Cursor 14 (English version) year 56

14 20 March 2014 | year 56

Biweekly magazine of the Eindhoven University of Technology For the latest news: www.cursor.tue.nl/en and follow @TUeCursor_news on

First ice dome, now Sagrada Familia

Better audiovisual facilities and extra funds for Biomedical Engineering and IE&IS

Monday 17 March - In December, students of Built Environment will be building the Sagrada Familia out of ice. The Gaudí tower is going to measure approximately forty meters in height, and will be built in the Finnish town of Juuka, just like the ice dome.

Once again, the students will rely on pykrete - the mixture of ice and sand that the largest ice dome in the world was built with last January.

Chinese dan reaching semce group TU/e happy i-finals Thursday 13 M arch -

Chinese Danc semi-finals of e Group Eindho the TV show Ev ven is very plea erybody Danc sed with reachi and alumni of e Now. The grou ng the TU/e mostly. p consists of Ph D candidates Participating in Asia Week Eind hoven last year attention for th generated e group, and ev en led to the gr the program. M oup entering embers of the dance group co the choreograp me up with hy for the show s themselves. panel was blow The judging n away by the group’s perfor originality, an mance and d voted them straight into th The dancers w e semi-finals. ill be working hard to make make it into th sure they’ll e semi-finals on April 4.

Exam week crowds at MetaForum tackled Tuesday 11 March - The noise, the mess, and the lack of workspaces at MetaForum during exam periods isn’t just getting on the nerves of Eindhoven students, but it’s bothering the Information Expertise Center as well. Working with Internal Affairs, the latter will try and tackle the problem with the help of banners, extra cleaning, and possibly opening lecture theaters that are not being used.

Starting March 31 banners and LED screens will be displaying texts pointing out to students that studying in a clean environment is more pleasant than doing so in a pigsty.

Whether or not the lecture theaters on the ground floor will become available for students to study quietly will be decided on April 3.

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Friday 14 March - The Executive Board will be putting aside extra budget structurally in order to intercept the major increase of students and maintain the quality of education at TU/e. In 2014, 1.5 million euro will be earmarked for that purpose, and 3 million for 2015. The money will be used for the improvement of the audiovisual facilities in the Auditorium, among other things.

Starting next academic year, lecturers will be able to digitally loop their classes to other lecture theaters as well as see the students in those rooms via large screens. The departments of Biomedical Engineering and IE&IS will be allotted more money for extra lecturers.

Network issues MetaForum over soon Friday 7 March - To end the complaints about slow or lost connection in MetaForum, fixed network cables will be installed. Last week, the Executive board decided to set aside 175,000 euro to that end. Soon, students can connect their laptops to the network by plugging into the connection slots fitted into the tables.

They’ll also have more options to connect to the network, and the opportunity to work with a faster network connection than when using wifi.

The change concerns approximately seven hundred workspaces on floor -1 and 0. Attempts to make the wireless network function properly have failed.

More news on www.cursor.tue.nl/en

No bike no pride

Biking is an indispensable part of living in the Netherlands. Is it so? I have been living here for one and a half year now, but I am neither ashamed nor proud to say that I still don’t know how to ride a bike! Every time I state this fact, I attract so much attention that I feel almost like a celebrity or a criminal - or both.

So the options there are either you ride a bike through the middle of all these or take one of the above modes of transport. The first option being almost synonymous to suicide, I settled with the latter option.

Living at the heart of such a crowded city in India, learning how to ride a bike seemed nothing but a luxury and a waste of time.

The first few weeks after joining the masters here, I felt really awkward not to possess a bike. Even when I got myself a bike, I attracted more attention for not riding, but walking the bike around. I actually had the intention of learning how to ride the bike. With that intention I went to the TU/e Sports centre to check whether they provide any biking courses.

The guy gave me a ‘Are you kidding me?’ look and I didn’t dare to ask anyone else about it again.

