Dr. Teodoro Laino
IBM Research Europe, Switzerland
Teodoro Laino received his MSc in Theoretical Chemistry in 2001 from the University of Pisa and the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Italy, and his PhD in Computational Chemistry in 2006 from the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa under the supervision of Prof. Michele Parrinello. He was a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Jürg Hutter at the University of Zurich (2006–2008), contributing to the development of the CP2K simulation package. In 2008, he joined IBM Research – Zurich as a Research Scientist, where he is currently Distinguished Research Scientist and manager, working on computational methods for chemistry and materials.
Dr. Andrea Martini
Fritz-Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Germany
Andrea Martini holds a PhD in Physics and has expertise in surface science and advanced X-ray spectroscopies. His research focuses on the local and electronic properties of active sites in transition-metal catalysts for electro- and thermo-catalytic processes, combining ab initio simulations with XAS, XES, and XPS measurements at synchrotron facilities. He is co-author of PyFitIt, a machine-learning software for interpreting XANES and EXAFS, and developed THORONDOR for real-time processing of soft-XAS datasets.
Dr. Valérie Briois
SOLEIL Synchrotron, France
Valérie Briois received her PhD in Chemistry from Paris VI University in 1991. She worked at LURE (1991–2004) and is now Research Director at CNRS and head of the ROCK quick-EXAFS beamline at SOLEIL. Her research centers on operando quick-EXAFS characterization of catalysts, with particular emphasis on multivariate curve resolution (MCR-ALS) methods.
Prof. Anatoly I. Frenkel
Stony Brook University and Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA
Anatoly Frenkel received his PhD in Physics from Tel Aviv University in 1995. He is Professor of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering at Stony Brook University and Senior Chemist at Brookhaven National Laboratory. His research focuses on the physico-chemical properties of nanocatalysts, structure–function relationships in disordered systems, and mechanisms of catalytic and electromechanical processes. He has pioneered synchrotron-based operando methods, integrating XAFS and RIXS with machine learning approaches for nanomaterial characterization.
Dr. Javier Heras
University of Barcelona, Spain
Javier Heras received his degree in Chemistry with a specialization in Materials Science from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and his PhD in Computational Chemistry in the Computational BioNanoCat group, focusing on RuO₂ surfaces and nanoparticles for the oxygen evolution reaction. He was a visiting researcher at ETH Zurich with Prof. Christophe Copéret, studying single-atom catalysts. Since 2020, he has worked as a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Zachary Ulissi at Carnegie Mellon University and later with Prof. Núria López at ICIQ, developing AI-driven methods for catalysis. In 2025, he was appointed Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at the University of Barcelona.
Prof. Markus Winterer
University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Markus Winterer studied Chemistry at the Universities of Freiburg and Münster, receiving his PhD in Physical Chemistry in 1989. After a postdoctoral stay at Argonne National Laboratory supported by a Humboldt fellowship, he was a researcher at Darmstadt University of Technology, where he completed his habilitation in 2001. Since 2003, he has been Professor of Nanoparticle Process Technology at the University of Duisburg-Essen. His research focuses on gas-phase synthesis, processing, and structural characterization of functional nanomaterials, with particular expertise in synchrotron-based EXAFS spectroscopy.
Dr. Janis Timoshenko
Fritz-Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Germany
Janis Timoshenko obtained his PhD in Condensed Matter Physics from the University of Latvia in 2015, following MSc and BSc studies in Physics at the same institution. He held postdoctoral positions at Yeshiva University and Stony Brook University before joining the Fritz-Haber Institute in 2018, where he leads a research group in the Department of Interface Science. His work combines operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy with advanced data analysis and machine learning methods to study nanomaterials and catalytic processes.
Dr. Alexei Kuzmin
University of Latvia, Latvia
Alexei Kuzmin is a physicist at the Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia, specializing in X-ray absorption spectroscopy of disordered and nanostructured materials. He has developed theoretical and computational approaches for analyzing structural and thermal disorder in crystalline and nanocrystalline systems, with applications ranging from condensed matter physics to catalysis. He has received multiple awards from the Latvian Academy of Sciences for his contributions to theoretical physics and spectroscopy.
Prof. Tom Penfold
Newcastle University, UK
Tom Penfold is Professor of Computational Spectroscopy at Newcastle University. His research combines electronic structure theory with ultrafast X-ray and optical spectroscopy to study excited-state dynamics in molecules and materials. He has contributed to the development of computational tools for interpreting synchrotron and free-electron laser experiments, advancing the understanding of photophysical and catalytic processes relevant to energy and materials applications.
