Juan Manuel Lombardi trained in chemistry and physics at UNR and Conicet and is currently doing a postdoctoral degree in Berlin to improve materials used in batteries.

The first time that Juan Manuel Lombardi visited the Conicet Rosario facilities was in 2011, within the framework of the first edition of Concursol. Six years later, already having a degree in Chemistry from the UNR, he completed his doctorate at the IFIR (Conicet-UNR). Today he continues his training in Berlin, combining his knowledge of basic and applied science to improve materials used in batteries.

The story goes back 13 years, when the first edition of Concursol was launched at Conicet Rosario, a contest that ran from 2011 to 2018 based on the initiative of Conicet Santa Fe. The activity was intended for secondary school students. of Rosario and the region and the objective was to contribute to the training of young people in renewable energies, especially solar energy. The event included talks by researchers, project development and presentation of solar energy devices. At that time, Juan Manuel, in his fifth year at Normal Superior Secondary School Nº1, participated with his group with the “Universal Solar Charger,” a device powered by photovoltaic cells for charging cell phone batteries and electronic devices.

Without knowing what Conicet was or its spaces, that first time was not the last to visit the property. Shortly after, Juan Manuel graduated from high school and followed the path of academic training at a public university. “At that moment I knew I was going to study at UNR, I was between Physics and Chemistry, but later I decided on Chemistry, although my interest in Physics never disappeared, which led me to later pursue a doctorate at IFIR” , says Juan Manuel, who graduated from the Faculty in 2017 and then joined the Rosario Physics Institute as a scholarship recipient directed by Dr. Paula Abufager and co-directed by Dr. Fabio Busnengo. Significantly, the first approach to Conicet was linked to a project on batteries and this interest in energy storage technology remained in his professional career to the present.