Advanced materials with properties tailored on the molecular scale and mesoscale are expected to stimulate evolutionary advances and revolutionary breakthroughs in emerging key technologies such as information and communications technology, catalysis, energy and transportation. The Cluster of Excellence “Engineering of Advanced Materials – Hierarchical Structure Formation for Functional Devices” - or EAM - is the only interdisciplinary research collaboration of its type in Germany to focus on the investigation of functional materials and their processing at all length scales.

The vision of the Cluster is to bridge the gap between fundamental research and real-world applications of modern high-performance materials in key scientific and engineering areas. Linking materials design at the molecular level to macroscopic properties (“from molecules to materials to functions”) requires a new form of interdisciplinary cooperation. At the Cluster 200 researchers from 8 disciplines collaborate in more than 90 projects, from basic research in physics and chemistry as well as many areas of applications such as chemical and electrical engineering and materials science.

Research areas
Cross-sectional topics are explored in three interdisciplinary centers:

• A1 Functional Particle Systems
• A2 Nanoanalysis and Electron Microscopy
• A3 Multiscale Modeling and Simulation

To provide the most sustainable research environment for excellence and to cement its strategic topics within the FAU three interdisciplinary university centers have been founded: CFPS – Center for Functional Particle Systems (A1), CENEM – Center for Nanoanalysis and Electron Microscopy (A2) and ZISC – Central Institute for Scientific Computing (A3).