I was born and brought up in a city with approximately 4.5 million people and thousands of automobiles to carry these people around. There are buses, trams, taxis, cars, autos, rickshaws, trucks and motorbikes running around in the street.

However, after I landed in Holland, I had an observation. Biking doesn’t feature as a culture of Holland like the windmills, wooden shoes or tulips do. It is just part of daily sustainable lifestyle. But what amazes me the most is that people possess one or more bikes like yet another inevitable material possession. The possessiveness is expressed at its height when the bike is broken or stolen. I remember that day, when I reminded a few of my friends that they still have the option to ‘walk’ to their destinations without any bikes! Hoping not to forget this option myself, one day, I still wish to learn biking and experience the fun. Lets go for it then!

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20 | Zoom in

20 March 2014

Culture shock and the

Netherlan Text | Angela Daley Photo | Bart van Overbeeke “I had never experienced a Christmas and New Year without my family. I spent those holidays in great cities but the nostalgia of being far from my closest friends and my dad, mom and grandma was something that a great city cannot make disappear.” If you’re one of the new kids in town like Alberto Perez Martinez from Mexico (Department of the Built Environment) and your weeks waffle between exhilarating highs and down-in-the-dumps lows, take heart. It’s called culture shock and it’s completely normal.

“I felt very homesick. This is my first time living away from my family and my own country. Everything was so different…” Fadoua Ameziane is an 18-year-old student in Software Science. She arrived in the Netherlands in September 2013 from her native Morocco and she’s learning (and sometimes struggling with) how to adapt to life in a new country.

She’s not alone. TU/e attracts students and educators from every corner of the globe - 18% of students and 30% of the staff come from outside the Netherlands.

And every one of those students and employees was at one time new to life in Holland - and subject to one of life’s greatest stressors; emigration and adaption to a new culture.

“It depends on a person’s personality but everyone will feel some level of culture shock when they move to a new country”, explains local expat psychologist Suzana Cvetkovic, “and for students it can be even more difficult. For some, it’ll be the first time they’ve ever lived without their parents. They can feel completely lost. They’re changing their way of life and changing their culture.”

What exactly happens when you enter a new culture? What is culture shock and is there anything you can do to better withstand this process?

Luckily, there is. And it begins with knowing what to expect. Here’s a guide to the highs and lows you might experience during your first year in the Lowlands.

According to experts like Cvetkovic, assimilating into a new culture is generally divided into four distinct phases:

1: Honeymoon “I felt happy. It was summer so the weather was awesome. I was really surprised at how friendly and open the Dutch students were”, remembers Mexican student Alberto Perez Martinez from the

Department of the Built Environment about his first weeks in the Netherlands. PhD student Kateryna Filippovych, Department of Applied Physics, from Kiev, Ukraine, echoes Martinez’s experience, “It was like a honeymoon! Holland was a nice difference. I was excited about my group and I was very satisfied with my project.”

Ahhh… the honeymoon phase.

When life is grand, you’re in love with your new home and the reality of being married to it for the next few years hasn’t hit you yet. This first phase of cultural adaptation usually lasts three months and is marked by intense curiosity about the new country’s way of life. It’s like being a tourist and you want to see, do and experience everything.

You’re also incredibly charmed by almost every aspect of your new host country’s lifestyle, no matter how vastly different it may be from your own.

But then…

2: Crisis/Culture Shock!

“At the beginning, I wasn’t used to the directness of the Dutch.

I thought it was a little bit harsh”, relates Luo Jun (28, Department of Electrical Engineering) from China.

Fadoua Ameziane (Mathematics and Computer Science) was put off by other aspects of Dutch culture: “I thought Carnaval was annoying because the next day, the city was so dirty. There were cans and bottles everywhere. Also, when somebody asks you to eat dinner with them, they ask you to pay for their groceries afterwards.”

