In search of muons: why they switch sites in antiferromagnetic oxides

A study involving MARVEL scientists and just published in Physical Review Letters has found that in manganese oxide, a textbook antiferromagnetic material,  the site of an implanted spin-polarized muon is not well identified, but can change due to a previously neglected effect: magnetostriction.

DFT verification study on the cover of Nature Physics Review

The January 2024 issue of the journal dedicates the front page to the article "How to verify the precision of density-functional-theory implementations via reproducible and universal workflows", already published online in November 2023. The study is the most comprehensive verification effort so far on solid-state DFT codes, and involves 9 MARVEL researchers, including Giovanni Pizzi who is the corresponding author.

The MARVEL 2024 Review and Retreat

Over 130 participants met in Grindelwald from 17 to 19 January to share new results and discuss plans for the final 2 years of the project. The creation of sustainable digital infrastructures for materials science, machine learning and large language models, new Swiss facilities and the exploration of quantum computing approaches were among the key topics of discussion.

MARVEL Junior Seminar — February 2024

The MARVEL Junior Seminars aim to intensify interactions between the MARVEL Junior scientists belonging to different research groups – this is held in hybrid mode, in order to maintain in-person contacts and allow off-campus attendees to follow the seminars remotely! We are pleased to propose the 57th MARVEL Junior Seminar: Federica Troni (CECAM, EPFL) and Beliz Sertcan (University of Zurich) will present their research. 

From women's eyes

We would like to invite you to join us for the CECAM online celebration of the UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science on February 14. Shobhana Narasimhan (JNCASR, Jakkur, Bangalore) and Virginie de Mestral (ETH Zurich) will share with us their experiences and perspective on women’s access and participation in our domain. We are also looking forward to contributions and questions from the audience — boys and girls alike! 

[CANCELED] MARVEL Distinguished Lecture — Elisa Molinari

The 36th NCCR MARVEL Distinguished Lecture will be given by Prof. Elisa Molinari, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, and Cnr-Nano, Modena, Italy. She will be presenting a lecture entitled: "The excitons that you might not expect." 

Four new INSPIRE Potentials fellows will join MARVEL for their Master's research projects

We are happy to announce that Serena Bragadini (UNIMORE, Italy), Valentina Sanella (Univ. Milano-Bicocca, Italy), Hela Mhiri (ENIT, Tunisia and ENSTA, Paris, France) and Jayashree Narayan (IISER Mohali, India) were granted INSPIRE Potentials – MARVEL Master's Fellowships after the October 2023 call. The four women are joining MARVEL labs for a 6-month Master's research project — congratulations!

Fix the leaky pipeline! — Kickoff event 2024

The next run of the Fix the Leaky Pipeline program (FLP), a career building program for women in science, will be launched by an online/hybrid kickoff event on Tuesday, February 6, 2024, 12:15 – 14:00.

Ig Nobel Award Tour Show 2024

On Tuesday April 16, after a 5-year break, with the support of the NCCR MARVEL, EPFL will welcome for the fifth time the Ig Nobel Award Tour Show, with Marc Abrahams and the Ig Nobel Prize winners Chris Moulin, Damien Bouffard and Minna Lyons. We will be talking about people who habitually stay up late, about sexual activity of anchovies, or about repeating a single word many, many, many, many, many, many, many times. A great evening ahead!