CFEL Director Robin Santra elected as AAAS Fellow

Robin Santra, CFEL Director, Lead Scientist at DESY, professor of physics at Universität Hamburg and expert in ultrafast processes in intense radiation fields, has received one of the highest scientific honors in the US: he was elected an AAAS Fellow. The "Class of 2023", announced on 18 April, is made up of a total of 502 high-ranking scientists from disciplines such as biology, chemistry, medicine and physics. The AAAS – for American Association for the Advancement of Science – is the largest scientific community in the world and publisher of the journal "Science" as well as other journals in the Science family. AAAS Fellows are nominated by peers in the respective scientific fields and elected by the AAAS Council. It is a lifetime award and fellows come from universities, research centers, hospitals, non-profit institutions or museums around the world.

Robin Santra, an expert in ultrafast processes in intense radiation fields, has now been awarded the title 'AAAS Fellow'. Image: private

Robin Santra, who heads the theory group at CFEL, investigates how to better understand microscopic processes in the interaction of X-rays with matter in order to further improve the use of modern radiation sources. He receives the AAAS award for "seminal contributions to the field of computational and theoretical physics by developing theoretical tools for modeling and predictions in X-ray free-electron-laser science and in attosecond science."

"It is a great honor for me to be elected an AAAS Fellow," says Santra. "I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the wonderful colleagues who I have had the privilege to work with. I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to carry out research in an environment as creative and inspiring as our science hub in Hamburg."

“As we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the AAAS Fellows, AAAS is proud to recognize the newly elected individuals. This year’s class embodies scientific excellence, fosters trust in science throughout the communities they serve, and leads the next generation of scientists while advancing scientific achievements,” says Sudip Parikh, AAAS chief executive officer and executive publisher of the Science family of journals.