Professor Georg Kresse completed  his doctoral thesis at the Institute for Theoretical Physics of the Vienna  University of Technology in 1993 under the supervision of Jürgen Hafner. He then worked as a scientific assistant in Vienna and held  a postdoctoral position at Staffordshire University with Mike Gillan. After his habilitation at the Vienna University of Technology in 2001, he was offered a full professorship from Oxford University as well as from the University of Vienna.  He accepted the chair for Computational Quantum Mechanics in Vienna in 2007. Since 2011 Kresse is a full member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and since 2012 of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Sciences. He is the recipient of several awards, including the 2003 "START Grant" of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), the "Hellmann Preis" of the Internationale Working group for  Theoretical Chemistry, and the 2016 Kardinal-Innitzer-Preis.

His main scientific focus lies in the fields of Theoretical Solid State Physics, Surface Sciences and Computational Materials Physics. His work on ab initio density functional theory for solids, liquid and amorphous systems and surfaces has contributed significantly to basic and applied research and has shaped the application of density functional theory worldwide. Kresse is the main author of the computer code "VASP" (Vienna ab initio simulation package) which his research group develops. VASP is the internationally most widely used program for quantum mechanical simulations of condensed matter. The publications on which this code is based received between 30.000 and 50.000 citations each and are among the 100 most cited research articles worldwide.

Until mid 2019, Kresse directed the Special Research Area "Vienna Computational Materials Laboratory" funded by the Austrian Science Fund. The main goal of this large collaborative project was the precise description of electron interactions in solids and real materials. His current research focus is on the accurate prediction of mechanical, electronic and optical properties in condensed matter beyond simple mean field methods, a research area to which he has already made significant contributions. Georg Kresse is the author of about 400 research articles and has an h-index of over 110.

Ralf Drautz is the director of the Department for Atomistic Modelling and Simulation at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Advanced Materials Simulation (ICAMS) and a professor in the Department for Physics and Astronomy at RUB. Ralf Drautz is the director of the Department for Atomistic Modelling and Simulation at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Advanced Materials Simulation (ICAMS) and a professor in the Department for Physics and Astronomy at RUB. Ralf develops quantum-accurate interatomic potentials that are derived from density functional theory. The potentials are employed in atomistic simulations for predicting structural stability and mechanical, kinetic and thermodynamic properties of materials. Automated workflows together with high-throughput density functional theory calculations are used to explore chemical phase space, which in combination with statistical machine learning forms the basis for computational materials design. Ralf obtained his Ph.D. at the Max-Planck-Institute for metals research and the University of Stuttgart. Before coming to Bochum Ralf worked at the University of Oxford, where he still contributes to teaching as a visiting professor.

Dr. Ivoyl Koutsaroff is the Principal Materials Development Engineer at Advanced Device Engineering & Technology Development Department at Akoustis Technologies Inc., since 2022. Akoustis is presently a wholly owned subsidiary of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX).

Prior to that he was a Technology Foundry Program Manager at Knowles Corporation (Japan operations) working on MEMS microphone NPI and R&D. During 2016-2021 period he was with Qualcomm (Principal Engineer), and with Wisol Japan (Executive Director) focusing his efforts on high accuracy ab-initio simulations and experimental validation of high Sc-AlScN (x~30-40at% Sc) based SMR-BAW/FBAR resonators and filters targeting improvement of microacoustic device performances by lowering their viscoelastic attenuation as well as prediction and searching for new piezoelectric materials to deliver improved compare to AlScN baseline high performance RF filter components.

Since 2005, for a decade, he was working as a Principal Research Engineer at New Technology Center, Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Kyoto, Japan, responsible for Ferroelectric thin film research, new functional oxides (oxynitrdes for ferroelectric and paraelectric applications) and electrode materials development, process integration and performance improvement of various RF front-end devices (e.g., BST varactors and piezo-MEMS based on non-PZT materials). He was core member of a national join collaborative project supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) for development of tunable SAW  filters.  From 1998 to 2005 he has been engaged in manufacturing and development activities at Gennum Corporation (acquired by Semtech Corp. and ON Semiconductor) in Ontario, Canada, where he was a Senior Technology Development Engineer, involved with development of low dielectric loss high density ferroelectric thin film decoupling and tunablecapacitors (varactors) devices used in RF-front-end communication modules and hearing aids applications. Dr. Koutsaroff was a licensed Professional Engineer (P.Eng) in Ontario, Canada.

In 2010 he received Murata Manufacturing’s Vice-President Special Technology Development and Innovation Award for the first industrial scalable fabrication of oxynitride perovskite dielectric thin films with enhanced performances. Dr. Koutsaroff founded and organized the First International Symposium on “Advances and Enhanced Functionalities of Anion-controlled New Inorganic Materials (ANIM1)”, as part of E-MRS 2013 Spring Meeting which was held in France, May 27-31, 2013. The ANIM Symposia tradition is continuing and in 2025 the 5th ANIM Symposium was held also in France. He was the lead Guest-Editor of the Special Issue on ANIM materials of the ACS Journal of Crystal Growth&Design (2013-2014).

Ivoyl Koutsaroff is an inventor of 65 patents, has authored of about 80 research articles with h-index of 13(i10-index of 17) with more than 500 citations.

