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Biweekly magazine of the Eindhoven University of Technology For the latest news: www.cursor.tue.nl/en and follow @TUeCursor_news on
2 April 2015 | year 57
TU/e best university of technology in the Netherlands 25 March - Eindhoven University of Technology has been named for the fifth year in a row as the best university of technology in the Netherlands for Master’s programs. This is the outcome of the annual Keuzegids Masters (Guide to Choosing a Master’s Program) published by the Center for Higher Education Information. This list of full-time Master’s programs shows Eindhoven in second place out of the best institutes, behind Wageningen University (WUR). The overall universities ranking -including the small part-time universities- shows TU/e in fifth place with a score of 64.5, after the Open University (71.5), TIAS Business School (70), WUR (67.5) and Nyenrode (67).
Fire in student ho use De Vriesstraat
24 maart - On Tuesda y morning, a major fire broke out in a student house at De Vriesstraat in Hemelrijken, a neighborhood in the district of Woensel. The fire was probably caused by two students cooking on an electric stove. The students were ab le to leave the house safely, says ne ws site Eindhoven Dichtbij. Eindhoven s Dagblad reporter Ad de Koning poste d on Twitter saying residents were Chine se. Whether the house was inhabite d by TU/e students is unknown.
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TU/e professor Harm Dorren (EE) dies unexpectedly 30 March - Early Monday morning, March 30, prof.dr. Harm Dorren died unexpectedly at the age of 49. Dorren was part of Electro-Optical Communication Systems (ECO) of the Department of Electrical Engineering, and the scientific director of COBRA. He had just returned from a business trip to Los Angeles. Upon arrival in Amsterdam, because of a serious infection, he underwent emergency surgery. He passed away shortly after. There will be a farewell ceremony in memory of Harm Dorren on Saturday 4 April from 2.00 pm to 3.00 pm in the Blauwe Zaal, Auditorium.
PhD candidates affected by focus on financial viability 31 maart - Why should there be more PhD candidates? It’s time to learn why so many quit prematurely, says Charlotte de Roon, the new chairwoman of PhD Candidate Network Netherlands. The science policy of the government seems to adhere to a mantra of sorts: more PhD candidates. The more well-educated our population is, the more successful our knowledge economy will be. So now universities are allowed to experiment with PhD students, who will receive a bursary rather than a salary. As that will make PhD tracks much cheaper, universities will have room for more candidates.
TU/e joins new polymers center 19 maart - TU/e is joining the new center for the use of polymers, the Brightlands Materials Center. Eighteen parties have agreed to join the new center, including the province of Limburg, TNO, DSM, SABIC, TU/e, WUR, Maastricht University and the Brightlands Chemelot Campus. TU/e intends to provide a total of fourteen PhD positions in 2015 through the Impuls program, and these will be matched by a further fourteen places to be funded by industry. Eight of these places are aimed specifically at research into 3D printing and the mechanical characteristics of the printed products.
Do you close your curtains in the evening? Peaches & coconuts
Answers to this simple question may prove diverse, basically affirmative or negative. For the one, it is stating the obvious, replying “Yes, of course (for the sake of privacy)”, but for the other, it goes more like: “Well no, why should I (I have nothing to hide)? Indeed, it is not so simple. Closing your curtains while turning the lights on in your living-room when it is getting dark outside to get some privacy has a cultural connotation, especially in The Netherlands. Find out by yourself and do the test while walking through a residential area when the sun sets. Just count how many houses have their curtains closed and how many still are open. This very much depends on where you are. Traditionally, in predominantly Protestant (Calvinistic) areas people tend to leave things open for the sake of transparency or honesty, respecting the rules, while in Catholic ones inhabitants tend to close them for their privacy and protection from the outside world. In this respect, the Dutch province of Zeeland is worth the trip (next to the beautiful countryside, the high-tech infrastructure of the Delta Plan water works and many historical places), because of the mix of both religions within its borders. There, depending on whether the village
is predominantly Protestant (above the Oosterschelde) or Catholic (below it, close to Flanders), you will see dark or light streets at night. In intercultural theory both attitudes are metaphorically known as the peach (much public and little private space) and the coconut (little public and much private space). Roughly speaking, peaches are open, direct, informal and impersonal in the way they relate to others, while coconuts tend to be more indirect, formal and personal in their relationships. Peaches leave their curtains open at night, their yards visible to all and socialize during working hours, but ignore you after 5pm. Coconuts by contrast, close their curtains, make a fort out of their gardens with high fences and socialize during and after work. How does this contradiction work out in daily life? Well, I remember the response of a participant during a recent training session dealing with this issue: Oh, now I understand why my husband always leaves everything open: he is Protestant! But don’t worry, while in the living-room peaches and coconuts may indeed differ, they ecumenically reunite in the same practice upstairs: there they both close the curtains. And remember: only tourists look inside the living-rooms, the locals don’t bother anymore.