Although the above examples might be Holland-specific, any new culture will induce feelings of discomfort, irritation and, possibly, even downright hatred. In this mostdiscussed phase of adaptation -culture shock- the new immigrant intensely focuses on the differences between their own culture and the host country’s culture. And count yourself lucky if you only feel

annoyed. This phase can plunge some newcomers into depression.

Why is this phase so difficult?

Homesickness plays a part but there’s more going on.

“Don’t blame yourself” “Spending time in a different culture leads to culture shock because it influences how we perceive ourselves, others, and the world”, says Cvetkovic, continuing.

“We learn that ideas, beliefs, values, norms and customs can be different and that there isn’t only one way of seeing things.

This is what shakes you in the roots.

You find yourself not belonging anymore completely to the culture you’re from but you will also never completely belong to the new culture.

That feeling of not belonging anywhere… makes you feel lost and disoriented.”

Willem van Hoorn, TU/e’s advisor for internationalization, explains further: “Culture shock can induce some students and staff with feelings of inadequacy. My advice to new arrivals is always, ‘don’t blame yourself. This is a normal reaction and it helps to share your experiences and realize that you’re not alone.’”

While this phase also lasts roughly three months, according to Cvetkovic, some people may fight adapting to the new culture and prolong the process. If phrases like ‘This is only temporary and I’m going home in the near future’, are part of your internal dialogue, then beware. You may be setting yourself up for getting stuck in culture shock. Personality differences play a part in how quickly you adapt.

Cvetkovic explains, “People who tend to be more closed will have a more difficult time with adapting.

If you’re open to new ideas and new experiences, you will adjust faster.”

Zoom in | 21

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process of settling in

nds Newbie 3: Adjustment/Recovery from Culture Shock But don’t despair! There’s hope for you yet! This phase of cultural adaptation is all about finding your way in the host country. You learn to cope with any difficulties and differences presented by your new home, you make friends and, slowly but surely, you settle in. In fact, some of those differences might even jibe with your own personal characteristics.

Filippovych has found that some quintessential Dutch quirks fit her perfectly, “Many people don’t like how scheduled the Dutch are but I did that before I came here. I even tried to schedule visits with my friends back home for April and they said ‘But it’s too early to schedule things!’”

Cvetkovic says taking personal responsibility is essential to reaching this phase. “As long as you blame it on the weather, the culture of the host country and

other external factors, you stay stuck. You need to look at what YOU can change. In the end, you don’t really have a choice, do you?

You have to function.”

4: Biculturalism/Mastery For most people, it’ll take one year to adjust to a new culture and at least two years to achieve this final phase of cultural assimilation.

This is when you feel truly at home in your host country and, in fact, you can now combine and blend aspects of your own culture with traits of the new. In short, you become a new person.

“I now appreciate the Dutch directness” After three years, Luo Jun has found a new respect for some Dutch cultural norms: “Now, I appreciate how direct the Dutch are. It makes things easier and quicker, especially

at work when you need to have immediate feedback. I’m more direct now, too. When I go home to China, I have to remember to change and return to a more indirect way of communicating.”

Fadoua Ameziane is getting there too. “You can say I’ve settled in.

You know you’re settling when you don’t feel like a stranger anymore, when you start calling your new house ‘home’.”

Carving out your place in a new culture can be daunting. But with a little positivity and perseverance, it can also be an incredibly exhilarating and even freeing process, says Cvetkovic. “When you’re open to a new culture, you understand yourself better because you have to question everything you ever believed in. Embrace it as a very valuable period of your life.

Only when you leave your comfort zone can you change.”

Getting Unstuck Want some help settling in? Here’s some advice to get you started: • Learn some Dutch. You may tell yourself that it’s not necessary but learning the language of your host country is one of the easiest paths to feeling like you belong.

