Every month, we welcome our new members of the IMDEA Materials team. Here, you can find a short profile of our most recent additions.

Arley Garcia

My name is Arley Garcia Carrero and I am from Santander, Colombia. I recently started an Industrial PhD at the Technical University of Madrid (UPM). I will be working in thin films by high power impulse magnetron sputtering and Rf, for cutting tools.

I decided to join IMDEA Materials as it is an institute focused on material technology and offers the opportunity to work with novel material technologies. Also, I work in a company in Madrid as a mechanical engineer. Apart from working, I love to fishing, reading and camping.

Dr. Pedro José Díaz

My name is Pedro José Díaz and I am from Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain. I graduated in Biotechnology from the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria (Spain) in 2013. I then obtained my PhD (IRC scholarship) at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland in 2019 under the supervision of Prof. Daniel Kelly. My thesis focused on the use of tissue-specific ECM derived materials for osteochondral tissue engineering. From 2019 to 2022, I worked as postdoc in the Medical Delta project, a collaboration between the group of Gerjo Van Osh (ErasmusMC) and Amir Zadpoor (TUDelft) in the Netherlands.

While there, my research was focused on the development of 4D bioprinting strategies for cartilage engineering applications. After that, I returned to Spain and worked as medical advisor in Rovi Pharmaceutical until the end of 2022. I recently started working in Dr. Jennifer Patterson’s lab at IMDEA Materials as research associate (postdoc) on the BIOMET4D project, to further develop 4D printing applications with biodegradable metals.

I joined IMDEA Materials because it offered the opportunity to work in tissue repair applications and I like the idea of a highly collaborative centre. I like spending time with my family (and our 10-month-old baby), cooking (because I get to eat it), travelling (including ski trips), and I recently started bouldering.

Dr. Valentin Vassilev Galindo

My name is Valentín Vassilev Galindo, and I am from Mexico City, Mexico. I got a PhD in Physics at the University of Luxembourg, under the supervision of Prof. Alexandre Tkatchenko, after which I held a Postdoctoral Researcher position. My research is focused both on Theoretical Chemical Physics and Machine Learning. I will be working as a Research Associate in the Bio/Chemo/Mechanics of Materials group led by Prof. Javier Llorca.

I decided to join IMDEA Materials because it is a high-quality research institute whose interdisciplinarity in the research of materials represents a great place to use and make the most of my own expertise. Besides my research, I like to watch sports (mainly football and tennis), walk around the city, hike, and cook.”

Jingyi Zhang

My name is Jingyi Zhang, and I’m from Chengdu, China. I got my master’s degree in the Wave Mechanics Lab at Beijing Institute of Technology, where I majored in solid mechanics, elastic wave and homogenization method. I’m currently a PhD student in the department of physics at UC3M, and I will be working in the Acoustic and Mechanical Metamaterials group led by Dr. Johan Christensen. My current research is related to acoustic topology and gauge theory.

I decided to join IMDEA Materiales as it’s an international research institute with people from different research areas, which could help me to draw more inspiration from different subjects. Apart from working and studying, I like playing basketball, keeping fit and listening to rap music.

Dr. René Pernas

My name is René Pernas Salomón and I was born in Havana, Cuba. I studied Physics at the University of Havana and earned my Ph. D.  in Physics from the Autonomous University of Morelos, México. My postdoctoral experience includes four years at the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology where I studied physically meaningful bianisotropic constitutive relations to describe the macroscopic response of inhomogeneous media and proposed novel unconventional cross-coupling properties to manipulate mechanical and electromagnetic waves. Currently, I’m a Conex-Plus, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Researcher at the University Carlos III of Madrid.

IMDEA materials is an excellent opportunity to escalate my current research on topological materials to unexplored levels by applying novel material technologies. Accordingly, I will actively collaborate with the Acoustic and Mechanical Metamaterials group. Historical and cultural ties bind me to Spain and its people with whom I share a love for the sea, traditional parties and a renowned culinary heritage.

Dr. William Denis Adamson

My name is William Dennis Adamson and I am half English, half French born in Brussels, Belgium. I have started my Postdoc Research position at IMDEA Materials. I will be working on catalysts by elastic strain engineering.

I joined IMDEA Materials because it was an excellent opportunity to further advance my background in electrochemistry and continue to develop my research into real-world applications. Outside from work, I love socializing with people over movies and games. I also enjoy physical activities such as skiing and scuba diving.