Jan-Hendrik Poehls hired by the University of New Brunswick

Jan received his BSc (2009) and MSc (2011) in Materials Science and Engineering from Kiel University in Germany. For his PhD, he moved to Halifax where he worked under Dr. Mary Anne White. In his doctoral studies, Jan focused on the enhancement of our fundamental understanding of heat transport and the discovery of thermoelectric materials – converting waste heat back into useful electricity. During his PhD, Jan was a visiting student with Dr. G. Jeffrey Snyder at Caltech where he identified new high-efficient thermoelectric materials. After his PhD in 2017, Jan moved to the other side of Canada and started his postdoctoral research with Dr. Arthur Mar at the University of Alberta. Jan discovered a new class of thermoelectric materials using a combination of experiments and first-principles calculations. In 2018, Jan was a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Bradley Siwick at McGill University. He developed a framework to combine first-principles calculations with ultrafast electron diffraction to obtain comprehensive insights into the strength of electrons with atomic vibrations in quantum, thermoelectric, and photovoltaic materials. In 2020, Jan made a stop at McMaster University working with Dr. Yurij Mozharivskyj. When he was not hiking in Ontario, he explored the effect of lithium on the thermoelectric performance and developed software to optimize thermoelectric materials.

Jan has recently started his academic career at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. His research will focus on the establishment of quantum materials in the renewable energy sector using an experimental and first-principles approach. This interdisciplinary research will include solid-state synthesis, density functional theory calculations, and instrument development.