iL-ALUMNI
June 06, 2023
iL alumni Rebecca Saive:
"A hotbed of talent"
To kick off our new alumni series, we introduce former iL doctoral student Rebecca Saive. The scientist, who was born in Ludwigshafen on March 18, 1987, conducted research at the local InnovationLab for just over three years. As a post-doc, she moved to the renowned California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena. Since January 2018, Rebecca Saive has been Professor of Applied Physics at the University of Twente in the Netherlands at the age of 36. It is obvious that her profession and vocation have always been intertwined. "I feel like I'm in the right job. I really enjoy working with a motivated team and young students," says Rebecca Saive in an interview.
We are sitting opposite each other in a small meeting room. For Rebecca Saive, it's a trip down memory lane. From December 2010 to February 2014, she worked as a research assistant and doctoral student at the InnovationLab. The memory of this phase of her career is still fresh. After completing her physics degree at the Technical University of Munich and a three-month internship at BASF, she applied for jobs in Munich, at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and at Heidelberg University. Then a position as a doctoral student became available and she decided to stay here at Speyerer Straße. As Rebecca Saive had already been working on organic solar cells, she was ideally placed to deepen her knowledge. "It was friendly and we had visions," says Rebecca Saive looking back, "I saw the potential of an academic start-up and thought: we can do something cool together here!"
From left to right: Dr. Janusz Schinke, Prof. Rebecca Saive, Michaela Sauer, Dr. Tanja Benedict, Dr. Michael Kröger, Dr. Sebastian Husein. Picture: InnovationLab
Rebecca Saive in brief
Career stages
Since 03/2023:
Professor of Applied Physics at the University of Twente, Enschede
2018 - 2023:
Assistant Professor and Associate Professor, Faculty of Science and Technology, UT
2020:
Named one of the global "Innovators under 35" by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
2017 - 2021:
Co-founder and CTO of the start-up ETC Solar (now MESOLINE)
2014 - 2018:
Postdoc and Senior Scientist at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena
2011 - 2014:
PhD student in physics at the University of Heidelberg, research assistant at InnovationLab GmbH, Heidelberg
2006 - 2014:
Doctorate in Heidelberg, Diploma in Physics at the Technical University of Munich, Vordiplom at the University of Mainz
2006:
Abitur at the Werner-Heisenberg-Gymnasium in Bad Dürkheim
Winner of numerous grants and awards
Private
Rebecca Saive, born on March 18, 1987 in Ludwigshafen.
She has been living in Enschede for a year with her husband Sebastian Husein, a materials scientist and business developer at the University of Twente, in a house with a stable and paddock.
Rebecca's hobbies:
Horse care and riding, gardening, dancing, traveling, cycling and hiking.
"We wanted to build our superlab"
The topic, team and open atmosphere at iL were just right, and as one of the first doctoral students, she enjoyed her time as a doctoral student under the then group leader Michael Kröger. Together with the universities in Darmstadt, Braunschweig and Karlsruhe, the "Heidelbergers" worked on the design of their research cosmos. "We wanted to set up our superlab," reports Rebecca Saive with a smile, "and we already had the applications in mind."
They joined forces to work in the largely empty rooms - holes had to be drilled, gas pipes screwed together and pipes laid. It sounds like a high level of improvisation and a pioneering spirit that makes team members go about their daily work with intrinsic motivation and pride. Companies such as BASF, Merck and Heidelberger Druckmaschinen were on site, and the exchange between science and industry was inevitable. Daily, informal, direct. "We were working on a big experiment. The different professors gave us a lot of independence, autonomy and freedom. Being able to define everything yourself is simply great," she states humbly.
Rebecca Saive still sees it that way today. The freedom to conquer research areas with "out-of-the-box thinking" for herself and others runs like a red thread through this young, consistently pursued career. Influenced by her parents' home in Ludwigshafen-Ruchheim, where both her mother and father are chemists by profession, Rebecca retains a childlike curiosity. She is always a model pupil and student. Ambitious, goal-oriented and very persistent when necessary. The best example: she practically invites herself to Caltech in California. "I tried to get my foot in the door," she reports, "scientific luminaries are approached by everyone." So she travels to Pasadena, introduces herself personally and proactively to Professor Harry Atwater, gives a convincing lecture and gets a job so that she can work as a postdoc on interfaces of inorganic solar cells.
