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Biweekly magazine of the Eindhoven University of Technology
4 September 2014 | year 57
For the latest news: www.cursor.tue.nl/en and follow @TUeCursor_news on
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and tuecursor on
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well in national and en an nt increase, scoring de stu ep ste azil, and perhaps ev A er 2 Septemb and care robots in Br r cce ccesses of so su the the by on s ce up an explicitly touched ijn Du extraordinary perform n va ns Ha r ay. n Bosch: Recto emic Year last Mond auxiliary branch in De Opening of the Acad the for ch ee sp his his university in rolled in ster students have en r, transition, and ma elo s the ch ow ba sh w y ne arl 00 cle er 2,6 ly n Duijn, that numb va ns A total of approximate Ha r cto Re to year. According a TU/e program this years. iversity over the past un the huge progress Den Bosch Graduate School in the launch of a new of lity ademic ibi ac ss an po be the to led y branch is Van Duijn also revea iversity. The auxiliar , and Un rg hip bu urs Til ne th pre wi tre hip En s: Data Science, ck as part of a partners tra r ste y study, ma ilit ee sib thr n offering ucting a fea educational institutio iversities will be cond un o tw gers. na the , ma me d co an , to nths trepreneurs Governance. In the mo ic data scientists, en em unced ad no ac an o for als ed s ne wa ng ce wi practicing scien for t uc mapping the ever-gro nd co of ek de we co and this tion of a TU/e ort about that code, The final implementa s year did Cursor rep thi of ter states a code e let Jun the in s, dy ng ea thi Alr by Van Duijn. r. Among other tte ma the on ter let a eive ll. academic staff will rec be set in stone as we of interest is soon to ict nfl co for t uc nd of co ed to Daniël Lakens r teacher were award ste ma d aster) an r elo ch s for best ba fessor Zümbül Atal (m The education prize s, and associate pro ce ien /e Sc TU on the ati for ov e Inn ibl ol of ms respons (bachelor) of the Scho st, the successful tea the lea at t ly no ve t cti bu pe st La res g. ce rin t and second pla firs a of Industrial Enginee d de lan t tha re robot AMIGO ated to flowers. soccer robots and ca the limelight and tre in t pu re we ar ye s World Cup thi
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New kids in town
After a long, quiet summer break, the university witnessed the dawn of new life with fresh faces from all over the world. Over the past weeks, not only the university campus, but also the city center were flooded with new students wandering around to become familiar with Eindhoven. After a successful TIP (TU/e introduction program), here are some further tips that may come in handy. Don’t trust the weather: sunshine doesn’t necessarily last. Always check the weather forecast before leaving home. There are many weather websites, www.weer.nl and www.buienradar.nl being among the best. Www.opentot.nl is an excellent web portal to check the opening hours of supermarkets, clothing stores etc. Shopping second-hand is very common in the Netherlands, and on www.marktplaats.nl (marketplace) you’ll find almost everything from train tickets to cars. www.open-market.nl is another solid portal for selling and/or purchasing everyday items.
Additionally, there are numerous Facebook groups that serve the same purpose, including ISN Eindhoven, Second hand Eindhoven!, Commodity Market Eindhoven, and Get Together Eindhoven!. Take care of your bike. The Netherlands is very safe in many ways, but definitely not where bikes are concerned. Get a good lock - a very good one. Having your flat tire fixed at a bike shop is an expensive affair, so buy your own bicycle repair kit from HEMA or Kruidvat. For public transport, use www.9292.nl. When travelling with NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen, or Dutch Railroads in English), buy a discounted ‘dagkaart’ (day ticket) to travel across the Netherlands. There are tons of other things to cover. There’s housing, the healthcare system, open markets, grocery stores etc, so I hope to see you again for my next column.
Mohsin Sir aj | at Electric PhD candidate al Enginee ring
22 | News
4 september 2014
Technique to predict dangerous growth aneurysms abdominal aorta 1 September - TU/e and Catharina Hospital will start a major research project in September to develop techniques to predict the growth of aneurysms -large dilationsof the abdominal aorta. Ruptured aneurysms are often fatal, which means patients need to be examined frequently. The new techniques will help characterize the state of the abdominal aorta. This will reduce the required frequency of examinations, which in turn will save cost. And they should also help to reduce the number of patients who suffer ruptures of the aorta in between checks. Catharina Hospital and TU/e will receive a grant of 450,000 euros from Stichting Lijf & Leven for the research, and are themselves contributing both financially and in materials and equipment.
