german

 

Excellence Initiative Graduate schools, excellence clusters and plans for advancing top-level university research: the "Excellence Initiative" aims to both promote top-level research and improve the quality of German universities and research institutions, thereby making a significant contribution to strengthening science and research in Germany in the long term, improving its international competitiveness and raising the profile of the top performers in academia and research.

The FAU has two institutions that are funded by the Excellence Initiative:

Based on and profiting from the acknowledged outstanding expertise at FAU’s Faculties of Engineering and Sciences, the existing Cluster "Engineering of Advanced Materials – Hierarchical Structure Formation for Functional Devices" focuses on research on and development of new materials. The Cluster’s vision is to close the gap between basic research in the field of nanotechnology, which is usually oriented towards the Natural Sciences, and its implementation in engineering in technological and economic key areas. This high-profile project, with its currently 150 employees, has as a first step been granted funding to the volume of 40 million euros until October 2012.

The Erlangen Graduate School in Advanced Optical Technologies (SAOT) was founded in 2006. SAOT’s scientific focus lies on Optics and Optical Technology, two fields which are considered key technologies of the 21st century. SAOT offers an excellent interdisciplinary research environment, which is firmly grounded in a vast network of cooperations with internationally leading experts. At the Graduate School, young scientists work at the interface of a variety of disciplines such as Materials Sciences, Metrology, Medicine and Processing Technology. With their research, these young scientists make a considerable contribution to optical technologies being used to their full potential. SAOT is currently funded with seven million euros.