• Don’t isolate yourself. When you’re feeling down, it’s normal to keep to yourself. However, building a social life in your new country is essential to fighting culture shock. Here are some options for getting out there: • Cosmos association - TU/e’s international student association • The common room in MetaForum - the space for Cosmos’ activities. It’s a place for international staff and students to meet. www.facebook.com/Tue.Common.Room • The Hub Eindhoven for Expats - though not a part of the campus, this is a great place to meet other foreigners: www.thehubeindhoven.nl • Don’t do it alone. If you’re really struggling, you may want to talk to a peer. Just talking about your feelings could help set you on the right path.

• Stay solution-oriented instead of problem-oriented.

It’s easy to focus on the negative when you go abroad but try to look at any difficulties you encounter as challenges, rather than problems.

22 | Focus

20 March 2014

Text | Norbine Schalij Photos | Bart van Overbeeke

The most

The Mercedes-Benz Atego that was purchased by the Thêta commission ‘Botenwagen Compagnie’ in 1999, was ready in 2002 to be baptized ‘Bartego’. This name refers to Bart Ossewaarde, the Mechanical Engineering student who helped design the special transport system for the boats of the student rowing club. The trailer was built under his guidance and he himself used it as a graduation project.

Rides abroad | Bartego’s farthest ride went to Seville, 2,300 km

Bartego is the most rigid boat trailer known to Thêtans. New shells are made of carbon. The stiffer those fibers, the less energy of rowers is lost in deformation of the boat. However, those stiff carbon fibers must not break, so a rigid boat trailer is required. The older wooden shells still being used by Thêta also fit on it perfectly, for that matter.

From front bumper to buffer beam at the rear Bartego measures 11.97 meters.

As the largest eight -of 17.60 meters- extends beyond it at the front as well as at the rear, exemption from the law has been applied for - and acquired.

Next summer the Botenwagen Compagnie will order a chassis for a new trailer.

Without the assistance of the Equipment & Prototype center (EPC), which helped to build Bartego, this chassis must be equipped for boat transport, as EPC’s new location is not big enough to undertake a project of this size. Which is why Thêta is consulting Terberg-techniek. The fact that a new trailer is required is quite understandable if you consider that Bartego has covered more than 400,000 kilometers!

to the south of Spain. Thêta held at least four training camps there.

Another trip abroad was to Venice for the Vogalonga, a tour of thirty kilometers through Venice and the surrounding waters. In 1974 it was organized for the first time by way of protest against motorized boats through the city and an invitation to as many boats as possible propelled by sheer muscle power. In the last few years some three thousand rowers have been participating. In 2011 and 2012 Thêta joined the party. Last year it was technically impossible to transport the boats there because of the matches that were on in the Netherlands.

It goes without saying that Bartego also takes part in the Varsity in Houten every year. It has never yet brought home winners of the ‘Gouden Blik’, though. And ending in second place in the Varsity (in 2002 with Dirk Lippits as bow- Thêta’s best performance) is equal to losing. On April 7 the Oude Vier can have another go.

Thêta has a fleet of around seventy boats. The Rolls-Royces among them are of the Empacher brand. An eight of that brand costs at least 40,000 euro.

A single sculler may be had for 10,000 euro.

For Bartego two shelf containers were built, one of which is located in Utrecht, the other in the Thêta shed. Bunks padded with rubber are mounted onto the containers on which 7 eights can be fitted. Rowers load the shells on them by hand and strap them tight with old bicycle tubes.

Before departure the driver checks whether the boats are properly secured, for that is his responsibility.

The benefits of inner tubes: no shifting, no damage, and they cost only one bottle of ‘liquor’ per year. Bicycle repairman Heerings saves them for Thêta and takes them to the boathouse at Kanaaldijk-Zuid every couple of months in exchange for a bottle of liquor at the end of the year.

The shelves of the rig can accommodate:

• oars, at least one per rowing seat • riggers in which the oars are laid, • trestles, to prepare a boat for the match. The riggers are mounted on the spot; this is called rigging up. After the match they are unrigged.