Vincent M erk, traine communic r intercultural ation
24 | Zoom in
2 April 2015
Zoom in | 25
See for more news www.cursor.tue.nl/en
As American as Apple Vlaai: A look at a Tiny TU/e Community Text | Angela Daley Illustration | Marc Weikamp
“I’m definitely not having the typical American college experience - I don’t go to football games or frat parties. I think there are things I would’ve liked better about going to college in the States but I don’t regret coming here. I can’t imagine not having had this experience.” A look at the American community at TU/e.
Sarah Gebhard, 21, moved to the Netherlands from Illinois three years ago when her family relocated to Eindhoven. She’s currently an undergrad in Sustainable Innovations and is one of the 11 American bachelor students on the TU/e campus (There are also nine master’s students). As Americans, we’re of two minds about living, working and studying here. Most of us adore our bikes, Dutch social liberalism, beautiful historical buildings and, of course, we love Dutch frites. But on the other hand, we’re often confronted with many of the negative stereotypes associated with being American and it can sometimes be trying to feel like you need to defend all 320 million Americans back home in the States. So, as an American myself (from the gezellige town of Greencastle, Pennsylvania…) consider this article my personal attempt to give you a more nuanced perspective on the US and an introduction to the few Americans you might encounter at TU/e.
“Those people on MTV aren’t us” “I wouldn’t say I’m a flag-waving American but it gets my back up when people say things about America that are hateful, hurtful, or wrong.” Audrey Debije-Popson is an instructor of English for Academic
Purposes with the Education and Student Service Center (STU). She’s lived in Holland since 2001 and has heard all the stereotypes. “People say we’re bossy. That we think we own the world, that we’re arrogant but also ignorant. But I think a lot of that comes from our pop culture. They see The Voice, MTV or the Kardashians and think - those Americans are crazy. But those people aren’t us. Not really.” Craig Plaisance, 33, hails from Baton Rouge, Louisiana and is a post-doc in the Chemical Engineering and Chemistry Department. He arrived in Eindhoven in May, 2014 and jokes that residents of his state live up to most people’s expectations of Americans: “My father has 10 guns in his closet. I grew up hunting ducks. So, yeah, I am sort of one of those Americans.” And even though the American South does have a reputation for racism - particularly within the US itself - that’s one stereotype of his country he finds difficult to accept. “I don’t like that people think we’re racist. I think compared to people I’ve met from the rest of the world, we’re the least racist. We were all a bunch of immigrants at one point so we’ve had to learn to get along.” During my years in the Netherlands, I’ve also heard many of the prejudices. But if there’s one I would hope to alter here and now, it would be the idea that Americans are insufferably superficial in their
dealings with others. We ask “Hi, how are you?” and don’t really care about the answer and that we make fast - but somehow not vast - friends with others (For you non-Dutch speakers, vast means permanent, fixed or steady). Unfortunately, I can’t give you an academic reason for my country’s affinity for exaggerated friendliness. However, I can offer you an anecdote of this instinct at its best: while I was interviewing Audrey Debije-Popson for this piece, she suddenly interrupted our conversation and jogged over to a passing student who was clearly distraught. When she returned, she explained, “She was crying in the bathroom earlier today and I wanted to make sure she was okay.” Sarah Gebhard would recognize that behavior immediately as a quintessentially American thing to do. “Sometimes I miss American helpfulness and friendliness and how people are more willing to go out of your way to make you feel comfortable.”
