Catherine Stampfl is a Professor of Physics at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

and was elected as a Fellow of the

Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...

in 2019.

Career

Stampfl received a PhD in physics from

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria an ...

in 1990. She then moved to the United States where she worked at the

Xerox Palo Alto Research Center Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (having moved from Stamf ...

and the

Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society The Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society (FHI) is a science research institute located at the heart of the academic district of Dahlem, in Berlin, Germany. The original Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochem ...

in Germany. Before her return to Australia in 2003 she worked at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. she then settled down in Sydney and had two children named Eva and Elke. Catherine Stampfl works in interdisciplinary research across physics, engineering, chemistry and materials science. Stampfl has an international reputation for her research on the atomic and electronic structure of solids and nanostructures. She works at the University of Sydney Nano-institute, as a theoretical condensed matter physicist. Stampfl works to predict new catalysts and new materials including those that could convert carbon dioxide into other fuels, as well as researching chemical reactions at surfaces. Her work involves high-performance computing and first-principles calculations to develop an understanding of how matter behaves. She also works to predict new and improved materials for enhanced technology. She describes her work "we are a bit like explorers. We try new things and we see what the calculated properties are... sometimes you will find something that has high potential". She is noted as a "women in theoretical/

computational chemistry Computational chemistry is a branch of chemistry that uses computer simulation to assist in solving chemical problems. It uses methods of theoretical chemistry, incorporated into computer programs, to calculate the structures and properties of m ...

, material science, and biochemistry".

Select publications

* C Stampfl, CG Van de Walle (1999) Density-functional calculations for III-V nitrides using the local-density approximation and the generalized gradient approximation ''Physical Review'' ''B:''59(8),5521. * C Stampfl, W Mannstadt, R Asahi, AJ (2001) Freeman Electronic structure and physical properties of early transition metal mononitrides: Density-functional theory LDA, GGA, and screened-exchange LDA FLAPW calculations. ''Physical Review'' ''B:''63(15)155106 * M Bonn, S Funk, C Hess, DN Denzler, C Stampfl, ''et al.'' (1999) Phonon-versus electron-mediated desorption and oxidation of CO on Ru (0001) * ''Science'' 285 (5430), 1042–1045. * C Stampfl, CG Van de Walle (1998) Energetics and electronic structure of stacking faults in AlN, GaN, and InN. ''Physical Review'' B 57 (24), R15052 Stampfl has an H-index of 50, and over 9,200 citations as at September 2019.

Awards, honours and recognition

* 2023 — Georgina Sweet Australian Laureate Fellowship * 2021 — Fellow of the

Royal Society of New South Wales The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. The Governor of New South Wales is the vice-regal patron of the Society. The Society was established as the Philosophical Society of Australasia on 27 June ...

*2019 — Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science * 2018 — Deputy Champion of the team Nanotechnology for Carbon-Neutral Manufacturing, in the Sydney Nano Grand Challenge * 2003 — ARC Federation Fellow at the University of Sydney

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stampfl, Catherine Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Australian women physicists Australian women academics Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science La Trobe University alumni Academic staff of the University of Sydney Fellows of the Royal Society of New South Wales