Sergei Rouvimov, associate research professor of electrical engineering and director of the Transmission Electron Microscopy Program for the Notre Dame Integrated Imaging Facility, passed away on May 29, 2020, after battling ALS for over a year.
Sergei earned a Ph.D. in physics from A. F. Ioffe Institute (St-Petersburg, Russia) and held research positions in Germany and Russia before moving to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. His long and productive career included periods in industry (SUMCO Phoenix Corporation) and academia (Portland State University).
He was recruited to Notre Dame in 2012, where he created a world-class, multimillion-dollar Transmission Electron Microscopy research facility that solved a wide range of research problems in advanced materials, nanotechnology, and metrology. As a world-recognized expert in transmission electron microscopy, he founded the annual Midwest Imaging and Microanalysis Workshop, a meeting of regional leaders in the field, and the Notre Dame Electron Microscopy Club, which catered to graduate students and early career researchers.
Sergei was a brilliant and rigorous researcher and an expert on all matters concerning electron microscopy. He collaborated with a large number of campus engineering and science research groups, and he was the author or co-author of many outstanding international research publications and book chapters. He was passionate about teaching and student training, and one his many legacies is a large number of superbly trained electron microscopists who are now pursuing independent careers. His technical expertise, passion for microscopy research, sense of humor, and warm collegiality will be greatly missed.
Deepest condolences are offered to his wife, Maria Mikhailova, and daughter, Anastasia Ruvimova.
— Bradley Smith, Director, Notre Dame Integrated Imaging Facility