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Where are former group members now?
(last updated September 23, 2019)

Gerhard Fasol (March 1978, U Bochum) After receiving his Master's Degree (Diplom) in 1978 from the U of Bochum, he switched to Cambridge U in England where he received his Doctorate Degree in 1981. Gerhard is now President of the company Eurotechnology Japan K. K. and lives with his family in Japan. Here's information on a talk by Gerhard on June 18, 2014 in Tokyo on Japan's electricity and New Energy Policy. Gerhard is also a Member of the Board of Directors of the Japanese Company GMO Cloud KK and is the Curator/Producer/Founder of the Ludwig Boltzmann symposia in honor of his great-grandfather.
Alois Eiling (January 1981, U Bochum) After receiving his doctorate degree at the U of Bochum, Alois joined a "magnetics" research group at Bayer Leverkusen just outside Cologne, Germany.
Frank Pontkees (July 1985, U Bochum) received his "Diplom" (Masters) Degree in July 1985 from the University of Bochum. Frank then became an internal consultant for business process reengineering within the organizational development team of Thyssen/Krupp in Duesseldorf, Germany. He is married and father of a daugher (1991) and a son (1995).
John Neumeier (December 1989, U California San Diego) After completing his Ph.D. degree with Brian Maple, John joined my group at the University of Munich in January 1990 as a postdoctoral Associate, leading this group for three years after I joined the faculty at Washington University. After a postdoctoral year at the Los Alamos National Lab, John joined the Physics Department at Florida Atlantic University where he was granted tenure. In Fall 2002 he moved with his family to Bozeman, Montana where he accepted a tenured Professorship of Physics at Montana State University. John was also recently elected Fellow of the American Physical Society. Check out his website for further information.
Claus Allgeier (August 1990, U Munich) Claus now works for the company Osram and is responsible worldwide for the development of high-pressure discharge light sources. Under the photo of his family Claus describes (in German) his new responsibilities at work. Here's a photo taken on June 5, 2006 in Berlin where Claus has a meal with Sascha Sadewasser and Jim Schilling. Here's a report he wrote in German in January 2003 with details about his family's moving and career details.
Ralf Sieburger (April 1991, U Munich) Ralf's doctoral research included the discovery of pressure-induced oxygen ordering effects in the single-layer thallium high-Tc cuprate. This topic became a major focus of the group in the 1990's. In this photo Ralf is speaking with Anne-Katrin Klehe in front of the He-gas pressure system at the Walther-Meissner-Institute in Garching, Germany.
Stefan Klotz (June 1992, U Munich) Stefan was the first student to join Schilling's group at the U of Munich. After completing his Master's research, he built up the group's diamond-anvil system from scratch and carried out high-pressure studies on high-Tc superconductors using liquid He as pressure medium. After receiving his doctorate degree, Stefan joined Jean Michel Besson's group at the University Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, Paris, France. He then served as Assistant and Associate Professor of Physics from 1996 on, and became Senior Professor in 2007. Following the death of Jean Michel Besson in February 2001, Stefan took over the Chief Editorship of the journal High Pressure Research. Since 2005 he is Head of the High Pressure Physics Gorup of the Institute of Mineralogy and Condensed Matter Physics (IMPMC). He was until October 2015 President of the European High Pressure Research Group (EHPRG), the society where he received the EHPRG Award in 1996. Here's a photo of Stefan in China in 2013 and another photo in Japan in February 2015.
Anne-Katrin Klehe (March 1995, Washington U) After receiving her Ph.D. from Washington U, Anne-Katrin joined the group of John Singleton in the Department of Physics at Oxford U in England. Here she directed her attention mainly to the properties of organic metals under high pressures. In April 2003 she returned to Washington U to spearhead a series of high-pressure studies on organic superconductors. She currently works for the Open University in England. Her husband, Scott, is a member of the biophysics faculty at the Birmingham U. Anne-Katrin and Scott have three daughters: Kaethe-Marie (16 years), Antje-Maren (9 years), and Hanne-Lse (6 years). Here is Anne-Katrin answering questions after her seminar. Scott had some questions too! But Kaethe-Marie had her own "equations" to write!
Andy Cornelius (December 1995, Washington U) Following several years as a Postdoctoral Associate at the Los Alamos National Labs, Andy joined the faculty in the Physics Department of the U of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He was promoted to full professor in 2010. He is currently the Associate Director of the High Pressure Science and Engineering Center (HiPSEC), a Center established by the late Malcolm Nicol. Here's a photo of Andy with his group at the U of Nevada, Las Vegas. The research in Andy's group concerns itself primarily with the effect of pressure on correlated-electron materials. Here a link to Andy's webpage.
Jost Diederichs (June 1996, Washington U) Here's a photo of Jost at work in Schilling's lab. Jost joined the innovative company Quantum Design in San Diego, California, one year before receiving hie Ph.D. from Washington U. Here are Jost, Barbara, and daughter Fabiola at their home in California in 1998. Here is Jost after receiving an award in Chicago in December 1998 for his contributions to Quantum Design technology. On October 2, 2000 Jost returned to Washington U to give a seminar on Novel Uses of Superparamagnetic Particles in Biomedical Devices. As this photo shows, Jost's love of the cello is undiminished. Today Jost is Chief Scientist at Quantum Design where he spends half his time testing new technology concepts and the other half advising the engineers in instrument design. Jost used to represent Quantum Design at various scientific meetings. But when I now attend a meeting and ask why Jost isn't there, I normally get the answer "He is too valuable to waste his time at meetings. It's better if he continues his work at Quantum Design uninterrupted!".