• stools, for the temporary positioning of a rigged-up shell.

• elastics, i.e. the bicycle tubes.

Focus | 23

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rigid boat trailer in the Netherlands

Kilometer King is Eef Meijerink, a student of mechanical engineering at Fontys.

In the past three years he has covered the highest mileage: 2011: 18,467 km 2012: 16,607 km 2013: 8,713 km That last score -the lowest ever- he regards as a good sign. “It shows that the rides have been divided among more drivers.” In 1999 the trophy was set up as a sign of appreciation. The management of the Botenwagen Compagnie is keeping the score secret until the presentation. Eef was pleasantly surprised last year to have won again.

“The first triple!”

In 2013 the Thêta boat trailer drove to 42 matches. The average mileage clocked by the boat trailer comes to 33,000 kilometers per year. A frequent ride with ideal logistics is the following: 1. Load up the boats at Kanaaldijk-Zuid 2. Collect boats at Vidar in Tilburg until it is full.

3. Towards the Amsterdam Bosbaan, where most matches are held. There the container is offloaded.

4. Cabin without any load drives to Utrecht, where the second Thêta container is located.

Orca and Viking from Utrecht have already loaded their boats.

5. The second container is also taken to Amsterdam.

The fellow clubs pay Thêta for diesel, maintenance and depreciation.

The crash of Botenwagen Compagnie |

In January 2000 the former rig jackknifed on the A2. This incident cost Thêta four boats and other clubs a number of boats as well. So far no boats have been damaged with the present truck. “Bartego is without an accident and we would like to keep it that way”.

A driver for the boat trailer needs a C driver’s license. That would also allow him to find a sideline as a truck driver or garbage truck driver, by the way. So far Thêta has not had any female drivers.

Thêta prefers to have at least six drivers within its ranks, but at present there are only five that are active. The latest newcomer is Tjeerd van Ditshuizen, a student at the NHTV (University of Applied Sciences) in Breda. The costs for obtaining his C driver’s license, approx. 4,000 euro, were advanced by the rowing club. After having driven 18,000 kilometers for Thêta he will have repaid his debt. First, however, he needs to acquire driving experience for which he must follow an internal training course. Together with an experienced Thêtan in the passenger’s seat he will start driving on the public highway. Step 1 is ‘driving empty’, i.e. without the trailer. Step 2 is driving with an empty trailer, step 3 with a boat on the trailer that extends at the rear and the final step comes with an eight of 17.60 meters extending at the front and rear. Thêta takes the driver’s training very seriously, considering that it easily takes four months. Tjeerd: “When negotiating a roundabout you don’t want to get your boat embracing a lamppost.”

24 | Research

20 March 2014

Building materials in motion Interview | Tom Jeltes Building materials. Not exactly a concept immediately associated with high-tech innovation and trailblazing research. And that’s too bad, if you ask prof.dr.ir. Jos Brouwers, who holds a chair bearing that name at TU/e. Because building materials are anything but boring, as a series of innovative projects that Brouwers managed to reel in over the past years have shown.

“Our discipline is evolving all the time”, Brouwers says. In part, that’s because of the ever-stricter environmental demands in construction concerning raw materials and energy.” Innovation in construction is a must, then.

Like almost everyone else at TU/e, Brouwers is constantly searching for better, more environmentallyfriendly, and cheaper alternatives.

“And the latter two go hand in hand remarkably often.”

On top of that, every innovation in construction has a major impact because of the sheer size of the industry. “Construction - and I’m not just talking buildings here, but infrastructure, roads, too - is made up of about 95 percent of all materials used by man.” So in absolute terms, even a relatively modest saving involves lots of money.

Choosing building materials can help the environment in one of two ways, the professor says. “On the one hand, people can choose to recycle by reusing construction and demolition waste, or products can be made in a way that makes them more economical and more sustainable in use. Think of buildings that can do with less ventilation, or materials that store heat.”