There are no stupid questions Professor Ruth Oldenziel (Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences) says this American instinct for inclusiveness also extends to the academic world. She specializes in the history of technology, particularly as it relates to the relationship between Europe
American culture: Yes, we have some! Sure, you know about Brittany Spears, The Godfather films, Coco-Cola and a certain, unpopularbeyond-US-borders Texan politician who ascended to the highest office in the land. But do you know why America was founded? Or some of the values we hold most dear? Here’s a brief cultural lesson in my attempt to provide you with a more complete image of the USA: • America’s original 13 colonies were founded to ensure religious freedom. However, most Americans also value what we call the “separation of church and state” which means, in short, we don’t want the government messing with our religion and vice versa. • We’re geographically isolated from just about everywhere. This may seem obvious but as student Sarah Gebhard points out, it has a regrettable influence on how we think about the rest of the world, “It’s hard for people from Europe to understand how it feels to grow up in the US because they’ve always had a more international mindset. They deal with other countries more because they’re right next to them. But living in the US, you feel completely surrounded by it.” • We call our country the “melting pot” because we’re a society comprised of immigrants from every corner of the world. (Though the first waves of immigrants were mostly Europeans.)
and the USA, but she also has first-hand experience - she obtained her PhD at Yale and lived and worked in the US for 10 years. “Americans say that there are no “dumb” questions. Participating in class is very important - in fact, students may get a lower grade if they don’t participate - and they feel that they can ask anything in the classroom. That’s a concept we really don’t have in European higher education. European students tend to participate less because asking a question means they don’t know something. Traditionally, European professors hold a higher position in the hierarchy, students are deferential and there’s this notion of the core curriculum - ‘you need to learn what I have to teach you.’” Oldenziel also explains that American students at TU/e (and in Europe in general) receive a different sort of university education than they would in the US. “In Europe, we emphasize the core curriculum - there’s core knowledge that you have to acquire in order to become a master in your field. But in the US, there’s the sense that students are consumers. Students pay a lot for their education so they have more power to demand. They choose from more electives and they have more freedom. But it’s changing in Europe. Look at TU/e. We’ve just gone through a major re-organization and we look more like the US system in that we now we offer more general classes.”
Dank je wel, Holland We love our country - most Americans, for better or worse, are fairly patriotic - but as residents of the lowlands we can very easily switch and tell you what we love about living here. “I find it easier to talk about world issues with Dutch people than with Americans. I also like how there aren’t “off-limits” topics. You can talk about anything in Holland”, says Sarah Gebhard. And Audrey Debije-Popson, whose son has a condition on the autism spectrum, is grateful for Dutch healthcare: “We haven’t seen a single bill ever. That is a huge load off my mind. I can’t imagine how we would’ve afforded his care in the US.” Craig Plaisance appreciates Dutch “agenda culture” in his academic life at TU/e. “My department is very organized. Super organized. Everything is based on appointment. I have planned meetings with my supervisor. My PhD advisor in Virginia would just drop by when he was around.” And what do I appreciate? Well, as the wife of a Dutchmen and the mother of two half-Dutch kids, I’m obliged to tell you that it’s my family. But really? Between you and me? It’s the friet met mayonaise.
The idea has always been that no matter where you’re from, what color you are, or what religion you practice; you can eventually become an American. Today, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that more than 300 languages are spoken in the United States with Spanish, Chinese, French and German among the most frequently spoken non-English languages. Technically though, we have no official language. • Our love of sports mirrors much of what we value in our culture – fair competition, community, hard work, and the American Dream. Audrey Debije-Popson’s son plays baseball and she says the club’s parents often express positive opinions about the US, “They like that we put a lot of pride into our sports teams, that we take personal development very seriously. They appreciate that Americans focus on the idea that each person has a right to become who they want to be.” To put it in perspective, a national poll from 2012 showed that Americans found the use of performance enhancing drugs by athletes to be the least morally acceptable behavior in a list that included prostitution, underage drinking, human cloning, and illegal drug use. For many Americans, bad behavior by our sports heroes is a reflection of our nation as a whole. • And now for a few fun facts: The Netherlands could fit into the USA about 230 times. Edward Lodewijk “Eddie” Van Halen, founding member of 80’s über-band Van Halen, was born in Nijmegen. Dutch firearms played a crucial role in helping the fledgling USA win its War for Independence against the British in the 18th century.
