	*About Me*

	This is me on April 21, 2010. In the background you can see Barcelona, which is probably the reason why I'm almost smiling.

In Short

My name is Juergen F. Kolb or more 'original' Jürgen F. Kolb. (Without the umlaut you got a better chance to find me with Google.) I got a PhD in physics (actually a "Dr. rer. nat.") from the University of Erlangen, Germany. Currently I'm employed by Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology in Greifswald, Germany, as Professor for Bioelectrics. Here I continue my research on the interaction of pulsed electric fields and of plasmas with cells. Of course pulsed power science and technology is still a strong component of this research.

Education

I started my scientific career with the 'Abitur' from the Friedrich-Alexander Gymnasium in Neustadt a. d. Aisch, Germany. (There is not really a equivalent US degree for this exam. In short, the exam is the required general education qualification to go to a university in Germany.) I enrolled at the University of Erlangen, Germany, in 1988 to study physics and mathematics. In 1995 I took (and passed) the 'first state exam' (Erstes Staatsexamen) in these subjects. At least for Bavaria the degree is equivalent to a diploma/master degree, with the difference that diploma exams (at that time) were mostly orals and degrees were awarded by individual universities. The 'state exam' is regulated by the state of Bavaria and required final written exams for several subjects in addition to orals. The exam is mandatory to become a school-teacher in Bavaria. It also requires a 'Zulassungsarbeit' (master thesis), for which I meddled with high-temperature supraconductors at the research and development center of Siemens in Erlangen. After the exam, Dr. D.H.H. Hoffman accepted me as a PhD-student in his plasma physics group, where I worked on the interaction of heavy ion beams with hot dense plasmas. The research was mostly done at the tandem accelerator in Erlangen but for key-experiments I was collaborationg with Dr. Hoffman's group at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt. My graduation in 1999 followed by a brief employment at the Technical University Darmstadt till I entered the preparation service (Vorbereitungsdienst, Referendariat) for the second state exam in 2000. During this two year time, I was recruited by Dr. K.H. Schoenbach for Old Dominion University as postdoctoral resarch associate.

Professional Positions

I had my first paying job as a highschool student during my summer vacation with 'INA Wälzlager' in Herzogenaurach and worked as tutor for 'Studienkreis' (for those in the US: similar to Sylvan learning centers) for most of my student-years at the university. My first academic position was as a graduate student, i.e scientific assistant, with the Institute of Physics at the University of Erlangen. I was then briefly a postdoctoral reasearch associate at the Institute for Nuclear Physics at the Technical University in Darmstadt before I became 'Referendar' in service of the state of Bavaria to teach high school (Gymnasium). In 2002 I became a postdoctoral research associate with the Physical Electronics Research Institute at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virgina, which eventually gave birth to the Center for Bioelectrics. With the transition, I was promoted to Research Assistant Professor. While maintaining my research focus at the Center, I became part of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, which granted me tenure and a promotion to Associate Professor in 2011. In the same year I then accepted a Call from the University of Rostock to become Professor for Applied Phyiscs: Bioelectrics with a joint appointment at the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology, Greifswald, where I am conducting the bulk of my research now. This is immersed in the Research Program Agriculture-Bioeconomy-Environment, which I'm heading.