The Netherlands are already very active when it comes to recycling.

Consumer waste is separated for plastic, paper, glass, and other waste. Separating demolition waste has become quite common here as well, says Brouwers. “We’ve really come a long way in twenty years’ time. The Netherlands are definitely at the forefront in that respect.”

Recycled concrete, for example, is crushed to separate the cement from the aggregate (sand and gravel), so both can be recycled.

“The crushing is done by a machine with huge steel jaws. We’re working on improving that method. It turns out that by placing the jaws more parallel, the concrete grains don’t break in half, but the crack rather occurs on the interface of the

aggregate. By smart crushing, as we like to call it, the two components can be separated better, and be recycled for more high-grade uses.

Our lab tests have shown the method works and the company VAR has produced one of those smart crushers already, and is planning to use more of them on a wide scale.”

“In many countries ashes are simply disposed of, but to us it’s of economical value” A very different example of recycling in construction is the processing of combustion gases. The ash that’s left after coal combustion in coal plants is known as fly ash (which needs to be captured in the chimney, as opposed to bottom ash), and in the Netherlands one hundred percent of it is recycled for building materials, concrete mostly. “In other countries the ash is often dumped, or sometimes simply lost through the chimney, but in our country it has a positive economical value. And we don’t need space to dump it anymore.”

Brouwers even wants to take things a step further by seeing whether residual ashes from the incineration of garbage, paper sludge, and biomass may be used to build houses or make roads. “Depending on the source the ashes will have to undergo some final processing”, he says. “It often has to be burned again, washed or sieved. Sometimes it’s done to meet environmental requirements, but it’s also needed to make strong concrete.”

Brouwers’ group also focuses strongly on nanomaterials. Again, freeways and office buildings might

not spring to mind right away, but mixing in relatively small amounts of nanosilica - waste material from the production of computer chips and solar panels - with the concrete is very beneficial. “A kilo of nanosilica can replace up to four kilos of cement.

It’s a way to reduce the amount of cement, which is the most expensive and environmentally harmful component in concrete, by dozens of percent.” Although their origin is entirely different, what nanosilica and combustion gases have in common is their grainy structure; they’re granular materials.

Whether or not concrete is strong enough for construction purposes mostly depends on the size of the various grains in theconcrete mixture.

One of the thing Brouwers’ group specializes in, is the computer simulation of such materials.

“We study the grains with models, and the mineralogy too: how do the grains interact? As far as experiments go, we have it all.

We can characterize the materials both chemically and physically, make the building material ourselves, and test them in the lab to check if they meet our requirements.” It’s all done on a small scale, though. For large-scale tests the group relies on contacts with the industry. And there are plenty.

One of the direct results of Brouwers’ models is ultra-lightweight concrete: through an optimum distribution of grain sizes it’s almost as tough as regular concrete, but much lighter and thermo-insulating at that.

Titanium oxide gives materials air-purifying and self-cleaning properties The most appealing of Brouwers’ research topics might be titanium oxide. By adding that to concrete pavers, wallpaper, or cementbonded woodwool boards, you can create materials that have air-purifying and self-ventilating properties. The effect of titanium oxide is based on photocatalysis.

Light causes the titanium to convert harmful gases like nitrogen oxide, sulfur oxide, and volatiles into harmless substances. A large-scale test with the air-purifying concrete

Lab set-up for testing the air-purifying materials.

Jos Brouwers. Photo | Bart van Overbeeke

pavers in Hengelo last year was picked up by the BBC. “We’ve realized that the effect of nanotitanium can be optimized further by mixing in nanosilica, which could be important for indoor use. Furniture, paint, and computers give off small amounts of toxins like formaldehyde and toluene. Because

it’s hard to measure there are no real regulations concerning the matter yet, but we now have the equipment to measure the harmful indoor gases. A way to render the gases non-noxious could be by building walls and ceilings containing titanium.”