Craig Looney (May 1997, Washington U) Here's a photo of Craig on a very special day! After receiving his Ph.D. at Washington U, Craig joined the faculty of the Department of Physics at Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts, where he now an Associate Professor and departmental Chair. Craig spends most of his time teaching courses ranging from introductory physics to E&M and quantum mechanics. On February 27, 2015 Craig gave a public lecture on the paradox of Schrödinger's cat. He also manages the affairs of the undergraduate department and serves on various college committees. In the late 1990's Craig also returned to Washington U to carry out research in Schilling's group during summer months. In July 2018, and twice before that, Craig drove up to Holderness, New Hampshire or Biddeford, Maine to meet with members of the Schilling group attending the Gordon Conference on "Research at High Pressure". Further information on Craig's activities is available on his departmental website.
Sascha Sadewasser (May 1999, Washington U) In September 1999 Sascha joined the Solar Energy research group at the Hahn-Meitner-Institut in Berlin, Germany. After spending a year in Barcelona, Spain, at the Universidad Autonoma and the National Center for Microelectronics perfecting various forms of scanning probe microscopy, he returned to Berlin to assume multiple responsibilities at the Helmholtz Center for Materials and Energy. He is currently a Staff Researcher and Group Leader at the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory in Portugal. In his research Sascha investigates the growth of nanostructured solar cells and studies their properties by using a scanning probe microscope.
Shanti Deemyad (April 2004, Washington U) Here is a photo of Shanti at her diamond-anvil pressure rig after her record setting pressure run to 650 kbar. She was the first to determine the full superconducting phase diagram of the alkali metal lithium. In summer 2004 Shanti joined the group of Ike Silvera at Harvard U as a Postdoctoral Associate where she did some beautiful but extremely difficult measurements of the melting curve of hydrogen to extreme pressures. In January 2010 she joined the faculty of the Department of Physics of the U of Utah where she is now a tenured Associate Professor. Her research falls in the general area of experimental condensed matter and studying matter at extreme conditions of pressure and temperature. Her current main interest is in the physics of quantum solids. On November 19, 2012 Shanti returned to Washington University and gave a seminar on the topic "High Pressure Melting of Lithium". The photo shows Shanti standing next to the Braun glove box at U of Utah that she must have used often for measurements of the melting curve of the alkali metal lithium. Here's Shanti with Wenli Bi and daughter Emily at an APS workshop 25 Sept 2014.
Takahiro Tomita (November 2005, Washington U) Here's a photo of Takahiro on the day (November 15, 2005) of his Ph.D. thesis defense together with Mathew Debessai and James Hamlin. In this photo Takahiro is taking data using the He-gas apparatus on Boyd Veal's YBCO bicrystals. Takahiro is currently doing postdoctoral research in the group of Hiroki Takahashi in the Physics Department of Nihon U in Japan.
James Hamlin (December 2007, Washington U) James joined the research group of Brian Maple at the U of California, San Diego, in January 2008. After 4.5 successful years there, he succeeded in his first year to be awarded, beginning in August 2012, a tenure-track Assistant Professorship in the Department of Physics at the University of Florida. His group uses a combination of materials synthesis and measurements under high-pressure/high-magnetic field conditions to study novel types of quantum phase transitions. The photo shows James next to a dated dilution refrigerator which he hopes to get back up and running. Following his postdoc position with Brian Maple, James joined the faculty at the University of Florida where he has been highly successful and is now a tenured Associate Professor.
Mathew Debessai (February 2009, Washington U) Here Mathew is discussing his high-pressure results with Katsuya Shimizu and Takahiro Matsuoka. After receiving his Ph.D. degree, Mathew joined the research group of Choong-Shik Yoo in the Institute for Shock Physics at Washington State U in Pullman, Washington. After two years the Intel Corporation convinced Mathew he should join them, which he did and remains to this day.
Wenli Bi (May 2011, Washington U) Wenli is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), Argonne National Labs. She mostly is involved in research using Nuclear Resonant Scattering, including Nuclear Forward Scattering and Nuclear Resonant Inelastic X-ray scattering under high pressure. Here is a photo of Wenli at work in sector 3 at the APS. Here's Wenli with daughter Emily next to Shanti Deemyad at an APS workshop on Sept 25, 2014. On March 28, 2016 Wenli returned to Washington University and gave a seminar on the topic "Probing magnetism and Lattice dynamics via Nuclear Resonant Scattering". As can be seen in the group's publication list, Wenli has closely collaborated with several members of Schilling's group after joining Ercan Alp's SMS group at the Advanced Photon Source. In August 2019 Wenli began a new position as tenure-track Assistant Professor at the U of Alabama, Birmingham, where Yogesh Vohra actively pursues high-pressure research.
Narelle Hillier (May 2013, Washington U) Narelle now holds the group high pressure record of 209 GPa where she attempted to make benzene metallic! Here Narelle is teaching an introductory physics course at Washington U in summer 2013. In August 2013 Narelle joined the faculty at Truman State U in Kirksville, Missouri. In 2016 she decided to seek a position closer to St Louis where her husband works. She accepted an offer to instruct physics at Liberty High School in Wentzville, Missouri.

