Ms. Heike E. Riel

She is the Manager of the Materials Integration & Nanoscale Devices (MIND) group at IBM Research Laboratory, Zurich, Switzerland. She is responsible for projects in the area of semiconducting nanowires for various applications and molecular electronics. Her research focuses on new materials and novel device concepts for future nanoelectronics in particular steep slope devices for energy efficient computation. She left a furniture-making apprenticeship to study Physics at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany) and received a Ph.D. from the University of Bayreuth (Germany) in 2003 for her work on the optimization of multilayer organic light-emitting devices. In 2011, she graduated with an M.B.A. degree from Henley Business School. After an internship at the Hewlett-Packard Research Laboratory in Palo Alto, California, she joined the IBM Zurich Research Lab in 1998 as a Ph.D. student, and became a Research Staff Member in 2003. Since 2008, she has been leading the Nanoscale Electronics Group. She has made major contributions to the development of the (at that time) world's largest ever (20") full-color amorphous-silicon active-matrix display based on organic light-emitting diodes, which was presented in May 2003. Her 20-inch screen is brighter and more energy efficient than any other screen on the market. Her breakthrough achievements include advances in semiconducting nanowires for devices beyond conventional Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductors (CMOS), in molecular electronics for future nanoscale switches and memory applications, and in organic light-emitting diodes as a disruptive display technology. Her distinguished work, worldwide scientific impact and technical leadership have significantly advanced IBM?s reputation as a leader in nanotechnology. She will serve as technology ambassador to South Africa. For her outstanding scientific contributions, she was elected by Technology Review, MIT's Magazine of Innovation, to the TR100, the annual list of the world's 100 Top Young Innovators in September 2003 and she received the 2005 Applied Physics Award of the Swiss Physical Society. In June 2012, she received an award in the category, "Technical or Scientific Innovation" from the Swiss Association of Women in Engineering (SVIN) on the occasion of their 20th anniversary. In 2013, she was named IBM Fellow, the company's highest technical distinction. She has authored or co-authored several publications in her field, the most recent of which are: ?Vertical III-V Nanowire Device Integration on Si(100)?, with M. Borg, H. Schmid, K. E. Moselund, G. Signorello, L. Gignac, J. Bruley, C. Breslin, P. Das Kanungo, and P. Werner, Nano Letters 14(4), 2014; ?Using the Seebeck coefficient to determine charge carrier concentration, mobility, and relaxation time in InAs nanowires?, with V. Schmidt, P. F. J. Mensch, S. F. Karg, B. Gotsmann, P. Das Kanungo, H. Schmid, and Applied Physics Letters104, 012113, 2014; ?Nanoelectrical Imaging of Graphene in Liquids Materials Today?, with P. N. Nirmalraj, Materials Today, accepted, including cover picture, 2014; and ?Inducing a Direct-to-Pseudodirect Bandgap Transition in Wurtzite GaAs Nanowires with Uniaxial Stress?, with G. Signorello, E. L?rtscher, P. A. Khomyakov, S. Karg, D. L. Dheeraj, B. Gotsmann, H. Weman, Nature Communications5, 3655, 2014