presented numerous seminars and colloquia. See the page “Talks and Presentations“.
Public lectures, exhibitions & outreach
Aug 2018, Forces of Nature event at Murdoch University, I was the scientific adviser of this event that attracted 250 school kids to a lecture on Laser accelerators (given by the AIP Women in Physics Lecturer Ceri Brenner, a lecture by the ATSE Distinguished lecturer Kingsley Dixon, experimental displays and a panel discussion.
Mar 2018, Kids television program ‘Scope TV: Butterfly colour, Channel 11, Australia (broadcast 3 Mar 2018)
Nov 2017, “Wenn Unordnung ein Vorteil ist: Wie stochastische Modelle in der Natur die moderne Materialwissenschaften inspirieren” (When being disorderly is not a disadvantage: stochastic models inspired by nature for modern materials science), Invited talk at WiMa-Kongress (open forum of the University Ulm, Germany), 11 Nov 2017
Dec 2017, “Structural coloration in butterflies: color without pigments”, Outreach experiments and lecture as part of the Conoco Phillips Science Activities program, Murdoch University
Oct 2017, “How nature’s architecture inspires next-generation technology”, Public lecture as part of the Murdoch University Future Earth Lecture Series, Murdoch University
Aug 2017, “Nature’s Amazing Palette“, Presentation to Year 10 students at Applecross Senior High School as part of the Perth Science Festival, Perth, 15 Aug 2017
Aug 2017, Perth Science Festival, Master of Ceremony for Saturday Activities in Perth Convention Center, Perth, 12 Aug 2017
Jul 2017, AIP Women in Physics Day at Murdoch University, I was the organiser (jointly with Bruce Gardiner and Fiona Mochrie) of this event that attracted 350 school kids to a lecture on Astrophysics, experimental displays and a game-show-type event “The Boffins vs The Darwins” centered around several experiments.
Nov 2016, After-dinner speaker of the Australian Institute of Physics WA branch annual general meeting, “Only Entropy comes easy“, 16 Nov 2016, University of Western Australia
Aug 2016, AIP Women in Physics Day at Murdoch University, I was the main organiser of this event that attracted 540 school kids to a lecture on Quantum Dynamics, experimental displays and a panel discussion “Physics at University : Good for you and Good for Society”.
Okt 2013, Bierschaum und Leichtbaumaterial: Wo Geometrie die Physik macht, Public lecture as part of the university-wide open-day activity Lange Nacht der Wissenschaft in Erlangen on the physical mechanisms and properties of liquid foams, and their geometric origin.
Feb 2013, Physik auf dem Computer – Von Seifenblasen bis zu Schmetterlingsflügeln, Public lecture on the formation and purpose of spatial structure in soft matter.
Nov 2011, Minimal surfaces: from butterflies to human skin and 3D virtual reality. Public lecture as part of the university-wide open-day(or night, rather)-activity Lange Nacht der Wissenschaft Erlangen.
Nov 2011, Minimal surfaces: from butterflies to human skin and 3D virtual reality. Public lecture as part of the university-wide open-day(or night, rather)-activity Lange Nacht der Wissenschaft Erlangen.
Dec 2008, Sandman’s travel through the world of granular matter, Weihnachtsvorlesung (xmas-lecture) of the physics department of the University Erlangen (a theatrical performance involving about 20 staff and students built around eight granular matter experiments performed in front of an audience of more than 300)
Aug 2010, Development of puzzle toy ‘InfiniTiles’ to illustrate triply-periodic minimal surfaces. One of the co-inventors Stuart Ramsden received the ‘People’s choice award’ of the Australian Science Festival’s Big Ideas at Work competition in 2010.
May 2003, Participation in exhibition Factor of Ten – A Future Worth Having: science and art of the environment meet at the Australian National University. Saddle polyhedron joint with Gilbert Riedelbauch and Stephen Hyde, reported also in ’The Helix’ (Aug/Sept 2003) and Canberra Times (8 May 2003)
Awards & Stipends
Nov 2021 Vice Chancellor’s Excellence in Research & Innovation Award, PhD Thesis category, jointly awarded (as supervisor/student tandem) with PhD student Dr Philipp Schoenhoefer
Dec 2019 (*) Named by the Times Higher Education among the People of the year who mattered in higher education in 2019 (* not a formal award)
Sept 2019 Fellow of the American Physical Society (Citation: ‘For contributions to geometrical principles in soft matter physics, particularly bicontinuous phases’)
Apr 2019 Camurus Lipid Research Foundation Fellowship Award for “providing important contributions to our understanding of curvature and structure in nature”
Jun 2017 Dean’s Award, School of Engineering and IT, Murdoch University
Nov 2014 Emmy-Noether Prize for outstanding habilitation work at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg
Jul 2010 Award for Excellence in Teaching by the Physics Department of the University Erlangen (“Preis für eine hervorragend evaluierte Lehrveranstaltung”)
Aug 2010 (*) People’s choice award for mathematical puzzle toy In finiTiles at the Big Research Ideas @ Work competition as part of the Australian Science Festival, August 2010 (* the recipient of this prize was Stuart Ramsden, for joint work with Vincent Craig, Tim Senden and myself)
Oct 2003 First prize for the best student presentation at the Australian Partnership for Computing Conference 03, Gold Coast
Nov 2000 International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (IPRS) provided by the Australian Government Department of Education, Training and Youth Aff airs, PhD Scholarship for study in 2001-05