Gilberto Fabbris (December 2014, Washington U and Argonne National Labs) Gilberto received his Masters Degree in Physics from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Brazil in December 2009. He then accepted a position to work with Dan Haskel at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) in the Argonne National Labs. He carried out high pressure research both there at Washington U in Schilling's group where he finished the coursework for the Ph.D. degree, receiving this degree in December 2014. Gilberto collaborated closely with other members of Schilling's group in their study of the anomalous properties of the lanthanides at extreme pressure,as well as investigating the electronic and structural ground state of the alkali metals K, Rb, and Cs under pressure using x-ray absorption spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction measurements together with ab initio theoretical calculations. After receiving his Ph.D. at the very end of 2014, Gilberto immediately began postdoctoral research at the Brookhaven National Lab in Upton, N.Y., before returning to Dan Haskel's group in 2017.

Jinhyuk (Isaiah) Lim (August 2015, Washington U) Isaiah has the distinction of being an extraordinarily careful experimentalist. Of the many pressure cells he constructed for resistivity measurements at Mbar pressures, none ever failed. He was the first in the group to investigate anomalous behavior under pressure of the magnetic ordering temperature of Dy and Tb, that of Dy extrapolating to temperatures well above ambient. After receiving his Ph.D. degree in August 2015 he joined the group os Prof. Choong-Shik Yoo as a postdoc at Washington State U in Pullman, Washington.

Jing Song (May 2018, Washington U) In his Ph.D. research Jing carried out electrical resistivity measurements to Mbar pressures on elemental Nd and Yb metals. In Nd the magnetic ordering temperature appeared to following the anomalous dependence exhibited in the Doniach model for a Kondo lattice. Giant superconducting pair breaking was also observed in the dilute magnetic alloy Y(Nd). Jing also succeeded in discovering superconductivity in Yb metal at pressures near 1 Mbar, resulting in a publication in PRL. After receiving his Ph.D. degree in May 2018 Jing joined the group of Ike Silvera at Harvard U where he would like to apply sufficient (about 5 Mbar!) pressures to make hydrogen a metal and then search for superconductivity at high temperatures.

Yuhang Deng (Summer 2019, Washington U) In his Ph.D. research Yuhang carried out electrical resistivity measurements to Mbar pressures on elemental Sm. In Sm the two magnetic ordering temperatures come together at about 13 GPa but then begin to rise steeply above 90 GPa, in analogy to the group's previous results on elemental Nd, Tb, and Dy. Giant superconducting pair breaking was also observed in the dilute magnetic alloy Y(Sm). Yuhang confirmed the superconductivity in Cs reported by J. Wittig 40 years ago near 2 K and discovered superconductivity in Rb for pressures above 55 GPa. In October 2019 Yuhang will join the group of Brian Maple at the U of California, San Diego, a group that James Hamlin also joined 11 years earlier.