DGM-Tag 2024: The award winners introduce themselves - DGM Honorary Membership - Prof. Dr. Pedro Portella

The German Society for Materials Science e.V. (DGM) has a special way of honoring its outstanding members - the “Honorary Membership of the German Society for Materials Science e.V.” This distinction is awarded to people who have made a special contribution to the society in material or non-material terms.

The Honorary Membership of the DGM is a tribute to outstanding services and a sign of recognition for individuals who have made a special contribution to the society and its concerns. It symbolizes the value and importance of the community that is committed to the research and further development of materials science and engineering. We are pleased to introduce our DGM Honorary Member 2024, Prof. Dr. Pedro Dolabella Portella, Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM, in an interview.

1) You have been continuously involved with the DGM since 1980, serving as the head of the Materialography Expert Committee and as an organizer of various conferences. How has your work in these roles shaped and influenced your relationship with the DGM?

In February 1980, I arrived at the Erlangen Institute of Materials Science as a DAAD scholarship recipient. On my very first day, I had a conversation with Bernhard Ilschner, who told me about the DGM and how important it could be for my career. As a doctoral student in Wolfgang Blum's group, I indeed participated in working group meetings, contributed to a university internship, and presented at the DGM General Assembly. I established numerous contacts with colleagues, marking the beginning of a robust network that still supports me today. After several years at a Brazilian university, I returned to Germany and resumed active involvement with the DGM when I joined BAM. Those were exciting years—together with Peter Schepp, who had taken over the management of the DGM office, we scoured the eastern sector of the city in search of suitable venues for a reunified DGM General Assembly. My superiors at BAM always supported me in this endeavor; as a technical-scientific authority, BAM's mission is to support the development of the German economy—something I could achieve through my work with the DGM. I learned a great deal on both a professional and personal level from colleagues in working groups, expert committees, and other bodies. Maintaining close contact with the DGM office, which plays a central role in the life of the society, has always been important to me.

2) In recent years, you have increasingly focused on digitalization in materials science and engineering. What are your long-term goals for the MaterialDigital initiative, and how do you see the future of digitalization in your field?

In recent years, powerful methods and tools have been developed that open up new perspectives for the development of innovative material solutions. We are indeed witnessing a paradigm shift in materials science. However, as we move towards implementing these innovations, we must continue to address more technical questions—how can we produce innovative products from these newly developed materials? And do so quickly, sustainably, reliably, and at low cost. This is the domain of materials engineering, where I feel most at home. We still need materials characterization methods to understand the complex processes in the production chain and then, together with materials scientists, further develop them. This is precisely where the MaterialDigital initiative comes into play. A key aspect of this intricate process is the role of materials data, which is transferred from one stage to the next. Our long-term goal is to establish a materials data space where this data transfer can take place in a structured manner. Although we are still at the beginning of this task, the results so far in our MaterialDigital platform and in the more than twenty diverse collaborative projects within the initiative are promising and indicative of great potential. Personally, I see the digitalization of materials science and engineering as a natural evolution. In BAM's 150-year tradition, the meticulous handling of materials data by pioneers like August Wöhler, Adolf Martens, and Emil Heyn continues to be upheld. With the concepts and methods we are developing today in the MaterialDigital initiative, we are refining and improving data transfer between various disciplines.

3) Your career spans both academic and applied research. How do you balance these two areas, and what motivates you to be involved in both?

Pursuing a doctorate at a German university was my path to an academic career. During my three years at PUC Rio, I was almost exclusively involved in teaching. However, when I moved to Berlin, there was a radical shift; in various positions within BAM’s Department of Materials Engineering, I gained insights into different facets of applied materials research. It was particularly exciting to work in our failure analysis group, where colleagues from all BAM departments collaborated to investigate failure cases, thereby contributing to the prevention of future incidents. Among these were the failure of an ICE axle shaft at Cologne Central Station and the collapse of nearly one hundred power pylons in Münsterland due to a snowstorm. You ask about the balance between these areas. At BAM, in every position, I worked with trainees, interns, students completing their theses in our laboratories, and doctoral candidates—in short, with many young people. In doing so, I was able to pass on some of what I had received in abundance from colleagues during my time as a doctoral student and young scientist. It is wonderful to see what these young people achieve with that guidance! Now, as a research associate at the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials, I continue in this role as a mediator. Within the MaterialDigital initiative, we must develop mutual understanding across different disciplines and cultures.

4) You have cultivated numerous international contacts and built networks. What importance do these networks hold for your scientific work, and how do they contribute to the advancement of materials science?

The establishment of the Federation of Materials Science and Engineering (BV MatWerk) was an exciting task. As Secretary-General, working with the first board—Günter Gottstein, Ernst Schmachtenberg, and Dieter Herlach (+)—I was able to bring together representatives from very different disciplines and material classes, creating a functioning institution. A few years later, I had another exciting role as President of the Federation of European Materials Societies (FEMS). In addition to the diversity of materials science and engineering, in FEMS, we also had to navigate various languages and national identities. Alongside the three major societies (IOM3, SF2M, and DGM), we included many smaller organizations, each with its own profile. As seen most recently in 2023 in Frankfurt under the aegis of the DGM, the EUROMAT conference—the flagship of FEMS—brings together more than two thousand materials scientists and engineers from around the world. In even-numbered years—like this year in Manchester—the Junior EUROMAT provides a forum for young scientists. To answer your question: these networks are of great importance for building a European research area. Within these networks, we grow together and engage in dialogue with our partners around the world.

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