Projects on ecological building materials Innovative building materials can be greatly improved still. Both Technology Foundation STW and companies in the field know that, too, as shows from three major projects STW funded over the past years. Two years ago, STW granted a million euro for a project on the combination of nanoparticles of titanium and silica in sustainable and functional concrete. And the most recent round for High Tech Systems and Materials (HTSM) saw the foundation fork out that same sum for research into ecological concrete containing several kinds of ashes.

Air-purifying pavers. Sunlight converts the harmful nitrogen oxide (NOx) in the upper layer of the concrete pavers into nitrate ions (NO3). Titanium oxide (TiO2) acts as a catalyst in this process.

People | 25

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And how are things in Singapore?

More and more TU/e students go abroad for their studies to follow courses, internships or a doctorate path.

What is it like to find your way in a new country? Students tell their stories.

It’s been over two months since I arrived in Singapore already. It’s been quite the culture shock, even though Singapore is known for its western vibe. For one thing, I had never been in Asia before.

And secondly, I’m from a small village. Borkel may be only twenty kilometers south from Eindhoven, but my guess is only few TU/e students will have heard of it. Feel free to google!

Borkel has 1,100 inhabitants, 99 percent of whom are Dutch. One percent is from Belgium (no joke).

Singapore, on the other hand, has 5.5 million citizens: 76 percent Chinese, 13 percent Malaysians, 8 percent Indians, and 3 percent is from everywhere else. Singapore, then, is much more appealing to culture enthusiasts than Borkel.

The highest building in Borkel has no less than two stories, but I’ve visited rooftop bars in Singapore that were located on the 71st floor. The downside to that: alcoholic beverages are 71 times more expensive, too.

In Singapore, traffic jams are pretty common, whereas in Borkel those are rare and only ever caused by tractors. You’ll see Maseratis, Ferraris and Lamborghinis everywhere in Singapore, but definitely no tractors.

It’s this stark contrast that makes my Singapore experience extra special. Still, the best thing about Singapore is its location, because it’s the perfect starting point for traveling Southeast Asia. Short trips to Borneo (picture) or any of the other surrounding locations allow you to escape bustling city life. Thanks to my great fellow students and ditto accommodation, returning to Singapore feels like coming home every time.

Aerts Jeroenstudent ocfes Mastveration Scien Inno

Jeroen Aerts (front) in Borneo with housemate Willem.

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: Zina Agovic Place of Birth: I am from Bosnia. Because of the war in my country in 1992, I fled to the Netherlands.

Date of Birth: 24 January, 1975 Studied at TU/e: 1996-2002, Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences Current position: Senior Director Human Resources at Philips Professi onal Lighting Solutions Europe How did you achieve your current position?

I have followed the path that allowed me to learn the most and contribu te to the organization I work at, which brought me in my current role. Before joining Philips I also worked at TU/e as a Policy Officer for International Affairs. At Philips I worked as an analyst at the strategy department, Strategic Buyer, and later as Director Strategic Sourcing. Then I moved to HR, where I held several position s: Head of HR at Philips Lighting Headquarters, Senior Director Talent Management for Finance, Marketing, Operations. All those jobs focused on Global Lighting. And now I’m the Senior Director Human Resources of Professional Lighting Solutions Europe. Thanks to the network of people I got to know during my studies at TU/e, I was lucky to be approached for different job opportunities, so it hasn’t been too difficult to find a job.

How do you reflect on your time at TU/e?

It was a great period where I had plenty of opportunities to learn both from my studies and from extracurricular activities (An exchange visit to Helsinki Univers ity through Interactie, being chairwoman of UniPartners Netherlands, a Faculty Council student representative, and a buddy for visiting Erasmus exchange program, among many things). It’s been a lot of fun and I had the opportunity to get to know a lot of fellow students from TU/ e and other universities.

What are your plans for the (near) future?

In any next career I will follow the path from which I can learn the most and where I can make a contribution to the organization I work in.