26 | Research
2 april 2015
4 burning questions
Thuy Vu | Applied Physics
Nanowire solar cells
1 ’s on t a h W r of you r e v o the c n? rtatio e s s i d
2 Wh a peo t do yo ple u te a whe t par ll ties n abo ut y they a sk our rese arch ?
3 Welke persoon, techniek of apparaat is onmisbaar geweest voor je onderzoek?
1 | cover The cover shows the photoluminescence lifetime measured along the length of a semiconductor nanowire. A longer lifetime results in a more efficient solar cell. The color plot resembles the picture of the sun which is rising from the ocean on a bright, sunny day.
2 | parties Sunlight is the most abundant renewable energy source on earth. In our group, we make photovoltaic cells using 2D arrays of tiny semiconductor nanowires to harvest solar energy. Due to their small dimensions, nanowires offer great flexibility to efficiently convert a broader range of the solar spectrum into electricity, using only nano-quantities of expensive semiconductor materials. My work focuses on optimizing the material quality of the nanowires, which is essential for the enhancement of solar cell performance.
3 | essential
4
does How efit n e b ty socie ur work? yo from
(Edited by Tom Jeltes) Photos | Bart van Overbeeke
I extensively used micro-photoluminescence as a fast and efficient tool to evaluate and optimize the solar cell performance without having to fabricate complete solar cell devices. The close collaboration with my teammates in the group of Prof. Erik Bakkers, who work on solar cell fabrication, and the guidance of my supervisors have been indispensable for my research.
4 | society benefit By optimizing the material quality and light absorption, our group has recently achieved a nanowire solar cell with 19 % solar cell efficiency. Since nanowire solar cells enable the use of the most efficient materials for solar harvesting, and can be produced at low cost, they are very promising for the widespread adoption in the future.
Research | 27
See for more news www.cursor.tue.nl/en
Agnese Ravetto | Biomedische Technologie
Cell mechanics as marker for disease 1 | cover On the cover of my thesis you see a photograph of night traffic in a city. The traffic tail light trails give the effect of a flow similar to the blood flow in an artery. The road also has another meaning: it represents my PhD journey that has come to an end!
2 | parties Disease development can alter the structure and, consequently, the mechanics of the cells that are involved in the disease process. Cell mechanical properties, then, can be viewed as a marker for the incidence of the disease. We used microfluidic devices, which contain microscopic channels, to mechanically and chemically manipulate blood cells in order to investigate changes in mechanical properties upon inflammatory response.
3 | essential Our research is based on the development and characterization of microfluidic devices. For the fabrication of these tools, the clean room with the relative equipment for soft photolithography has been indispensable.
4 | society benefit Microfluidic systems have become an attractive platform for diagnostic applications. The proposed microfluidic-based device is the first step in the development of future tools for clinical point-of-care diagnosis.
Elisa Costante | Wiskunde en Informatica
Database leakage detection 1 | cover The cover of my thesis shows some incomprehensible code on a black background. I wanted to communicate the idea of our personal data seen as unrecognizable characters (recalling the binary code in which data is generally transmitted) surrounded by dark matter (representing all the things happening to our personal data without our knowledge). I also wanted to point out that this data (our data) can be out of our control (the black matter) but might be available to sinister individuals like the man in red at the center of the cover.
2 | parties My thesis is about different ways of protecting data privacy. I usually only explain the last part of my research to my friends, the database leakage detection solution. In the recent Sony case, for example, personal user data were out in the open for a couple of days before the breach was discovered and sealed. With my solution I learn normal-activity profiles involving sensitive data (e.g. who is accessing what data, from what location, how much data is accessed per user/per day, etc). These detailed profiles are then used to spot anomalies and alert the officer in charge.
3 | essential Of course my supervisors, Milan Petkovic and Sandro Etalle were indispensable for my research. They guided me and provided me with the support and suggestions I needed when I was stuck.
4 | society benefit In my research I put users at the center of the discussion. The solutions I developed can help to create a society that is more aware of privacy and security issues. This awareness is essential to fight the increasing number of cyber threats we are all target of.
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Monday April - Saturday April Students Sports Centre, TU/e campus
25th,
Try-Out Week Student Sports Centre Students and employees from TU/e, Fontys and Design Academy can work out for free from Monday 20 to Saturday 25 April 2015 at the Student Sports Centre Eindhoven (SSCE). During this try-out week, all facilities and classes are open for non-sports card holders. Discover our 70 different sports and 39 student sports clubs!