Opening mini supermarket in Flux suddenly unsure 27 August - This Friday, TU/e will have to decide on the opening of a mini supermarket on campus. In a few months, the facility was to open in Flux, the new home to Applied Physics (TN) and Electrical Engineering (EE). TN has now indicated their department desperately needs the area for teaching. According to DH employee Senders, Flux has had an area right of the main entrance earmarked for a mini supermarket ever since the building was designed. “And now that’s suddenly up for discussion.” Managing Director Alfons Bruekers stresses he’s all for a mini supermarket on campus. “It adds to our desired image, our international vibe, a livelier campus, and bringing our people together. And Flux is an ideal location. Still, I have to facilitate education, too”.
s. t online new ore s te la r u o f o rm Some r.tue.nl/en fo o rs u .c w w w See
Tension in Israel brings convention to TU/e 27 August - Data Science Center Eindhoven will be hosting a major international Business Process Management convention unexpectedly. The convention was to be held in Haifa, Israel, but because of the current tension in the region it was decided to move it to TU/e. “It’s quite the challenge for our university.” That is how prof.dr.ir. Wil van der Alst (Mathematics & Computer Science) characterizes the large-scale move of the BPM convention to Eindhoven. Being the chairman of the event’s Steering Committee, he was there when it was decided to move the convention for safety reasons.
First fusion master receives degree 26 August - On Monday, August 25, Kevin Verhaegh received the first-ever master degree of Science and Technology of Nuclear Fusion. The master is a joint program of the Departments of Applied Physics, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering, and it’s the only two-year master’s program in Europe that focuses on the science and technology of nuclear fusion.
TU/e spinoff in Guinness Book of World Records 26 August - TU/e spinoff Sorama has officially built the world’s largest microphone installation, which has earned them a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records. The receiver is made up of no less than 4096 circuited microphones. The previous record was held by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and counted 1020 microphones. The giant recorder allows Sorama to register sounds of larger sources such as a passing train. According to the director, their device has gathered a lot of attention nationally and internationally, and the record will only increase interest.
“Really vague plans” only for Starbucks on TU/e grounds 29 August - The news spread like wildfire on Twitter: ‘Starbucks op at TU/e’. An employee ens branch of the US coffee compa ny on the High Tech Campus is reported to have said so a day ea rlier. TU/e has confirm Starbucks’ interest in ed opening a branch on cam pus, but there are no real plans yet.
Tech United wins RoboCup with combination play 24 July - TU/e robot soccer team Tech United has won the RoboCup, the robot soccer World Cup in Brazil. In the final, the team beat Water from the University of Beijing 3 to 2. Their combination play and excellent goalie landed the Dutch team the title. In the RoboCup @Home-league for service robots, Eindhoven robot AMIGO took second place. The Eindhoven team had already played the Beijing team twice in the RoboCup final, but lost both the 2011 and 2013 matches. The Chinese robots are known for their speed and strength, and their rough play. The Eindhoven team on the other hand is focused on technical combination play. The Eindhoven University of Technology has made it to the finals for seven years straight, but this was only the second time the team actually won the Cup. They did so too in 2012.
People | 23
See for more news www.cursor.tue.nl/en
And how are things in Loitokitok? During a short break from my hard work I had the chance to go on a small safari, where I saw giraffes, elephants, lions, and many more wild animals. It’s a wonderful experience for tourists, which you see a lot in national parks, but for locals the wildlife can be a nightmare.
The dry season - a nine-month period - is the time elephants come out of the parks at night in search of water. Newly installed water pumps, often funded by foreign donors, are demolished frequently by the elephants looking for water. Upon daybreak, villagers are left without a source for clean water and destroyed crops. I have been in a village in southern Kenya for over a month now, where I’m researching water conflicts for my master thesis. Together with a local organization I try to map the problems that occur and try to find possible pathways for innovations. Apart from having to share water with local wildlife, the people have conflicts sharing it among themselves, too. Finding a durable solution is quite a challenge in a situation where everybody is dependent on a resource that’s scarce, but I still think it is possible. At the moment even I am experiencing problems with water. Our taps have run dry since the water company has stopped supplying water because of the drought. We’ve been waiting for a water tanker to arrive for a week. In the meanwhile I have to buy water from vendors who go around with carts pulled by donkeys. Unfortunately, the water is expensive, and most people cannot afford such ‘luxury’ so they have to walk a couple of kilometers everyday to get to the closest water pump. Should that pump be destroyed as well, I don’t think the elephants will be considered friendly anymore.
