Mele Lab News
Compiled by Paolo Mele - starting from September 2022
Paolo at the green energy symposium
Paolo attended as panelist the event "Green Tech will save the world!" at Italian Embassy in Tokyo
On February 29 afternoon, the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Tokyo (ICCJ) held a new project "FUTURA" focusing on Italian excellence in technology at a joint event with "ITALY INNOVATION DAY" organized by the Italian Embassy. The event was called "Green Tech will save the world!"
FUTURA, a project on Italy's latest technology and IT, explores how Italian technology can be applied to Japanese industry, taking into account the climate and geographical conditions that Italy and Japan share. This project was born with the aim of widely disseminating information in this field within Japan.
Paolo was invited as academic panelist together with representatives of industry, including Hitachi Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Fuso Hydropower Solutions Co., Ltd., Denora Permelek Co., Ltd., Tokyo Gas Network Co., Ltd., and Italgas. The news has been reported in Shibaura IT web page
Mele lab visited the lab of Prof. Darwish at Dillard University (New Orleans, USA) - MoU was renewed in May 2024
Following a visit to Dillard University in February 2024, the partnership between Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT) and Dillard University has been solidified with the renewal of their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on May 15, 2024.
Paolo and Giovanna visited Dillard University, collaborating with Prof. Abdalla Darwish from Dillard University in his lab. Dr. Latronico conducted advanced experiments using Prof. Darwish's unique pulsed laser deposition system. The internship was funded by SIT.
In addition to their experimental work, Paolo and Giovanna engaged in productive scientific discussions with Prof. Darwish and his team. They also held a significant meeting with Dillard University's President, Dr. Rochelle Ford, and Provost, Dr. Mablene Krueger, for the renewal of the MoU between SIT and Dillard University. The MoU was renewed in May 2024. This news was published in Shibaura IT web page.
Paolo and Prof. Darwish in laser lab at Dillard University
Provost Dr. Krueger, Ms. Ford, the President of Dillard University Dr. Ford, Giovanna and Paolo (from left to right) at the end of their meeting
Mele lab attended IUMRS-ICAM/MRM 2023 in Kyoto
From 10 to 19 December 2023, Paolo and Giovanna attended IUMRS-ICAM/MRM 2023 Grand meeting in Kyoto, also organizing the Symposium B-1 “Thermoelectric Materials for Sustainable Development”, which was part of Cluster B (Energy) and was greatly successful, being the second symposium of the whole MRM conference in terms of contributions. Symposium B-1 got 90 submitted abstracts: 24 invited talks, 32 regular talks, 30 posters, 3 keynote speeches and one of the two the cluster B keynotes, delivered by Prof. Takeuchi, Toyota Technical Institute, Nagoya, Japan. News is reported in Shibaura IT web page.
Paolo (right side) in the plenary hall during the keynote of prof. Takeuchi (left side)
Mele lab organized the IRCGE green energy symposium
On December 8th 2023 the "IRCGE Green Energy Workshop" was held at Shibaura IT, Omiya campus. Eminent scientists from Japan and abroad presented their top-notch research on advanced materials and discussed sustainable energy solutions based on them. This event was organized by Mele lab (Paolo and Giovanna) and it was endorsed by IRCGE, the International Research Centre for Green Electronics of Shibaura IT. Web site of the symposium is here and abstract book is here. News is reported in Shibaura IT web page.
From left to right: Cristiano Giordani, Alberto Castellero, Carlo Fanciulli, Marco de la Torre, Paolo and Boris Maiorov in front of "Newton tree" in Omiya campus
Starting of the symposium in Omiya campus in the morning of December 8 2023. Toyosu campus (IRCGE-related students and professors) was connected via zoom
Prof. Cristiano Giordani (University of Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia) visited Mele Lab
Prof. Cristiano Giordani of University of Antioquia (Medellin, Colombia), a biophysicist specialized on biomedicine, natural products, essential oils, medicinal plants, and anti-microbial compounds, joined Mele Lab as visiting researcher from November 20 to December 2023.
