Ruprecht Karls Universität Heidelberg

Ulrich Schwarz, full professor at Heidelberg University

Picture Ulrich Schwarz
Wikipedia (in German)

Ulrich Schwarz is a theoretical physicist and works on different subjects in the fields of theoretical soft matter and biological physics. In particular, he uses concepts and methods from physics to understand the adhesion and mechanics of biological cells. His interest on the cellular level also branches out to the subcellular level (assembly of supramolecular complexes in cells, viruses assembly and spread) and to the multicellular context (model tissues, organoids, collective migration). His group uses methods from statistical physics, computational physics, continuum mechanics, non-linear dynamics and stochastic dynamics.

Education

1989
 Vordiplom in physics, Freiburg University
1990/91 Fulbright year, Johns Hopkins University, MD, USA
1994 Diplom in physics, LMU Munich (with Gerhard Gompper and Herbert Wagner)

Scientific Career

1998 PhD, MPI Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam (with Gerhard Gompper and Reinhard Lipowsky)
1998-2000 Minerva Postdoc, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel (with Sam Safran)
2000-05 Group leader, MPI Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam
2001-07
 Emmy Noether junior research group leader of the German Research Foundation (DFG)
2003
 Visiting Professor, Leipzig University
2004
 Habilitation in Theoretical Physics, Potsdam University (mentor Reinhard Lipowsky)
2005-08
 Group leader, Center for Modelling and Simulation in the Biosciences (BIOMS), Heidelberg
2005-
 Member, Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR), Heidelberg
2006-2008
 Umhabilitation, Privatdozent, Physics Department, Heidelberg University
2008-2009
 Full professor (W3) and chair for Theoretical Biophysics at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
2009-2015
 member of the Scientific Board of the Physikzentrum Bad Honnef
2009-
 Full professor (W3) and chair for Theoretical Physics at Heidelberg University
2011-2013
 Speaker of the section Biological Physics of the German Physical Society
2011-2019
 Member of the steering committee of the cluster of excellence CellNetworks
2011-2019
 Associate editor for BMC Biophysics
2011-2012
 Managing director of the Institute for Theoretical Physics
2012-2018
 Member editorial board New Journal of Physics
2012-2017
 Member Research Grant Review Committee Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP)
2013
 Recognition as Outstanding Referee of the American Physical Society
2014-2019
 Member of the senate of Heidelberg University
2015-2020
 Member editorial board Physical Review E
2015-2017
 Vize Dean of the Faculty for Physics and Astronomy
2017
 Outstanding teaching award by the Department of Physics and Astronomy
2017-2018
 Managing director of the Institute for Theoretical Physics
2019-
 Member of the clusters of excellence STRUCTURES and 3DMM2O
2019-
 fellow of the Max Planck School „Matter to Life"
2020-
 member of the executive board of the flagship initiative „Engineering Molecular Systems“
2020-
 Member of the biophysics panel of the German Research Foundation (DFG)
2020-21
 Managing director of the Institute for Theoretical Physics
2020-
 Member Steering Committee SPP 2332 Physics of Parasitism
2021-22
 Fellow of the Marsilius Kolleg Heidelberg University
2024-
 Speaker Section 1 (Biophysics, Biochemistry, Structural biology, Bioinformatics and Theoretical Biology) of the DFG panel on Basic Research in Biology and Medicine
2024-
 Member Heidelberg University Field of Focus 2 (Patterns and Structures in Mathematics, Data, and the Material World)
2024-
 Member Steering Committee 3DMM2O
2024-25
 Managing director of the Institute for Theoretical Physics