Congratulations to Professor Jim Cordy, who has been appointed an international Grand Professor at the Centre for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfAED), a German national centre of excellence at the Technical University of Dresden. The centre, which includes industry partners from AMD, Intel, BASF, SAP, Infineon, Vodafone and more than 30 other companies, is focussed on addressing the current and future challenges of electronic information processing and communications technology, including the entire gamut from basic materials research to complex heterogeneous software systems. As part of his appointment Professor Cordy will spend one month each year on-site at the centre to act as senior mentor, postgraduate advisor and collaborator to the young scientists and students of the centre.