Condensed Matter Physicist

Juan Colmenero was born in 1951 in Madrid. He is Professor of Condensed Matter Physics at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and leader of the Group of "Polymers and non-Crystalline Solids". Currently, he is also Director of the "Materials Physics Center" (CFM), Joint Center CSIC-UPV/EHU, and the Foundation "Donostia International Physics Center" (DIPC).

Juan Colmenero graduated in Physics of Condensed Matter from the University of Navarra in 1975 and holds a PhD in Physics from the same University since 1979. After a period at the Laboratory for Health and Safety at Work (INSHT, Ministry of Labour) Juan Colmenero joined the Materials Physics Department of the Faculty of Chemistry (UPV/EHU) at San Sebastián in 1982, being the Director of such a Department in the period 1989-1999. Juan Colmenero has also been Invited Professor at the Institut für Festkörperforschung (IFF), Forschungszentrum Jülich (Germany), over different stays between 1995-1998.

Juan Colmenero has served in different International Scientific Committees, among then and recently: European Spalation Source (ESS), between 2000 and 2003; Institute Laue-Langevin (ILL), Grenoble (France), between 2004 and 2008; Jülich Centre for Neutrons Science (JCNS), Jülich (Germany), between 2002 and 2005. Juan Colmenero is also member of the International Advisory Board of the scientific journals: "Journal of Polymer Science B: Polymer Physics" and "Colloid & Polymer Science".

The scientific carrier of Professor Colmenero has always been developed at the interface between the modern physics of condensed matter and the science of advanced materials, comprising interdisciplinary and fundamental ingredients and covering very different topics as, for instance, the physics of non-crystalline solids, polymer materials, soft-matter systems, bio-polymers, nano-structured materials, etc. Professor Colmenero has published more than 260 scientific papers and delivered 50 invited or plenary lectures at different international conferences. He also is coauthor of one book on neutron scattering techniques applied to polymer materials and co-editor of other two books, one devoted to neutron scattering techniques and another to glass forming materials in general.

As recognition to his outstanding research activities Juan Colmenero has received many honors and distinctions, among them, the Xabier de Munibe Prize in Science and Technology (1998), the Euskadi Prize in Science and technology (2000) and the Medal of the Royal Spanish Physical Society (2003).

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