The visit has been organized in the framework of renewed MoU between Shibaura IT and University of Antioquia.
Prof. Giordani during his visit studied thin film samples of zinc oxide fabricated from organic solutions using spin coating technique.
On November 28, Prof. Giordani delivered his seminar on "Biophysical Studies on the Interaction between Peptides and Drugs with Models of Biological Membranes". The seminar was performed in hybrid fashion, with zoom broadcast. News is reported in Shibaura IT web page.
Prof. Cristiano Giordani delivering his seminar at Shibaura IT (November 28 2023)
Director of UNIPRESS, Prof. Boćkowski (left side), and Paolo (center) with several colleagues after Paolo`s seminar at Warsaw department.
Paolo visited UNIPRESS in Warsaw
On October 18 2023, Paolo visited the institute of High pressure Physics (UNIPRESS) of Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) in Warsaw, Poland. Paolo met the Director, Prof. Michał Boćkowski, Dr. Shiv J. Singh of Superconductivity lab and several colleagues, had a seminar and discussed future collaborations and establishment of MoU between UNIPRESS and SIT. News is reported in Shibaura IT web page.
Paolo attended the reception in honor of the President of Italian National Research Council (CNR)
On September 29, 2023 Paolo attended at the Italian Embassy in Tokyo the reception in honor of Prof. Maria Chiara Carrozza, President of Italian National Research Council (CNR) as one of the representatives of the community of Italian Researchers in Japan. We discussed deeply on the challenges of climate and global warming, and synergies between research and industry to overcome them, especially in the framework of Italy-Japan collaboration. The news is reported in Shibaura IT web page.
Paolo and prof. Carrozza, President of CNR, at Italian Embassy in Tokyo
Paolo at Pyramida Hotel, Prague, where ECT 2023 was held
Paolo attended the 19th European Conference on Thermoelectrics (ECT)
From 17 to 23 September 2023, Paolo attended ECT, 19th European Conference on Thermoelectrics in Prague. Engaging discussions, the sharing of ideas, the reunion of many long-time friends, and, of course, superb beer! The news is reported in Shibaura IT web page.
Paolo visited several Italian Universities and Research Centers
During August and September 2023, Paolo visited several Universities and Research Institutions in Italy, with the scope of establishing or reinforcing research collaboration and MoU. The news is reported in Shibaura IT web page.
August 29 2023: visited the Institute of Applied Sciences and Intelligent Systems “Eduardo Caianiello” (ISASI) of CNR, the Italian National Research Council, to discuss common projects and start MoU preparations with colleague and long-time friend Marcello Gombos
September 1 2023: visited the Superconductivity Lab at ENEA (Italian National Agency for Alternative Energies) in Frascati. Met good old friends, did a seminar and started to discuss about MoU. Thanks to Giuseppe Celentano, Valentina Pinto, Andrea Augieri, and all the colleagues.
September 8 2023: visited and did a seminar at DISAT, department of Applied Science and technology at Polytechnic of Turin. Had a great discussion on future collaborations and implementation of recently signed Memorandum of Understanding between with Laura Gozzelino, Gianluca Ghigo, Francesco Laviano, Roberto Gerbaldo and, representing JapanHub, Jean-Marc Tulliani, Edoardo Bruno and Elisa Armando.
Visit of Paolo at CNR-ISASI (Napoli)
Visit of Paolo at ENEA Frascati
Visit of Paolo at Polytechnic of Torino
September 12 2023: visited Alma Mater, University of Genoa, Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry (DCCI), gave a seminar and met old and new friends like Cristina Artini Pietro Manfrinetti, Marcella Pani, Cecilia Piscino, Sara Massardo, Alberto Giribaldi, Marilena Carnasciali, and after so long time Giorgio Costa and Franco Merlo! We had great discussions on research collaboration, exchange of students and concluded the Italian documents for the renewal of Memorandum of Understanding, with great contribution of Davide Peddis.
