Curriculum vitae

I. Personal data:

Name: Zoltán Néda
Born: 14. April 1964, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Address: RO-400408 Cluj-Napoca, str. Borsec nr. 3, ap. 43., Romania
Employment: Professor of Theoretical and Computational Physics, Babeş-Bolyai University, Department of Physics
Telephone: +40-364-110060, +40-745-310531
E-mail: [email protected]
Webpage: www.phys.ubbcluj.ro/~zneda
Work-address: RO-400084 Cluj-Napoca, Str. Kogălniceanu 1, Romania
Work Phone and Fax: +40-264-405300/5156, +40-264-591906
Language skills: Hungarian – mother tongue, Romanian – fluent, English – fluent, French – fluent, Russian – reading
Scientific area: Statistical and Computational Physics
Research problems: Material Science, Solid State Physics, Interdisciplinary problems, Stochastic phenomena, Phase-transitions

II. Studies

• 1983-1987: B.Sc., Physics, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
• 1987-1988: M.Sc., Physics of Polymers, University of Bucharest
• 1991-1994: PhD, Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Physics, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The title of the thesis: Monte Carlo methods in the study of magnetic ordering. Scientific supervisor: Prof. Dr. Coldea Marin.

III. Scientific carreer

• 1988-1990: Physicist, Institute for Nuclear Power Plants – Piteşti, Romania
• 1990-...: Professor of Theoretical and Computational Physics, Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Physics, Department of Theoretical and Computational Physics, Romania
• 1996-1997: Post-doc fellow, National Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble, France
• 1998-1999: Post-doc fellow, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
• 2000-2001, 2003-2004: Invited Professor, University of Notre-Dame, Department of Physics, USA
• from 2007: member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
• 2009: visiting professor with the Physics Education doctoral school of Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary

IV. Participation in research projects and grants:

• 1999-2000: member of the Fragmentations and cracks research programme of the NSF, Taiwan.
• 2000-2003: member of the Nonlinear Phenomena research programme financed by the Romanian National University Research Council (C.N.C.S.I.S.), Romania
• 2001-2003: project manager of the Physics of Complex Systems research programme of the Sapientia Fund’s Research Institute, Romania.
• 2002: project manager of the Phase transitions in sociological systems research programme of the BCPL, Norway
• 2004-2006: project manager of the Scaling laws in macro-ecology research programme of the Sapientia Fund’s Research Institute, Romania.
• 2005-2006: Project manager of the Modeling self-assembled nanostructures research programme financed by the Romanian National University Research Council (C.N.C.S.I.S.), Romania
• 2005-...: member of the Thin films, technology and computer simulations research programme of the MFA-KFKI, Budapest, Hungary, financed by OTKA, Hungary.
• 2006-…: member of the Nanobiospec research programme financed by CEEX, Romania
• 2007-2011 Spring-block models for complex phenomena, IDEI 2369, UEFISCDI research grant, project leader
• 2008-2012 Biologically inspired error tolerant electronic architectures, PNCDII-Partners 12121, UEFISCDI research grant, project leader for the physics part
• 2008-2012  Nanomanipulation of biomolecules with atomic force microscopy
• Compelx IDEAS 312, UEFISCDI research grant. project leader for the computer simulation part
• 2011-2016, Emergent synchronization in complex systems IDEI PCE-PNII 348 UEFISCDI research grant. project leader
• 2012-2014 Marie Curie postdoctoral grant supervisor
• 2012-2015 Evaluation of scientific performance by network analysis tools. UEFISCDI,  PN2 PT PCCA 2011/3.2/0895 research grant. member + project leader
• 2012-2016 Exchange interactions in nano-composite materials. UEFISCDI PN-II-ID-PCE-2012-4-_0470 research grant. member

V. Present teaching activity:

present courses:

• Introductory Quantum Mechanics. (BsC, 2. year) - Babes-Bolyai University
• Elementary Statistical Physics (BsC, 3. year) - Babes-Bolyai University
• Stochastic Simulation Methods (MsC 2. year) - Babes-Bolyai University
• Basic models of Statistical Physics (Phd) - Babes-Bolyai University
• Collective Behaviors (PhD), Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest

VI. Scientific honours:

Invited professor, invited researcher

• 1999: invited researcher, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
• 2000: fellow, Collegium Budapest, Institute of Advanced Studies
• 2000-2001: invited associate professor, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
• 2002: invited researcher, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
• 2003: invited researcher, KFKI-SZFKI, Budapest, Hungary
• 2003: invited professor, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
• 2004: NATO fellow, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
• 2005-2006: invited researcher, Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA
• 2012: visiting researcher, North Eastern University, Boston, USA
• 2014: visiting researcher, Göthe Universitet, Frankfurt, Germany

Scientific prizes

• 2000: ‘Article of the year’ prize, Fizikai Szemle
• 2003: supervisor for the Junior Bolyai prize
• 2004: The “Ştefan Procopiu” prize of the Romanian Academy
• 2010: Research Excellence Prize of the Babes-Bolyai University
• 2011: Research Excellence Prize of the Babes-Bolyai University
• 2013: Prize of The national Student Research Council (Hungary) Master teacher medal 
• 2013: Prize of the Hungarian Academy, Cluj Branch: Master of the Transylvanian Science 

VII. Important scientific results

• Discovering the stochastic resonance phenomena in magnetic systems
• Discovering a scaling law for fragmentation phenomena and theoretical modeling
• Discovering and modeling of spiral cracks formed in drying granular materials
• Statistical Physics Approach for Sociological Phenomena: explaining the Pareto law, modeling coalition formation, describing and studying rhythmic applause and other synchronization phenomena
• A new and improved sun-position calculator (SPC)
• Introduction of a novel optimization governed emergent synchronization model
• Modeling nanostructures obtained through auto-organization processes
• Application of spring-block models for understanding complex phenomena
• Studying collective behavior in social, biological and economic systems by methods of statistical physics
• Elaborating methods for Monte Carlo simulations on CNN computers
• Revealing universalities in human mobility and modeling them
• Revealing the light-based construction of the tools of modern physics

VIII. Other Academic Activities (services)

• scientific refereeing  (over 120 manuscripts)
• PhD supervising (over 10 graduated PhD students)
• MsC supervising (over 15 graduated MsC students)
• BsC thesis supervision (over 23 graduated students)
• vice-president of the Hungarian University Institute of Cluj
• president of the EMPIRX Association
• senate member of the Babes-Bolyai University
• one of the main organizer for the "Saturday Experiments" shows in Cluj
• main organizer of the annual meetings of the Hungarian physics Teachers in Transylvania 

Summary of publication activity:

• ISI research papers: 91
• other international or national research papers: 32
• books: 4
• ISI citations: 2180
• Google Scholar citations: 4410
• Hirsch index: 18 (ISI), 25 (Google Scholar)