Scientist and start-up entrepreneur since 2017
Rebecca Saive spent time in the USA between 2014 and 2018. A phase she would not want to miss. And during which something additional is created, as she is able to add another as an entrepreneur to her portfolio as a scientist. Together with American Harry Atwater and Dutchman Thomas Russell, she co-founded the start-up ETC Solar (now MESOLINE) in 2017, a company that develops new micro 3D printing processes to improve solar cells. The start-up relocates to the Netherlands, is sold in 2021 and, under CEO Thomas Russell and based in Rotterdam, now focuses on other areas. "I'm completely out of it, but it's still a success story and I'm proud of it," says Rebecca Saive. With a wink: it doesn't have to be her last start-up! She believes it is essential to explore ideas and develop technologies in order to bring them to the market in a consumer-oriented way and bring them to society. Incidentally, this approach is also part of InnovationLab GmbH's DNA.
In a nutshell, you could say: Recognizing economic potential in the fields of natural sciences and engineering is a particular challenge.
In 2018, after countless applications, Rebecca Saive joined the University of Twente in Enschede, initially as an assistant professor. Improving solar cells and their performance spectrum is still her hobbyhorse. Innovative reflectors that transmit light in solar cells may still be her focus as a newly appointed professor, but it is at least as important to her to contribute to a cleaner, more sustainable energy source for the world and its future through research. A dynamic university environment and team are also very important to her. At the moment, Rebecca Saive leads a group of around ten postdocs, PhDs, Master's and Bachelor's students at UT, which is also the first campus university in the Netherlands. "I'm close to the research, really involved. I love working with students and following their progress," she explains. Every working day has a positive surprise in store.
Permanent search for funding
Are there any restrictions? The biggest problem of an academic life is primarily the constant search for funding. It takes endless time and energy to secure funding for even the most interesting research projects, whether at national or European level. Co-financing companies, even in the field of renewable energies, is extremely difficult. "It's not like it was with BASF 15 years ago," says Rebecca Saive, "even when it comes to interesting innovations, it's usually a huge problem." She would like to see more commitment and ultimately more sensitivity in order to be able to implement financing models for research ideas without less pressure to justify them.
Rebecca Saive also has one or two well-intentioned recommendations for InnovationLab afterwards. "It's a unique employer, but you often can't get that across properly in your CV," she finds one point of criticism. Her suggestions: More career coaching, the increased opportunity to publish scientific papers, as well as applying for prizes and creating her own award, she believes are opportune measures to put the spotlight on a special environment like the one in Heidelberg's Bahnstadt. In scientific circles, but also as far as a broader public is concerned.
"This is a talent factory"
"All of us alumni got a good job. A lot of it was word of mouth. I know that this is a talent factory and that it has a corresponding network," says Rebecca, summing up her positive internal and external perspective, "but it's a bit more difficult when it comes to academic careers. I only know Julia Maibach, Gerardo Hernandez-Sosa and myself, who have become professors so far."
Be that as it may, the cordial contact with the iL will continue. An exchange at student level would be conceivable, especially as the iL would like to reposition itself as a platform and incubator for young talent for science and business - as it once was.
Rebecca Saive would probably do (almost) everything the same way again. In the near future, the focus will initially be on her private life. Together with her husband Dr. Sebastian Husein, a materials scientist who works as a business developer at the University of Twente, she lives close to the city and yet on the outskirts. For the past year, the German-American couple have lived on a property with a stable and pasture, including two horses, on the outskirts of Enschede.
In October, Rebecca and Sebastian are expecting their first child - a boy. There is a very good chance that he will one day become an innovative, committed and freedom-conscious scientist. And if not? Then not.
Flashback: Group photo from the early years of iL with Rebecca Saive (4th from right), Janusz Schinke (5th from right) and Michael Kröger (5th from left). Picture: InnovationLab
Joachim Klaehn
Head of Communications
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