September 14 2023: visited the University of Turin, delivered a seminar, and discussed the implementation of Memorandum of Understanding with the deputy rector for hard and agricultural Sciences, Prof. Cristina Prandi, Prof. Alberto Castellero representing department of chemistry and Prof. Mario Bertaina and Prof. Marco Truccato representing Department 0f Physics. Had also great scientific discussion with colleagues of both departments.
September 16 2023: visited the Materials and Devices for Energy at University of Roma Tor Vergata. Delivered a seminar and had great discussions on finalization of Memorandum of understanding with Prof. Barbara Mecheri, Prof. Alessandra D'Epifanio and Prof.Elisabetta Di Bartolomeo. It was nice to meet Dr. Willane Freitas and the students of the group.
Vist of Paolo at University of Genova
Visit of Paolo at University of Torino
Visit of Paolo at University of Roma Tor Vergata
Paolo attended the 16th European Conference on Applied Superconductivity (EUCAS)
From 3 to 7 September 2023, Paolo attended EUCAS2023, 16th European Conference on Applied Superconductivity in Bologna. Interesting talks, exchange of ideas, many good old friends and of course excellent food! The news is reported in Shibaura IT web page
Paolo at International conference center of Bologna where EUCAS 2023 was held
Prof. Mario Bertaina and Paolo at Omiya campus of SIT
Prof. Mario Bertaina (University of Torino) visited Mele Lab
On August 22 2023, Prof. Mario Bertaina of Department of Physics of University of Torino visited Mele Lab in omiya campus. We discussed scientific collaboration and the preparation of Mou between the two Universities
Prof. Luciano Feo (University of Salerno) visited IGP open campus at SIT
On August 16 2023, Prof. Luciano Feo of University of Salerno visited the IGP open campus at Toyosu campus of SIT. We discussed scientific collaboration and the renewal of Mou between the two Universities
Paolo with Prof. Luciano Feo during the IGP open campus at Toyosu campus of SIT
Paolo attended the inauguration ceremony of Japan Hub (11 July 2023)
On July 11 2023 Paolo was invited at Question Building, Kyoto, to attend the ceremony of inauguration of Japan Hub, the Japanese office of Polytechnic of Turin. The President of Polytechnic of Turin, Prof. Guido Saracco, the director of Japan Hub, Prof. Giuseppe Pezzotti, the Mayor of Kyoto, Daisaku Kadokawa, the President of Shinkin Bank, Takayuki Sakakida, and the Italian Consul at Osaka, HE Marco Prencipe delivered inspiring speeches. CEOs and presidents of several companies based in Kyoto and Kansai delivered presentation on the synergy industry-academia, which is one of the missions of Japan Hub. The reception was the occasion of informal discussion with colleagues of Polytechnic of Turin and Japanese universities. This meeting was also very important since very recently through starting initiative of Paolo and Prof. Edoardo Bruno of Polytechnic of Turin, SIT and Polytechnic of Turin signed a MoU so the interactions between the two universities will be very frequent in the near future.
The news is reported in Shibaura IT web page.
Paolo with the President of Polytechnic of Turin, Prof. Guido Saracco, during the reception after the opening ceremony of Japan Hub
From left to right: Dr. Hannes Rijckaert, Prof. Alok K. Jha and Paolo at Omiya campus of SIT
Dr. Hannes Rijckaert research stay and Prof. Alok K. Jha visit to Mele Lab
Dr. Hannes Rijckaert of Ghent University (Belgium), a specialist on TEM and metal-organic deposition of oxide materials, joined Mele Lab as visiting researcher from July 4 to July 28 2023. He is performing at Mele Lab experiments on novel architectures for piezoelectric devices based on oxide thin films prepared by PLD and spin coating.
On July 5, Prof. Alok K. Jha (Kyushu Institute of Technology) visited Mele Lab for scientific discussion about ongoing and future collaboration.
We are expecting great results from both collaborations!
