Rate My Professor Eleonora Mezger-Backus

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Eleonora Hendrika Gertruda Mezger-Backus is a professor at the Institute of Physical Chemistry within the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Vienna, where she heads the Ultrafast and Nonlinear Spectroscopy research group. She earned her PhD in 2005 from Leiden University. Her postdoctoral research was conducted at the University of Zurich and as an independent postdoc at FOM Institute AMOLF in Amsterdam. In 2012, she became group leader in the Molecular Spectroscopy department at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz. Appointed professor at the University of Vienna in 2018, she also serves as Director of Studies for the Chemistry Directorate of Doctoral Studies. She teaches courses including Physical Chemistry II and III, Soft Matter Interfaces - Principles and Experimental Techniques, and Ultrafast and Multidimensional Laser Spectroscopy, and supervises theses and practical courses in physical chemistry and interfaces.

Mezger-Backus employs ultrafast and nonlinear optical spectroscopy techniques, such as vibrational sum-frequency generation and 2D-IR spectroscopy, to probe molecular structure, dynamics, and reactivity at interfaces. Her research encompasses aqueous interfaces including air-water, mineral-water, and catalyst-liquid systems; wetting on molecular scales; interfacial water structure and hydrogen bonding; ion-specific interactions; photooxidation; phase diagrams of polymer blends; photocatalytic water splitting; and ice nucleation. She leads major projects like TACO: Taming Complexity in Materials Modeling (2021–2029), Komplexe Polymernetzwerke für nanostrukturierte Beschichtung (2022–2026), Die molekulare Ebene schaltbarer Benetzung (2020–2023), and REWIRE: Reinforcing Women in Research (2020–2025). Prominent publications include "Water at charged interfaces" (Nature Reviews Chemistry, 2021), "Ice-nucleating bacteria control the order and dynamics of interfacial water" (Science Advances, 2016), "Liquid flow along a solid surface reversibly alters interfacial chemistry" (Science, 2014), "Molecular structure and dynamics of water at the water–air interface studied with surface-specific vibrational spectroscopy" (Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2015), and recent works such as "Phase Diagram of 2D Poly(Ethylene Oxide)-block-Poly(Propylene Oxide)-block-Poly(Ethylene Oxide)─Poly(Dimethylsiloxane) Blends" (Langmuir, 2026). With 129 articles, 108 oral presentations, 104 posters, editorial roles in journals like Journal of Raman Spectroscopy, and membership in scientific advisory committees, her contributions significantly advance interfacial science.