Peter K u m Innoavsterstudienn, ation S t ciences Would you also like to write an article about your time abroad? Please send an email to cursor@tue.nl.
Read more stories online: www.cursor.tue.nl/en
Life after TU/e Name: Dr.ir. Gembong Baskoro Place of Birth: Palembang, Indonesia Age: 48 At TU/e: January 2001 - March 2005, PhD in Technology Management Current position: Dean of the Department of Engineering and Informa tion Technology at Swiss German University, BSD City, Tangerang, Indones ia
How did you find your job? After graduating in 2006, I went back home to Indonesia to pursue my academic career directly. It was a success story: I became Rector of Widya Kartika University in Surabaya, Indonesia, in 2009. I held that position until 2013, after which I was appointed Dean at Swiss German University in BSD City, Jakarta, until 2017. I’m managing faculty academic and non-academic matters. I’m supervisor the faculty of two Master programs and four Bachelor programs. Was it difficult to find a job? I always intended to have an academic career at University. In 2005 I wanted to stay in the Netherlands, but my residence permit was not extended, so I had no choice but to return home. It was not too difficult to find a job, but I had to compete with other candidates of course. I found the position through a website. How do you reflect on your time at TU/e? I’ve opted for TU/e because it offered a PhD position in Technology Management, and I was granted a scholarship to support my studies. It has been a great experience. I miss the time when I was a PhDstud ent at TU/e and I consider Eindhoven to be my second hometown.
What happens to international students after they graduate from TU/e? Do they go job hunting in the Netherlands, pack their bags and explore the world, or return to their home countries? International TU/e graduates talk about their lives after TU/e.
What are your plans for the (near) future? I will keep working in academics, be it in Indonesia or overseas. Other than that, I’m looking forward to establishing an academic/research partners hip with TU/e and my department if possible.
24 | Zoom in
Photo | Bart van Overbeeke
4 september 2014
Zoom in | 25
Kijk voor nieuws op www.cursor.tue.nl
They’re impossibly tall. They love bread. And they can be so direct, you’ll spend your first months in Holland wondering why everyone is so mean. Ahhhh… the Dutch… it’s a great culture in many ways (those dikes and legalized weed are pretty great!) but just like during any period of integration, you’re going to come across peculiarities in this country that will leave you scratching your head. As one foreigner talking to another, let me guide you a bit, dear student, as you embark on another academic year here in the lowlands. If you’ve flipped back to the English pages of this first issue of the new, academic year, it’s a pretty safe bet that you’re not Dutch. You’re new here or at least new-ish and your home - its sights, sounds, tastes and, of course, your loved ones - is far away. It’s a time of adaptation and adjustment - the time of the year when you have to re-shift your focus. And if you’re brand new to Holland, it may also be a time of adjusting to a new campus, city and culture. I’m also a foreigner - an American girl who fell in love with a nice tall Dutchman in China - so I’m intimately acquainted with this process. With that in mind, I’ve created the list below from my personal collection of observations to help you be prepared for some of the quirks you might encounter in your time in the Netherlands. It will rain. A lot. Get used to it. If you haven’t done it yet, delay no longer. Go out and buy yourself a raincoat. And rubber boots. There will come a day when you’re trudging across campus in a downpour of biblical proportions where you’ll thank me. Even though the weather is generally rainy, gloomy and downright awful, the Dutch are inexplicably optimistic about it. It’s almost like they have no long OR short-term memory when it comes to their own climate. You will often hear expressions such as “Oh well, it’s raining today but I heard it’ll be beautiful by the end of the week!”
Don’t believe them. I can’t stress this enough when I say THIS IS THE WEATHER HERE! Don’t be a sucker like me and spend your entire first year in Holland believing them and thinking it’s an off year or something. If you don’t have a taste for milk, bread, cheese, peanut butter and little chocolate sprinkles, lunch time will be a challenge for you.
The Dutch are eye-wateringly direct Let’s talk about that directness, shall we? The Dutch are not only eye-wateringly direct, they also take great pride in stripping away everything from their communication with others that they deem unnecessary. They want to “tell it like it is” and that could mean you will one day be on the receiving end of some criticism that will feel pretty harsh. If you’re from a culture where social communication is a bit more complex (I’m looking at you, Chinese students), the infamous Dutch directness might send you running back to your room to cry into your pillow. Fear not. One day, you’ll probably come to appreciate this directness and even employ it more in your own dealings with others. (Which will then cause a whole host of problems when you return back home.)