The news is reported in Shibaura IT web page
Mele Lab visited Faraday Factory Japan LLC
On June 13 2023 Mele Lab (Paolo, Giovanna and the internship student Michela Iebole from University of Genoa) visited the production factory and R&D section of Faraday Factory Japan LLC (former SuperOx Japan) in Hashimotodai, Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture. The CEO, Dr. Sergey Lee, explained the great progress made by Faraday Factory Japan in the very past few years on the mass production of superconducting YBCO tape and introduced the state-of-the-art machines available in production and research areas. The news was reported in Shibaura IT web page.
Dr. Sergey Lee, Paolo, Giovanna and Michela at Faraday Factory LLC
Prof. Prashun Gorai visited Mele Lab
On June 8 2023 Prof. Prashun Gorai of Colorado School of Mines (Golden, CO, USA) visited Mele Lab at Omiya campus of Shibaura Institute of Technology. Prof. Gorai presented at Omiya campus a seminar entitled "Computational Discovery and Design of Functional Materials". prof. Gorai focused his seminar on discovery and design of materials for thermoelectrics, photovoltaics, and solid-state energy storage. He also shared his work on predictive defect modeling for defect engineering of functional materials. The news was reported in Shibaura IT web page.
Paolo, Prof. Gorai and Dr. Assadi (RIKEN) at Omiya campus
Prof. Gorai delivering his seminar
Dr. Hussein Al-Assadi visited Mele Lab
On May 8 2023 Dr. Hussein Al-Assadi of RIKEN visited Mele Lab at Omiya campus of Shibaura Institute of Technology. Dr. Assadi presented at Toyosu campus a seminar entitled "Noble Metal Alloys Supported on Oxide and Carbon-Based Substrates for (Photo)Catalytic Hydrogen Production". Dr. Assadi focused his seminar on computational materials science and fundamental orbital theory approaches to get insight of (photo)catalytic H2 production. The news was reported in Shibaura IT web page.
Dr. Assadi and Paolo at Toyosu campus
Dr. Assadi delivering his seminar
Casual party was held at Omiya campus of SIT
On April 21 2023 a very nice party was organized by Prof. Tetsuya Ishiwata (Head of Mathematics Department) at Omiya campus. We enjoyed food, unlimited beverages including special umeshu from Yamagata prefecture, and most of all great conversation and nice company! Looking forward to the summer craft beer party!
Paolo with Professor Tetsuya Ishiwata - head of Department of Mathematics of SIT and organizer of the party
Paolo with the President of SIT, Professor Jun Yamada
Paolo attended the reception in honor of Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs
On April 15, 2023 Paolo attended at the Italian Embassy in Tokyo the reception in honor of On. Antonio Tajani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, as one of the representatives of the community of Italian Researchers in Japan. We discussed deeply on the challenges of climate and global warming, and synergies between research and industry to overcome them, especially in the framework of Italy-Japan collaboration. The news was reported in Shibaura IT web page and Shibaura IT FB page.
From left to right: first, the Scientific Attache` of the Embassy of Italy, prof. Enrico Traversa,; sixth, The Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Foreign Affairs, On. Antonio Tajani; eight, The Ambassador of Italy in Japan H.E. Gianluigi Benedetti. The Authorities are surrounded by several Italian researchers including visitors from University of Rome Tor Vergata, and Paolo.
Mele lab attended the Aerospace sector and Italy/Japan bilateral collaboration
On April 6 2023 Mele lab attended the “Aerospace sector and Italy/Japan bilateral collaboration” event organized by Embassy of Italy in Tokyo with the collaboration of JAXA, ASI, SJAC, AIAD, AIPAS, ASAS and the University of Tokyo. At this event attended the Ambassador of Italy in Japan, H.E. Gianluigi Benedetti, the President of JAXA Mr. Hiroshi Yamakawa, the President of ASI Mr. Giorgio Saccoccia, the ASI Research and Science Director Dr. Mario Cosmo, and also Astronaut Ms. Naoko Yamazaki and ESA Astronaut Gen. Roberto Vittori. The news was reported in Shibaura Institute of Technology page.
