Forschungszentrum Jülich - Annual Report 2012

64 Forschungszentrum Jülich | Annual Report 2012 Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA) JARA pools the expertise of Forschungs- zentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen Uni- versity in a cooperation model that is unique in Germany. The objective of the alliance, which currently encompasses 3,800 employees, is to pursue joint cutting-edge research on solving the grand challenges facing society. The cooperation originated in 2007 from preparations for the first Excellence Initiative and was also successful in the second round with its renewal application The number of jointly appointed professors (salary grade W) increased from 11 in 2006 to 44in 2012 (as of 31.12.2012). The institutes involved in JARA had an output of a total of 1,662peer-reviewed publications in 2012. The number of joint publications in 2012 was 420at the time of data collection (May 2013). JARA finances 2012 Budget €500 million Amount invested €60 million Money from the Excellence Initiative approx. €13.6 million entitled ‘RWTH Aachen 2020: Meeting Global Challenges. The Integrated Inter- disciplinary University of Technology’. JARA will now be funded through the Excellence Initiative for another five years. Another section was also added to JARA on 1 August 2012. JARA-FAME (Forces and Matter Experiments) per- forms basic research in the fields of nuclear physics and particle physics. At present, JARA has the following five sections: • JARA-BRAIN (Translational Brain Medicine) • JARA-FIT (Fundamentals of Future Information Technology) • JARA-HPC (High-Performance Computing) • JARA-ENERGY (Sustainable Energy Research) • JARA-FAME (Forces and Matter Experiments) JARA-BRAIN and JARA-HPC | perform joint research for the simulation of the human brain in the Human Brain Project. Scientists from 23 countries are working together to build a unique infrastructure that will allow them to establish and further develop a brain research and information technology network. The European Union is sup- porting this project as part of its FET Flagship Initiative (see p. 62). Another joint success is the establishment of the SimLab Neuroscience at JSC (see Chronology, p. 15). Selected projects 2012: JARA-FIT | The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded Prof. Rafal Dunin-Borkowski, director at the Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spec- troscopy with Electrons, an ERC Ad- vanced Grant. Dunin-Borkowski will receive funding of € 2.5 million over a five-year period to develop electron microscopy methods that will allow magnetic fields inside materials to be mapped with almost atomic resolution. Together with the respected journal Nature Materials, the JARA-FIT section hosted the Nature Conference ‘Frontiers in Electronic Materials: Correlation Effects and Memristive Phenomena’ in Aachen from 17 to 20 June. JARA-ENERGY | In the project on the synthesis and characterization of ceramic samarium phosphate and samarium phosphosilicate phases for the immobilization of actinoids, funded by DFG, JARA scientists are investigat- ing long-term solutions for the safe disposal of radioisotopes from the production of nuclear energy. Whether they’re stockbrokers or chief executive officers – managers make quick decisions all day long. Priv.-Doz. Dr. Dr. Svenja Caspers and her team from Forschungszentrum Jülich/JARA-BRAIN investigated what happens in the brain during this process together with business psychologists and sociologists from the University of Cologne. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, they found that the caudate nucleus (green in the image) was more active in executives than in the rest of the population when it comes to making simple routine decisions. It is believed that this area of the brain con- tributes to recognizing patterns based on previous knowledge, thus paving the way for intuitive decisions. JARA

Forschungszentrum Jülich - Annual Report 2012

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