Don’t tell Dutch people that you eat two (or even three!) warm meals a day. They will look at you askew and firmly inform you that that’s the quickest way to get fat. I’m not exactly sure what the relationship is between the warmth of your food and calorie content, but apparently it’s something only explained in Dutch nutritional guidelines. If we have a particularly harsh winter this year - freezing temperatures, snow, cold, pelting rain (please refer back to #1) - every Dutch person will start getting excited by the prospect that this will be THE YEAR to have an Elfstedentocht (11 city tour). This is another way they console themselves about the weather. They strap on ice skates and take to the canals to skate impossibly long distances in arctic temperatures. And they call it entertainment. Frikandel tastes like meat-flavored bike tires and its origins are highly questionable. Do. Not. Eat. It. On the other hand, the French fries are amazing. Eat them as much as humanly possible. The Dutch pride themselves on their mastery of other languages particularly English - and it’s true that you could spend your entire academic career here never learning a single word of Dutch. However, you’re a world citizen, right? And as such, it’s a good idea for you to learn at least three words of this guttural language. Those
words are: leuk, lekker and gezellig. (To pronounce that last one, imagine you need to clear an enormous ball of wet oatmeal from your throat.) You can almost have an entire conversation with a Dutch person if you simply occasionally nod your head and utter these three words, in turn, at appropriate intervals. Trust me… it works like a charm. The Zwarte Pieten (Black Peters) are Sinterklaas’s helpers and um… er… you know what? I’m just going to let you discover this one for yourself. You now live in the south of the Netherlands and this is Carnival territory. In a few, short, months, you’ll be expected - nay, required! - to dress yourself in a ridiculous outfit, get drunk and act like a complete idiot. Enjoy!
You will begin a love affair with your bike No matter what your previous relationship was with bikes, you will begin a love affair with them in Holland. Really. I lived in China for 2 ½ years and what did I miss the most during my time there? Mijn stalen ros (my steel horse). Okay, so, biking in the rain is something we could all do without, but on a beautiful day (they do come, I promise) there’s almost no better way to clear your head than to be
out on the handy Dutch bike paths criss-crossing this country. It’s transportation, exercise and fun all wrapped up into one neat little package. When we do have a break in the almost unceasing grayness of Dutch weather, the locals become sun-worshipping pagans. They will strip off layers of clothes, smile spontaneously at strangers and find any and every excuse to get to the closest terrace for a drink. Those sunny days of unplanned drinks on a terrace are a rarity, so enjoy them. For most of your life here, you’ll need to kiss spontaneity goodbye. The Dutch live their lives according to their agenda and impromptu social engagements rarely happen. Want to have a quick coffee with a Dutch friend? She or he will flip open their agenda and pencil you in for that meeting three weeks from Monday. I spent a solid year fighting this cultural norm, but I soon realized that if I wanted to have any sort of social life, I had to adapt. You will, too. And there you have it! I could go on and on but, unfortunately, there just isn’t time for it. I have a previously planned date with a friend for some French fries. I think I’ll bike there.
Text | Angela Daley
26 | Research
4 September 2014
4 burning questions
Judith van Wijk | Chemical Engineering
Microcapsules for bacteria
1 ’s on f your o r e ov the c rtation? disse What
2 Wh a peo t do y ou t ple a t par ell whe n t abo ut y they a ies our s rese k arch ?
3 What person, technology, or device has been essential for your research?
1 | cover From top to bottom (and back up again) we see microparticles, encapsulated bacteria (the green ones being still alive, the red ones not having survived the encapsulation), microcapsules in which the bacteria have been captured, and emulsion droplets right before being used as a mould for the microcapsules. The extraordinary thing about the emulsion droplets is that they come from a Pickering emulsion, which is stabilized with solid particles (the microparticles in the upper and lower images).
2 | parties Most people probably know what a capsule is, but when they ask, I explain that the capsules we make are inconceivably small. The next question I usually get is: but what do you do with such tiny capsules? And then I tell them that capsules may be used for the controlled release of, say, medicine into the body. They can also be used to protect the encapsulated product, such as prebiotic bacteria.
3 | essential
4
does w o H efit n e b ty socie our work? y from
(edited by Tom Jeltes) Photos | Bart van Overbeeke
I would have been lost without the scanning electron microscope, the light microscope, and the fluorescence microscope. All three techniques are featured on my thesis cover.