From left to right: Paolo, Giovanna, the ESA Astronaut Gen. Roberto Vittori, H.E. the Ambassador of Italy in Japan, H.E. Gianluigi Benedetti and the Scientific Counsellor of Italian Embasssy in Tokyo Prof. Enrico Traversa
Paolo contributed to "Science Café at the Caffé" talking about...caffé! (coffee)
On February 28, 2023, Science Café was held at SIT Global Caffé empowered by Segafredo on Toyosu Campus for one hour in the evening.
More than 20 people, mainly local residents of the Toyosu Campus and university staff, gathered around a table with coffee in hand, and talked scientifically about familiar topics. Paolo talked 20 minutes about "Science of the good coffee", especially Italian coffee (caffé!) prepared by Moka and espresso techniques. The event was a great success, and it was reported in Shibaura Institute of Technology page and Segafredo social network pages.
Paolo talking about "Science of the good coffee"
Paolo`s desk at the lecture. From left to right: first slide, fancy moka, coffee powder after extraction, coffee beans, and coffee powder before extraction
Prof. Marco Antonio Lopez de la Torre Hidalgo visited Mele Lab
During February 1-25 2023 Prof. Marco Antonio Lopez de la Torre Hidalgo of Department of Physics, University of Castilla- La Mancha, Toledo, Spain visited Mele Lab at Omiya campus of Shibaura Institute of Technology for a research internship. We worked together on thermoelectric oxide spinels. On February 16 2023 Prof. de la Torre presented a seminar entitled "Measuring Techniques of Thermal Conductivity in Nanostructured Thermoelectrics: Problems and Challenges", which was also the final plenary lecture of the 2nd IRCGE workshop, held at Toyosu campus of SIT.
The news was reported in Shibaura Institute of Technology web page
Prof. Marco Lopez de la Torre and Paolo in the lab
Prof Marco Lopez de la Torre delivering his seminar
Mele Lab contributed to the second International Green Electronics Symposium
The 2nd International Green Electronics Symposium, organized by IRCGE was held on February 16 2023 at Toyosu campus of Shibaura Institute of Technology and online. Paolo introduced the research project "Out of the grid IoT sensors powered by thermoelectric modules based on thin films". Giovanna presented a talk on "Thermoelectric thin film devices for localized heat harvesting". Prof. Marco Antonio Lopez de la Torre Hidalgo, guest of Mele lab, closed the symposium with a plenary lecture on "Measuring Techniques of Thermal Conductivity in Nanostructured Thermoelectrics: Problems and Challenges".
Snapshot of the manual of 2nd IRCGE symposium
Screenshot of "Nanotechnology" web site with manuscript title and authors
Published a paper in "Nanotechnology" journal
On December 8, 2022 we published a research paper entitled "Effect of the annealing treatment on structural and transport properties of thermoelectric Sm y (Fe x Ni 1-x ) 4 Sb 12 thin films" in "Nanotechnology" (edited by IoP). Paolo and Giovanna are co-correspondent authors for this work.
The article can be cited as: "Latronico et al 2022 Nanotechnology https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6528/aca980"
Giovanna presented a talk at REWS 2022
Dr. Giovanna Latronico presented on November 26, 2022 a talk entitled "Co-Free Skutterudite Thin Films: Optimization of the Annealing Conditions and Thermoelectric Module Measurements" at Rare Earth Workshop 2022 (REWS2022), held at Muroran Institute of Technology, Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan, Japan. This work was funded by IRCGE - Shibaura Institute of Technology
Dr. Giovanna Latronico presenting at REWS2022
Mele Lab contributed to the first Symposium of the Association of Italian Researchers in Japan (AIRJ)
The first Symposium of the Association of Italian Researchers in Japan (AIRJ) was held at the Italian Institute of Culture (IIC) in Tokyo on November 11 2022. Giovanna presented a poster entitled "Study of bulk and thin film skutterudites for thermal harvesting". After the Symposium a reception was held at the Italian Embassy in Japan.