Selected Bibliography
1. I. P. Koutsaroff, et al., High Accuracy Elastic and Piezoelectric Properties Predictions of Al1−xScxN Materials and their Experimental Validation from Microacoustic Resonators within 2.7-5.1 GHz range, Joint ISAF-ICE-EMF-IWPM-PFM Meeting (ISAF 2019) July 14-19, 2019, Lausanne, Switzerland (invited talk).
2. I. P. Koutsaroff and T. Metzger, High Accuracy Elastic and Piezoelectric Properties Predictions of Al1−xScxN Materials and their Experimental Validation from Microacoustic Resonators above 2GHz range, International Conference on Nanotechnology and Nanoscience, Osaka, Japan September 2018 (Keynote Talk).
3.  A. David, I.P. Koutsaroff, et al., High-Throughput Synthesis and Characterization of (BaxSr1–x)1+yTi1–yO3−δ and (BaxSr1–x)1+yTi1–yO3–zNz Perovskite Thin Films, Crystal Growth & Design 2014, 14, 2, 523-532, DOI: 10.1021/cg401259r
4. 隼瀬 幸浩, 掘露 伊保龍 [Koutsaroff], 猪口 真志, 檜貝 信一,窒化酸化物ペロブスカイトの PDF 解析, Yukihiro Hayase, Ivoyl P. Koutsaroff, Masashi Inoguchi, Shin'ichi Higai,  PDF Analysis of Oxynitride Perovskites, DOI: 10.18957/rr.1.3.94 SPring-8/SACLA 利用研究成果集 DOI：10.18957/rr.1.3.94
5. I.P. Koutsaroff and Amparo Fuertes, Preface, Anion-Controlled New Inorganic Materials, Crystal Growth & Design Virtual Issue,
American Chemical Society (ACS), https://pubs.acs.org/page/cgdefu/vi/13.html
6. I.P. Koutsaroff and Hontgas, C. H., Piezoelectric material and piezoelectric device,WO2020127294A1, 2020

Dr. Seán Kavanagh is an Assistant Professor in Simulation of Energy Materials, at the Department of Chemistry in the University of Cambridge. He earned his undergraduate at Trinity College Dublin in his native Ireland, PhD at University College London and Imperial College London, and a Fellowship at the Harvard University Center for the Environment. Seán was awarded the 2024 IOP and APS Computational Physics thesis prizes, the 2025 RSC Energy Sector Thesis Prize and named a 2025 JPhys Energy Emerging Leader. He serves as an Editorial Board Member for Physical Review Materials, an Assessor for Innovate UK and a Modelling & Simulation Steering Group Member at the Henry Royce Institute.

Seán heads the Simulation of Advanced Materials (SAM) lab, studying defects and disorder in materials, including methodological/software developments – such as the doped and ShakeNBreak defect modelling toolkits – and machine-learning approaches.

Dr. Alexander Mavromaras, Commercial Director for the EMEA region at French Materials Design S.A.R.L., brings over two decades of experience to his role. Having joined the company during its inception in 1999, he played a pivotal role in supporting the expanding business operations across Japan and the USA. His tenure also includes serving on the Board of Directors at US-based Materials Design Inc. from 2004 to 2011. Driven by a background in materials science and specialized software development, Alexander holds a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Darmstadt, Germany, and an E.M.B.A. from Stockholm University, Sweden.

Dr. Cheng-Wei Lee, is passionate about enabling scientific and engineering breakthroughs through computational methods. He recently joined the team at Materials Design, Inc. as a Support and Application Scientist, bringing with him deep expertise in multiscale materials simulations, including Density Functional Theory (DFT), Molecular Dynamics (MD), and Machine Learning (ML). Before joining Materials Design Inc., Dr. Lee was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Colorado School of Mines. There, he specialized in computational discovery and engineering of wide bandgap materials for applications in power electronics, optoelectronics, ferroelectrics, and batteries. He obtained his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where his research focused on non-adiabatic electron-ion dynamics in semiconductors and their responses to ionizing ion beams.

Garrett earned his BS (2016) and MS (2017) in Chemical Engineering at the University of Oklahoma under the supervision of Liangliang ‘Paul’ Huang and then earned his Ph.D. (2021) at the University of Notre Dame under the supervision of Ed Maginn. Garrett was a postdoctoral fellow at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory under the mentorship of John Brennan and Jim Larentzos. During his graduate studies and postdoctoral work, Garrett researched energetic materials using atomistic molecular dynamics and generalized dissipative particle dynamics with reactive coarse-grain particles. Garrett joined Materials Design, Inc. in 2022 and is currently serving as the Director of Support.

Dr. Michele Kotiuga join Materials design in 2024 as a support and application scientist. Prior to joining Materials Design Michele studied complex oxides with a focus on ferroelectric materials using density functional theory as a postdoctoral researcher at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL).

Michele hold a PhD from the Department of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley. Her thesis work focused on “Charge Transport in Molecular Junctions: A Study of Level-Alignment, Thermoelectric Properties, and Environmental Effects” under the supervision of Jeffrey B. Neaton. Michele also studied high-density doping of rare-earth oxides as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Physics at Rutgers University.

She holds a Masters degrees in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Physics and Mathematics from Boston University.

René, an author of scientific papers employing density functional theory, is a Science & Support Specialist and Battery Industry Lead at Materials Design.

Prior to his appointment at Materials Design he worked at the Paul Scherrer Institute which has one of the major battery research laboratories in Europe.

With a background in chemistry and physics, he is an expert in the computational design of materials, superconductors and environmentally friendly pigments. He was awarded a PhD in physical chemistry from the Humboldt University of Berlin in 2000.

Dr. Shubham Pandey is an Application and Research Scientist in the Support Team at Materials Design. Shubham holds a PhD degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Florida. Shubham is an experienced researcher with expertise in density functional theory calculations of materials including metal-organic frameworks, metallic alloys, and inorganic crystals. Shubham also has experience with deep learning for solid-state systems from his postdoctoral research at Colorado School of Mines.