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 advice would you give current students?

In order to find a job, make sure you have talked to and visited as many different companies as possible before deciding where you’d like to work. But also make sure to stay true to yourself about what you do and don’t like to do in a job.

It will help you in your job search. Talk to friends who already have a job or are also job hunting, as their advice can be very valuable.

26 | Research

20 March 2014

4 burning questions

Jeroen Franken | Applied Physics

Racetrack with data

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 ?

1 | cover

3 What person, technology, or device has been essential for your research?

4

does w o H efit n e b ty socie our work? y from

The collection of toys refers to my research. The Fisher-Price record player is a precursor of today’s hard disk, for which we’re trying to find an alternative.

The ratchet underneath is a musical instrument that can only turn one way; I’m using the same concept to make bits move in only one direction.

2 | parties A hard disk approaches data by spinning a magnetic disk under a read/write head. We’re researching a faster way to move magnetic information without resorting to mechanical movements. It’s called a racetrack memory: information is stored as separate magnetic areas in extremely thin nanowires. The information is moved via these racetracks by passing an electric current through the wire. The current exerts force on the partitions between the areas, called the domain walls.

3 | essential I couldn’t have done without the Kerr microscope: it allows you to see the magnetic pattern of those racetracks change on the spot, which makes for a very exciting study. The combined ion/electron micro­ scope from FEI was also indispensable for manipulation of the magnetic structures with nanometer resolution.

4 | society benefit We’ll have to wait and see whether the racetrack memory will be worth taking into production eventually. If so, we’ll have listed a number of possible ingredients for it, as well as contributed to a better understanding of domain-wall motion.

(edited by Tom Jeltes) Photos | Bart van Overbeeke

Research | 27

See for more news www.cursor.tue.nl/en

Parthena (Nopi) Moschou | Chemical Engineering

Crystallization in microreactors 1 | cover The cover is made by artist Doug Craft and is a photo of benzoic acid crystals under polarized light. I used benzoic acid in many of my experiments and the crystals refer to the process of crystallization, which I investigated. But the main reason I chose the image is because it makes a beautiful cover.

2 | parties My research is about the production of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals. I focus on the separation aspect, the processes after the reaction. My goal is to perform the separation continuously, using microreactor technology. Solvent removal and crystallization are two very important steps in the separation process, and especially crystallization is challenging, since few micro devices are capable of handling solids without blocking.

3 | essential A large part of my experiments has been performed with the Falling Film Micro Reactor, developed by Fraunhofer ICT-IMM. This apparatus has been the core of my work on solvent evaporation, and has been characterized in detail in terms of mass and heat transfer through my experimental and modeling work.

4 | society benefit Continuous production of chemicals in microfluidic systems is a step towards efficient and versatile technologies that society can benefit from in the long run, in terms of environmental and economic impact.

Eldhose Iype | Mechanical Engineering

Storing energy in salt 1 | cover The cover of the thesis shows the concept of energy storage using thermochemical materials.

The two sets of pictures depict two seasons (summer and winter). In summer, the excess solar energy available to us can be stored in thermochemical materials by performing the forward chemical reaction as shown, and in winter, this stored energy can be released simply by reversing the chemical reaction.

2 | parties Approximately 30 percent of the total energy demand in our houses comes from room heating and water heating. This demand can be met easily if we can store the excess solar energy available during summer. This research project is aimed at finding the right material to store and release solar energy at our will. The materials we focused on most were Magnesium salt hydrates.

3 | essential Since the study focuses on the molecular level aspects of the dynamics of the thermochemical materials, the right molecular modeling tools were critical in this research.

The techniques used in this work include density functional theory, molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo methods.

4 | society benefit We did find some interesting aspects that can be exploited from these magnesium salt hydrates. At the same time, there are some drawbacks with these materials. Once those are eliminated, they can be used in our homes and we can cut down our energy bills significantly.

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