This news was reported on Shibaura Institute of Technology web page and facebook page
From left to right: Paolo, the Scientific attache' of Italian Embassy in Tokyo, Prof. Enrico Traversa, and Giovanna in front to the poster
From left to right: Paolo, the Scientific attache' of Italian Embassy in Tokyo, Prof. Enrico Traversa, The Ambassador of Italy in Japan, H.E. Gianluigi Benedetti, and Giovanna in the garden of Italian Embassy
Paolo presented a talk at ICOT 2022
Prof. Paolo Mele presented on October 24, 2022 a talk entitled "Thermoelectric properties of Al-doped ZnO composite films with polymer nanoparticles prepared by pulsed laser deposition" at International Conference on Organic and hybrid Thermoelectrics (ICOT2022) at Kitakyushu International Conference Center, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka prefecture, Japan.
This work was funded by IRCGE - Shibaura Institute of Technology
Riverwalk center at Kitakyushu
Giovanna presented a talk at ICOT 2022
Dr. Giovanna Latronico presented on October 25, 2022 a talk entitled "Developing of a printed thin-film thermoelectric device on a paper substrate" at International Conference on Organic and hybrid Thermoelectrics (ICOT2022) at Kitakyushu International Conference Center, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka prefecture, Japan. This work was funded by IRCGE - Shibaura Institute of Technology
Dr. Giovanna Latronico presenting at ICOT2022
Giovanna attended the Nobel Prize dialogue event
Dr. Giovanna Latronico, one of the winners of JSPS fellowship for 2022, was invited by JSPS as one of the special guest of Nobel Prize Dialogue event on the topic "Water matters", held in Yokohama on October 23, 2022. Giovanna interacted with several Nobel Laureates.
This news was reported on Shibaura Institute of Technology web page and Facebook page
Snapshot from Nobel Prize dialogue web page
Paolo is in top 2% world researchers
Every year, Stanford University discloses the rank of world`s top 2% scientists, based on Scopus database and calculated by the c-score algorithm. The c-score focuses on impact (citations) rather than productivity (number of publications) and it also incorporates information on co-authorship and author positions (single, first, last author). Paolo was included in the list and is the number 7.244 of a total of 380.123 colleagues in his main category. The rank was published on Elsevier Digital commons database on October 10, 2022
This news was reported on Shibaura Institute of Technology web page.
Prof. Paolo Mele
Giovanna won the JSPS fellowship
Dr. Giovanna Latronico was awarded with the prestigious JSPS International fellowship, starting from October 1st 2022, and will work on a project entitled "Thermoelectric conversion improvement of Co-free skutterudites through a multiscale approach"
This news was reported on Shibaura Institute of Technology web page.
Dr. Giovanna Latronico
Prof. Davide Peddis visited Mele Lab
On 14 October 2022 Prof. Davide Peddis of Department of Chemistry, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy and CNR, Rome, Italy visited Mele Lab at Omiya campus of Shibaura Institute of technology and presented at Toyosu campus a seminar entitled "Design advanced magnetic nanoarchitecture". The seminar was also counted as the 4th IRCGE seminar.
This news was reported on Shibaura Institute of Technology web page.
Prof. Davide Peddis during his seminar at Toyosu campus
Prof. Josep Nogues visited Mele Lab
On 12 September 2022 Prof. Josep Nogues of ICN2, Barcelona, Spain, visited Mele Lab at Omiya campus of Shibaura Institute of technology and presented at Toyosu campus a seminar entitled "Anisometric Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles as versatile theranostic agents". The seminar was also counted as the 3rd IRCGE seminar.
This news was reported on Shibaura Institute of Technology web page
Prof. Josep Nogues during his seminar at Toyosu campus
Compiled by Paolo Mele - starting from September 2022