Professor Dr. Katharina Al Shamery, Vice President for research Oldenburg University, Germany, has been awarded the German Federal Cross of Merit for her contribution to science and research. The award was given on the 4th March 2011 during a ceremony at Oldenburg University. It was presented by the Niedersächsische Minister for Science and Culture, Professor Dr. Johanna Wanka.
Al-Shamery studied chemistry at Georg-August-Universität in Göttingen, Germany, and Université Paris-Sud 11, in France. She wrote her PhD thesis in 1979 at ETH in Zürich, Switzerland, in the field of molecular dynamics. After a postdoctoral stay at the University of Oxford, England, she worked on laser-induced surface reactions at the Ruhr-Universität in Bochum, Germany. In 1997, she became a professor of physical chemistry at the Universität Ulm, Germany, and in 1999, she became chair in physical chemistry at Oldenburg. She is the founding director of the Center of Interface Science of the universities of Oldenburg, Osnabrück, and Bremen. In 2007, she was elected to the grant selection board of the German science foundation Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
Her research centers on surface chemistry and materials science with particular interest in heterogeneous catalysis for new systems for chemical solar-energy storage. She is also known for her work in encouraging young scientists through the development of several Early Studies schemes.
- Video: Chemical Evolution — Interview with Katharina Al-Shamery (in German)
- Book: Moleküle aus dem All?
Katharina Al Shamery (Editor)
ISBN: 978-3-527-32877-2 - Book: European Women in Chemistry
Jan Apotheker, Livia Simon Sarkadi (Editors), with chapters by K. Al Shamery
ISBN: 978-3-527-32956-4
