Prof. Stefan Hecht, Ph.D.

Stefan Hecht was born in 1974 and grew up in Berlin, where he studied chemistry at Humboldt-Universität from 1992-1997. He carried out his Diplom thesis research in the area of organic photochemistry with the late Prof. William G. Dauben at the University of California, Berkeley. After receiving his diploma from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in 1997, he returned to Berkeley to pursue his graduate studies in the field of organic polymer chemistry under the guidance of Prof. Jean M. J. Fréchet and obtained his Ph.D. degree in 2001. Directly after, he started his independent academic career as a young investigator (assistant professor) at Freie Universität Berlin (2001-2004) and continued as a group leader (associate professor) at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Mülheim upon Ruhr (2005-2006). From 2006-2019 he held the Chair of Organic Chemistry and Functional Materials at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. From August 2019 till December 2022, Prof. Hecht was the Scientific Director of the Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials (DWI) in Aachen and holds the Chair of Macromolecular Chemistry at RWTH Aachen University. In fall 2022, he started an Einstein Professorship at Berlin's Humboldt University.

Honors and Distinctions:

• 2013: BASF Lectureship by the Department of Chemistry at UC Berkeley
• 2012: Starting Grant (Consolidator Phase) of the European Research Council
• 2010: Klung-Wilhelmy-Weberbank Prize in Chemistry
• 2010: Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
• 2005: ADUC Young Investigator Award of the German Chemical Society
• 2004: Top 100 Young Innovator Award of MIT’s Technology Review
• 2001: Sofja Kovalevskaja Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
• 2001: Ernst Schering Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (declined)
• 1994-1997: Fellow of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation
• 1993: Jugend Forscht Young Chemist Award (federal & environmental prize, state winner)
• 1991: Jugend Forscht Young Chemist Award (state winner)

Professional Functions:

Current:

• Since 2020 Fellow of the Max Planck School Matter to Life
• Since 2020 Elected Member of the National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech)
• Since 2020 Elected member of the Academia Europaea
• 2019: Cofounder of start-up company Xolo
• since 2018: Associate Editor of The Journal of Organic Chemistry (ACS)
• since 2018: Editorial Advisory Board of ChemSystemsChem (Wiley-VCH)
• since 2014: Executive Board of Advanced Science (Wiley-VCH)
• since 2014: Executive Board of Humboldt-Universitäts-Gesellschaft

Past:

• Advisory Board of Polymer Chemistry
• 2014 – 2019: Commission for the investigation of scientific irregularities at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• 2014 – 2017: Academic Senate of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• 2014 – 2015: Interim-Dean of the newly merged Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• 2012 – 2014: Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences I at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• 2012 – 2015: Standing Advisory Committee of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Excellence Initiative)
• 2011 – 2012: Task Force & Forum Excellence of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• 2010 – 2019: Academic Council of Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
• 2010 – 2012: Editorial Board of Polymer Chemistry (RSC)
• 2009: Founding Member of the Integrative Research Institute for the Sciences (IRIS) Adlershof
• 2008 – 2012: Vice Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences I at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• 2007 – 2019: Mentor of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation

Scientific Affiliations:

• Member of the American Chemical Society
• Member of the German Chemical Society
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
• Member of the European Photochemistry Association
• Member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Association for Polymer Research