Prof. Dr. Robert Maaß

Career

Prof. Maaß's research focuses on structural and functional metallic materials, bridging fundamental mechanisms with technological challenges. His group studies glassy and crystalline metals, examining shear localization, micro-plasticity, embrittlement phenomena, relaxation, glass transitions, and size-affects. Key techniques include in-situ synchrotron experiments, small-scale mechanics, transmission electron microscopy, and molecular dynamics simulations to decipher deformation and degradation processes across length scales.

Prof. Maaß studied Materials Science and Engineering (MatSE) at the Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine, Luleå Technical University, and Saarland University. He obtained his PhD in MatSE from EPFL in Switzerland and was a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich, Caltech, and a research group leader at the University of Göttingen. He became faculty member at MatSE/UIUC in 2015, department head and director at BAM in Berlin in 2020, and joined the faculty of TUM in 2024.

Functions

• Board of Directors, Programming Chair, The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (TMS), (2024-2027)
• Department Head, Institute Director, Federal Institute of Materials Research and Testing (BAM), (2020-)
• Assistant Professor/Adjunct Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, (2015-)
• Practice Specialist/Management Consultant, McKinsey and Company, (2012-2013)
• Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow at the California Institute of Technology, (2011-2012)

Awards

• Brimacombe Medal, The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (TMS) (2025)
• Finalist Medal, American Iron and Steel Institute(AISI) (2023)
• Masing Memorial Medal, German Materials Society (DGM) (2019)
• CAREER Award, National Science Foundation (NSF) (2017)
• Emmy Noether Award, German Research Foundation (DFG) (2014)