Rate My Professor Christoph Dellago

Christoph Dellago is Professor of Computational Physics in the Faculty of Physics at the University of Vienna. He received his Diploma in Physics with honors in 1991 and his PhD in Physics with honors in 1996 from the University of Vienna, where his doctoral research examined Lyapunov instability of two-dimensional many-body systems under Prof. H. A. Posch. Following his PhD, Dellago held a Schrödinger Fellowship from the Austrian Science Foundation at the Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley from 1996 to 1999. He then served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Rochester from 1999 to 2003. Since 2003, he has been Full Professor at the University of Vienna. In this role, he has headed the Computational Physics and Soft Matter Group since 2007, served as Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Physics from 2008 to 2009 and Dean from 2009 to 2012, and currently directs the Erwin Schrödinger Institute for Mathematics and Physics since 2017.

Dellago's research focuses on computational statistical mechanics, with pioneering developments in simulation algorithms such as transition path sampling for rare events including nucleation at phase transitions, chemical reactions, and biomolecular reorganizations. His interests encompass machine learning applications for molecular structure recognition and free energy surfaces, self-assembly of nanocrystals, folding and unfolding of biopolymers, interfaces in aqueous systems, phase separation in alloys, thermo-polarisation, cavitation, freezing, and non-equilibrium work fluctuations. He has co-authored approximately 200 publications in journals such as Science, Nature Nanotechnology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Physical Review Letters, and Nano Letters. Key works include foundational papers on transition path sampling (Journal of Chemical Physics, 1998-1999). Dellago has received the Förderpreis der Stiftung Futura (1997), Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize in the Physical Sciences (2005), and UNIVIE Teaching Award (2014). He has organized conferences like the 11th Liquid Matter Conference, served as President of the CECAM Council (2014-2016), Chair of the European Physical Society Liquids Board (2008-2011), and held numerous committee roles in supercomputing and research programs, influencing the field through methodological innovations and leadership.