Autumn is the season of falling leaves but also of postdoctoral researchers arrivals and we welcomed this week Kaina Gonçalves Diniz, from Brazil. Kaina came in the context of the CAPES-COFECUB exchange program and will stay about one year in the lab. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, where he also completed his Master and PhD. He is primarily an experimental physicist, with a research focus on optical tweezers and their applications. He is also interested in chiral nanoparticles and has explored how these particles can be studied in the context of optical trapping. Welcome Kaina !

Since last week, we have the pleasure to welcome a new postdoctoral researcher, John Ricca. John is the first north american postdoc in the lab and was born in Florida. He received his phD in chemistry from Florida Atlantic University in 2024 , where he carried out research in environmental analytical chemistry, biochemistry and physical chemistry.

Welcome to him !

Luis Pires, who spent three years and a half among us, as a phD student and then as a postdoctoral researcher, left the lab mid-July to go back to Brazil. He got a position of assistant professor in the Physics Department at the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV).

Congratulations Luis and all the best for your future !

Thomas Ebbesen has been nominated to the Presidential Science Council that advises President Macron on science policy, emerging disciplines, national strategy and priorities. This council was established in December 2023 and he is one of 14 members covering many academic disciplines.

Crédit Photo : Elysée

Since 10 days now, we have a new member in the team, Giovanni Mormina, who is currently taking the courses of the master Condensed Matter and Nanophysics in Strasbourg. Before coming in Alsace, he completed his education at the University of Bordeaux and his previous internships at the Laboratoire d’Ondes et Matière d’Aquitaine.
He is now starting a four-month internship at ISIS on stochastic thermodynamics and will work under the direction of Cyriaque Genet. Welcome to him !