Group

Paschalis Gkoupidenis

Associate Professor of ECE & Physics (PI)

Paschalis Gkoupidenis earned his PhD in materials science from NCSR “Demokritos”, Athens, Greece, in 2014. During his PhD, his research focused on ionic transport mechanisms of organic electrolytes, physics of ionic-based devices, and of non-volatile memories. Following his PhD, in 2015 he joined the group of George Malliaras at the Department of Bioelectronics (EMSE, France) as a postdoctoral researcher. At the Department of Bioelectronics, his research focused on the design and development of organic neuromorphic devices based on electrochemical concepts. In 2017, Paschalis Gkoupidenis joined as a Group Leader, the Department of Molecular Electronics of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research. He is currently leading the group Organic Neuromorphic Electronics. Since August 2024, he is an Associate Professor at the North Carolina State University (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering & Physics).

Somayeh Kashani

Postdoctoral Researcher (NC State)

email: skashan@nscsu.edu

Somayeh received her Ph.D. in Physics from North Carolina State University in 2023, where she investigated the optoelectronic properties of organic semiconductors and organic photovoltaics under the mentorship of Prof. Harald Ade. During her doctoral studies, she developed extensive expertise in the characterization of organic semiconductor materials and photovoltaic devices using a range of advanced techniques. From July 2023 to July 2024, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher on a project focused on the doping of organic polymers, supported by a five-year Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) led by Prof. Wei You at UNC-Chapel Hill. This collaborative project brought together researchers from UNC, NC State, the University of Washington, and Iowa State University. In 2024, Somayeh joined the Gkoupidenis group at NC State University, where her research focuses on the development of organic neuromorphic electronics for various bio-realistic sensing and computing applications.

Debdatta Panigrahi

Postdoctoral Researcher (Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, DE)

email: panigrahid@mpip-mainz.mpg.de

Dr. Debdatta Panigrahi received his Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur in 2019, where he focused his research on improving the performance of organic field effect transistors. He then joined National Institute for Materials Science, Japan as a postdoctoral researcher, where he worked on developing organic multi-valued logic circuits and logic-in-memory devices. In 2021, he was awarded the JSPS postdoctoral fellowship. Then, he joined Technion-Israel Institute of Technology as a postdoctoral fellow and worked on transistor-based flexible sensors. In 2023, Debdatta was awarded the Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship to pursue his research at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research. His current research interest is focusing on the development of organic neuromorphic electronics.

Sourabh Pal

Postdoctoral Researcher (Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, DE)

email: panigrahid@mpip-mainz.mpg.de

Sourabh earned his Bachelor’s (2013) and Master’s (2015) degrees in Electronic Science from the University of Calcutta, India, graduating with a Gold Medal for securing the top position. He completed his doctoral studies in Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, India, in 2022, where his research focused on metal oxide thin films, nanostructures, and hybrid heterostructures for optoelectronic and piezo-phototronic device applications, particularly in wearable and flexible platforms. In 2022, Sourabh was awarded the prestigious JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship. He then joined Columbia University, New York, USA, as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist in the Department of Electrical Engineering in 2022. At Columbia, his research primarily centered on the development of neuromorphic devices capable of emulating the characteristics of biological synapses. By integrating advanced photo-absorbing nanomaterials, he explored the operation of phototransistors as optoelectronic synapses using both electrical and optical controls. In 2024, Sourabh received the esteemed Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellowship to continue his research at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Germany. His current research focuses on advancing organic neuromorphic electronics, pushing the boundaries of materials science and device innovation.

Aristea Pavlou

PhD student (Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, DE)

email: palvoua@mpip-mainz.mpg.de

Aristea Pavlou received a BSc in Chemistry from University of Ioannina (UOI), Greece with an undergraduate thesis in Organic Photochemistry. She received her MSc with specialization in Synthetic Chemistry, Biochemistry and Bioactive compounds in the Department of Chemistry, University of Ioannina, Greece where she also worked in different research projects. Her main project was the development of new aqueous nanoparticles of conjugated polymers for bioimaging as fluorescent probes in collaboration with the National Hellenic Foundation of Research (Athens), the division of Biomedical Research of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH-IMBB, Ioannina) and the Department of Materials and Science Engineering (UOI). Currently, she is working on her PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research.