4 | society benefit There’s a whole range of uses for microcapsules. To me, the encapsulation of bacteria that produce antimicrobial chemicals is the most interesting. The capsules remain permeable for those chemicals and as such they may be used in bandaging to prevent inflammation, or for more fundamental research. It’s important for society, especially when considering bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics.
Research | 27
See for more news www.cursor.tue.nl/en
Corien Prins | Mathematics & Computer Science
Calculating the right lens 1 | cover The cover of my dissertation shows a type of lens that’s often used in LED spotlights, which are used in the MetaForum elevators, for example. For my PhD we’ve developed a number of lenses and also had them made. One of them is featured on the cover of my dissertation.
2 | parties Designing lenses and reflectors for lighting is a very time-consuming process. I’ve worked on mathematical methods that can improve that process. An optic designer only specifies what light source he’s using and how the light should be emitted from the lamp. My algorithms then calculate what shape the lens or reflector should be. Apart from speeding up the design process, the same approach can be used for the design of lamps that have to light an oblong surface uniformly, for example.
3 | essential The feedback and ideas of my supervisors have indispensable to my research. I’d never have gotten this far without them, and I wouldn’t have learnt as much, either.
4 | society benefit The inversed methods I’ve worked on allow for an easier way of designing lenses and reflectors for lighting, which makes LED lighting less expensive. The techniques can also be used to design more efficient lighting, or to create effects that couldn’t be created before.
Matthieu Weber | Applied Physics
Nanoparticles created by atomic layer deposition 1 | cover The cover of my thesis shows a field of rocks located in the Mangyshlak peninsula near Aktau, Kazakhstan. I wanted to link my research in nanotechnologies and nature. I chose these particular rocks because they present a similar morphology as the nanoparticles I synthesized during my PhD.
2 | parties My research deals with the atomic layer deposition (ALD) of noble metals. ALD is a thin film deposition technique mainly known for its atomic level thickness control. I developed different ALD processes, and for my research I focused on the initial stage of ALD that in some cases starts with the formation of nanoparticles. My aim was to achieve control of the size, composition, and nanostructure of these nanoparticles.
3 | essential Apart from the obvious need of an ALD reactor and characterization tools for my experimental research, Adrie (Mackus, ed.), a former PhD student of our group, has been a great help to me. He introduced me to the science of ALD, but also taught me how to use the set-up and how to analyze the data.
4 | society benefit The nanoparticles I synthesized through ALD can be applied in multiple ways that benefit society, including sensing and nanocatalysis. Specifically, nanoparticles prepared using ALD show great promises as catalysts for micro fuel cells or micro reactors.
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Woensdag september, 20:30 – 22:00, Gaslab, TU/e-campus
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Comedytrain On (College)Tour Vanuit de eigen roemruchte comedyclub Toomler in Amsterdam komen de grootste talenten van de Comedytrain naar Eindhoven. Ze hebben met elkaar gemeen dat ze stand-up brengen zoals stand-up bedoeld is. Laat je verrassen door deze comedians van de toekomst.
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Dinsdag september, 15:00 – 16:00, Hal Hoofdgebouw, TU/e-campus
Opening World Press Photo 14 Waardoor onderscheidt een winnende foto zich? Carla Kogelman fotografeert zonder te regisseren en uitsluitend in zwart-wit. Zij vertelt over haar serie ‘Ich Bin Waldviertel’. Wetenschapper Martijn Kleppe deed onderzoek naar icoonfoto’s en de winnende World Press Photos en ontdekte opvallende kenmerken. De tentoonstelling is nog tot 2 oktober te bezichtigen in het Hoofdgebouw. Entreekosten: geen
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Wednesday September – Thursday 2 October, Hall Main Building, TU/e campus
World Press Photo 14 When you see some photos you just have to smile. Others make you think or give you a feeling of helplessness. Come and look at the most special and disturbing press photos: pictures with a powerful message, showing events from the past year. Entrance fee: none
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September, Saturday us , TU/e camp 0 :0 1 0 – 0 17:0
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of On the 13th udent st er b Septem SSRE will association most e organize th t of the en colorful ev i Run! year, the Hol 5km long lain white During this start off in p ill w ts , an p ci as sounded run all parti arting gun h st ts e th an p en ci h ti t all par shirts. W on will pain si ts o lo p sp l ex l ia u ec rf a colo ow. At sp of the rainb w colored in the colors ers will thro te n lu vo k, ass ac tr e pants will p around th f the partici o e n there o h n is n so fi powder fter the A . d re lo co n eu the finish lin terparty. d colorful af an ig b a e b will 17,50 euro Entrance fee: