16 17 April 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
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Electric windows, but different
Memorial for trainee EE department Friday 4 April - A memorial and a condolence register have been set up at the reception area of the Potentiaal building in memory of Juan Enrique López Carcelén, who died at TU/e campus on April 3rd. Juan (24) was a trainee in the post-Master design program ICT within the department of Electrical Engineering. Since September 2013 Juan had been working as a trainee in the post-Master design program ICT within the department of Electrical Engineering. He was no stranger to the department, having previously been part of the Erasmus MSc exchange project in 2011 and 2012.
AMIGO finish meets Merkel es second and in Germany Monday 7 April - TU/e’s care
robot AMIGO ca Magdeburg. That me second in th ’s much better th e German Open an last year, wh After competing in en AMIGO finishe in Magdeburg, d in seventh plac the robot was im nover Messe, wh e. m ed iately transferre ere he acted -as d to the HanFrau Antje- as th House. Among e hostess of the those Holland High-Te who visited the ch stand were Dutch prim e minister Rutte an d his colleague An gela Merkel. Next ye ar, Tech United will com pete with AMIGO’s su ccessor SERGIO. Whe ther this will be in Ge rmany again or at a po ssible Dutch op is yet unsure.
Monday 7 April - Transforming a skyscraper into a power station: it can be done, says TU/e student Cristian Boscheri, with the semi-transparent solar cells he’s working on for his thesis. With his idea, the Italian master student of Sustainable Energy Technology reached the second round of Ideas360, an idea competition initiated by Shell. There are only two other Dutch entries that made it that far. Boscheri will now be up against 94 other entries from around the globe. The five best ideas will be competing for the grand prize during the Shell Eco Marathon on May 15: an expedition with National Geographic.
Strong boost for fundamental energy research Monday 7 April - TU/e and the FOM Foundation will collaborate closely in the area of energy research. They signed a partnership agreement at the Hannover Messe trade fair. A key aspect of this is a new research group that TU/e will contribute to the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research (DIFFER) in Eindhoven. The two parties have also made agreements about intellectual property and the joint use of large-scale facilities. The group is under the leadership of FOM workgroup leader and TU/e professor René Janssen. In addition, another top international scientist in the area of energy research will be recruited.
More news on www.cursor.tue.nl/en
Clmn
What it takes to be a PhD
‘The longest horror story … PhD’ reads a Facebook meme. I partially agree with that, but a PhD also has its joyous and cheerful phases. It is a perfect combination of ecstatic moments and gloomy stages, though normally the painful times last a little longer. This four-year journey necessitates a high level of motivation. The voyage starts with a highly ambitious first year of ‘astonishing the world with novel ideas’ and ends with an attitude geared towards survival in the final dissertation writing phase of the PhD. There are numerous reasons for a drop in motivation. The lack of a clear research direction and getting stuck during research at some point are two vital causes of this decay. In such situations, good and effective communication with supervisor(s) and colleagues often alleviates the pain and helps keeping up the pace.
Travelling for conferences is one of the best parts of doing a PhD. Conferences are not discussed in terms of the quality of research projects presented there, but it’s rather about the beautiful locations the conference is going to be held. After a very painful process of writing a research paper and submitting it (after tons of iterations with supervisors), I feel PhDs deserve this freedom. Planning and organizing work, critical thinking, taking initiatives and working in a team are some virtues of a good PhD student. Everyone experiences this four-year journey differently. There are lucky ones, those who enjoy a smooth ride, while others have some rough patches in between, and the rest just has a bumpy ride. Although research is a solitary work, it helps to consider that you are not the only one suffering: there are a whole lot of crazy people going through the same thing, Patiently Hoping for a Degree (PhD).
Mohsin Si
raj is a PhD Engineerin at Electrical g
24 | Zoom in
17 April 2014
TU/e Together: Making the leap to Eindhoven as a couple Text | Angela Daley Photo | Bart van Overbeeke “I know this is very stressful for her and I really appreciate what she’s done. She didn’t complain about leaving her job and her life in the US. I know she misses her family. She says it… but then it’s done. She hasn’t made it a big problem for our marriage”, explains Furkan Baskurt (Electrical Engineering) with a quick, loving glance towards his young wife. Three months ago -just a short eight days after their December wedding- Seda Baskurt followed her husband to Eindhoven so he could further his academic career. His days were immediately filled with work, research, new colleagues and all the trappings of academia. But as the trailing -or more politically correct ‘accompanying’- spouse, Seda’s new life looks very different from her husband’s.
“I spend a lot of my time at home cooking Turkish food, experimenting with flavors so that Furkan doesn’t miss home too much”, says Seda. Like a lot of young newlyweds, Seda is learning to live independently and is busy creating a home with her partner. It’s a normal process and part of the transition for many to adulthood. But there’s one major difference - Seda’s doing all of this in a foreign country far away from her support network of family and friends. For better or for worse. For richer or for poorer. In our own country or abroad. Given the ever-increasing globalization of the employment market, it could be time to tweak the traditional wedding vows. Here’s a little history: baby boomers (the generation born after World War II, roughly between 1946-1964) valued loyalty and usually stayed with one employer for the entirety of their working lives. Their kids, Gen Xers (currently in their midthirties to late forties), changed all that and began to move around from company to company in search of the best career and compensation. Gen Y or Millennials -like many TU/e-ers between the ages of 20 and 34- will take it one step further. According to a recent article on Forbes.com, “Generation Y has multiple passions and is more global than any of its predecessors, as 70 per cent of them say they would like to work abroad sometime over the course of their lives”. It’s a trend easily spotted here on campus, where international
students and staff are a common sight. And sixty per cent of the international staff didn’t come here alone - they packed up their luggage and their love lives and made the leap to Eindhoven as one half of a couple. But what’s life like for the partner who isn’t working for the university? How do they find their place and fill their days? And what sort of impact does moving abroad have on a relationship? Australian Yolanda Smith remembers her first months in Eindhoven with her partner Muttalip Temiz (Mechanical Engineering) in 2013. “We arrived and it was snowing. I locked myself inside. It was an effort to even get dressed. I couldn’t look for work. I couldn’t do anything. Muttalip would come home and ask ‘What did you do today?’ and I would say ‘Don’t ask me that question. I have nothing to tell you. It makes me depressed to hear that question’.’” While the first few months can be rough for anyone immigrating to a new country, accompanying spouses face additional obstacles. Local expat psychologist Suzana Cvetkovic explains: “The trailing spouse, usually a woman, is immediately confronted with losses: often losing the opportunity to work in her profession, which as a consequence brings losing her social status, losing the opportunity to develop professionally and have that source of fulfilment, losing economical independence and professional contacts. It’s a huge burden she needs to carry without the support of family and friends.” Advisor Internationalization Willem
van Hoorn helps staff and their spouses adjust to life at TU/e and sees the problem first-hand. “Often there isn’t a big gap in education levels between the employee and his or her partner. And if an engineer brings an engineer, then chances are high that that person will be able to find a job. But when the spouse is a lawyer or doctor or something that doesn’t translate easily to the Netherlands, that’s when you have problems.”
“I was someone and now I’ m no one” Seda Baskurt is one such spouse who left behind a fulfilling job in mental healthcare. “I cried so much. I said to my co-workers ‘I don’t want to hand in my keys! I want to work here!’. I feel useless not working. I was someone and now I’m no one. No one needs me.” Her husband, Furkan, echoes her frustration, “it’s one of our biggest problems. She wants to study clinical psycho logy. But she needs to speak Dutch and we need to find tuition money for her”. “Accompany spouses face real obstacles in finding meaningful things to do”, explains Van Hoorn, “and that can raise identity questions. They can begin to think ‘Who am I if I can’t work and contribute something?’ People often say ‘Just give me something useful to do!’”.
So, what happens to a couple when they move abroad? If one partner is struggling with the transition, what sort of influence does this have on the relationship as a whole? Psychologist Suzana Cvetkovic outlines the process, “the trailing spouse needs to make a leap of faith for her partner, facing the insecurity of the unknown. She’ll have to do it with whatever opportunities she can still find for herself. It is uncertain if that will be enough to compensate for everything she left behind. Without peace and fulfilment, the relationship gets under pressure”. Yolanda Smith recalls her feelings soon after her move, “I started thinking about what would make me happy. I’ve always wanted to have children and I thought ‘This is the perfect time. I have nothing to do’. That was an interesting topic to bring up in such a new relationship!”. Muttalip says the stress of the first months was difficult for him too. “She had some hard times in the beginning. It, of course, affected me as well. At this point a man’s duty is to keep his wife or spouse happy because no man can be happy if his partner is not. I believe passing through this phase together made us see that we can overcome problems when we stick to each other.” According to researchers, “sticking to each other” is what can make or break an expat couple’s life abroad. One key study by Yvonne McNulty outlines some of the factors at play for couples when they move to a
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new country. According to her research, “‘a strong marriage’ was perceived by trailing spouses to be an important factor in coping with international life. A move abroad can either reconfirm the couple bond due to an increased reliance on each other for social and psychological support, or it can place a strain on a relationship that may lead to separation or divorce”. Christian and Corinna Ottmann (Department of Biomedical Engineering) might have only moved 150 kilometers away from their native Dortmund, Germany to come to TU/e but Corinna, who also has a PhD in Biomedical Engineering, left behind her support network and a job she liked for Christian’s associate professor position. Luckily, their marriage has also adapted to the strains of life abroad, “we’re working more together to organize everything”, explains Corinna. Christian concurs: “The most important thing is to be involved in the day-to-day life of your partner. Don’t do these 10-12 hour days and ignore what’s going on at home. Otherwise, there’s a real danger that it crashes”.
“If we were in Turkey or the US, I might not get to know him so well” Seda and Furkan Baskurt think coming to the Netherlands could even be a positive step for their new marriage. “If we were in Turkey or the US, I think I would spend more time with my family and friends and I might not get to know him so well”, says Seda. Furkan agrees: “We don’t have any relatives here and I think this makes us be more together and share things with each other”.
Seda and Furkan Baskurt.
So, where’s the happy silver lining in the dark, Dutch clouds for these trailing spouses? Can following your love to TU/e also be a positive step? Russians Nastya Redko and Anton Litke (Chemical Engineering) say yes. Though she’s had her ups and downs like any new expat, Nastya appreciates the freedom of life abroad. “I feel easier here than I did in Russia. Back home, I felt a lot of pressure from parents and friends. I heard ‘When will you
get married?’. And now I hear ‘When will you have kids?’. But I hear it less here. I think if I was back in Russia, I would have already had a baby. Here I can think for myself. I can plan what I want to do this year and next year.” “Being in another country presents lots of new opportunities”, says Cvetković. “Not being able to do what you’ve been doing in your home country opens the possibility to try new things. You are turning towards your talents and interests, exploring which occupation would satisfy you. That way you are expanding as a person and you are redefining, reinventing yourself.” Luckily, TU/e has also recognized that the accompanying partner’s happiness has a real impact on the success of its researchers. “After we had lost three promising scholars in one year, we realized we had to do something”, explains Willem van Hoorn. “We had to go beyond a Dutch taboo -our separation of work and private life- and find something to help the accompanying spouse.” Part of the solution has been to invite spouses to the university’s introduction days and to link them with Indigo Wereld’s ‘Get in Touch’ program: a local program created specifically for the spouses of international knowledge workers. Nastya Redko says it’s been vital to helping her create a more fulfilling life in Eindhoven. “Without the Get in Touch program, it would be much more difficult. When I first arrived, I thought ‘Everyone is so different culturally. I probably won’t get along with anyone but Russians’. But then we had a talk about what everyone does when they feel sad and I saw that we all have the same emotions and we do the same things. You see that our differences aren’t so big.” Her husband Anton sums up their strategy for adapting to their new lives in Eindhoven: “We came here to change something. So if you come here, you need to change. That’s the whole point of coming abroad - the point is to explore something new”. For her part, Seda Baskurt says that she tries to balance her dark days with a perseverance to find her place in Holland. “If you’re in a place of being negative, then it’s very hard to feel positive. But even though it’s hard, the best thing to do is to try. You just have to try.”
26 | Research
17 April 2014
4 burning questions 1 ’s on What f your o r e ov ? the c ation t r e s dis
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 ?
4
3 What person, technology, or device has been essential for your research?
Remco Magielse | Industrial Design
Intelligent lighting
1 | cover The front cover shows one of my designs: a ceiling tile with integrated LED lighting with a wireless control system. Many people see a UFO, though.
3 | essential Apart from a myriad of co-workers and supervisors
2 | parties I usually explain that I design intelligent lighting that adapts to the environment through intelligent algorithms. Designing such systems is a complex task, because it involves many different factors. There is, of course, technological complexity: how do you make these kinds of systems, and how do you make them intelligent? And there is also social complexity: these lighting systems are used by people, and influence people’s behaviour.
does How efit n e b ty socie ur work? yo from
who have all been essential, I could not have done all this without the prototyping tools (lassercutter/3d-printer) available at the Department of Industrial Design. In the end, I made between 60 and 70 luminous tiles for use in various installations.
4 | society benefit Even though my work focused on lighting
applications, the design knowledge can be applied more broadly. For my project, I designed holistically, trying to integrate various aspects (techno logical, social and interaction-related) of the system.
Laurens Lindenburg | Biomedical Engineering Sensors made by bacteria 1 | cover
In each of the 96 wells of this plate, bacteria express a distinct variant of a fluorescent sensor protein. ‘The protein changes its fluorescent properties the moment it binds to an HIV antibody. The protein consists of two variants of the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP), emitting a green glow when excited by blue light. I was looking for an efficient way to test new variants capable of recognizing other antibodies. In this picture, the red bacteria serve a purely decorative role.
2 | parties I have been developing fluorescent protein sensors that detect various small molecules, like magnesium, zinc, or bile acids inside the cell, as well as sensors that can detect antibodies. Our latest red-shifted fluorescent sensors have enabled us to measure different molecules at once inside the same living cell, thanks to the spectral separation of red and green light.
Efe Kemaneci | Applied Physics
3 | essential The new confocal microscope in the Cell and Tissue Engineering Lab allowed us to measure cells with high spatial resolution and with a very flexible choice of fluorescence excitation and emission wavelengths. 4 | society benefit Our sensors will help anyone with a fluore scence microscope elucidate basic cell functions. As they are genetically encoded, they can be shared easily by mailing the DNA. Also, the sensors simplify the screening of potential drugs for effects on specific cell functions.
Optimizing plasmas to make optical fibers
1 | cover Each colored line is an abstract representation of a key subject or a notion in the dissertation: optical fibers (white), the backbone of the modern communication; control volumes (light turquoise), one of the most-used concepts in computational plasma physics and fluid dynamics; microwave fields (dark turquoise), a way of energy coupling with plasmas; and low dimensional manifolds in density space (blue), mathematical structures used to cope with the complexity of the chemistry. 2 | parties I worked with a collection of mathematical techniques that let you calculate the number of electrons, atoms or molecules within the plasma and their temperatures. These techniques are mainly used to better understand the plasmas and optimize the related processes in the fabrication of the optical fibers.
3 | essential I do accept the thesis as a whole and I think every part, technique and person has played an important role in the whole endeavor. However, if I were to pick one thing that’s been indispensable it would be Plasimo, the code employed for the simulations. 4 | society benefit The thesis helps understand and improve one of the most important processes in the production of optical fibers, so in this sense it is another step towards faster communication. At the same time the techniques in the thesis are also useful for similar processes employed in the fabrication of microelectronics or fusion studies.
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And how are things in Pretoria? 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.
In January I started my semester at the University of Pretoria. I’m working on a project to improve the living conditions in the Mamelodi slums, located at a thirty-minute drive from Pretoria. Apart from the poverty, garbage, and ‘homes’ -most are made of no more than some wooden or metal sheets- I was surprised to see the residents’ cheerfulness and the pride they take in their slum. For this project, it’s important to respect existing social networks, and be careful not to look at the problems from a superior viewpoint. It’s essential to talk to the residents in order to find out what the actual problems are. My group focuses on youth, and to that end we’ve conducted research at a secondary school to determine what young people do in their spare time. Sadly, they hardly do anything, and the main reason for that is a lack of facilities. With the help of the children and their parents, we’ll be looking into desirable facilities, and how they may improve the living conditions of the kids. The second day we spent at the school, which happened to be very modern, I came to the painful realization I wasn’t in the Netherlands: the school closed early because one of the teachers had raped a child. None of the children were very surprised, since ‘it tends to happen here’… When I’m not studying I try to travel as much as I can. I’ve already visited Durban, Port Elizabeth, Jeffrey’s Bay, and Cape Town, and just returned from Mozambique. Two weeks from now, I’ll be going on a safari with a 4x4, travelling through Botswana to the Victoria Falls. It’s the best semester abroad I could have hoped for!
Bram (right)
Bram Bo m Architeaster stutdterman, t of Physcitcsure and en and S Building ervices 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: Pu Li Place of Birth: Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, China Date of Birth: 28 May, 1985 Studied at TU/e: August 2007-August 2009. Master of Science, Electrica l Engineer Current position: I am working at ASML as a startup engineer in the Application & Business Support department What kind of job do you have now? As a startup engineer, I lead the project for ASML products and options in the customer site. Besides teaching the customer and local team the technologies of the tools and the analysis skills for solution searching, I am the bridge between custome r and ASML, and between the ASML local office and ASML Headquarters in Veldhov en. The work itself is exciting and challenging. I can travel to different countries to execute the project on-site, and most trips are quite long. So far I have conducted four projects in three regions (Singapore six months, Korea nine months and Taiwan twelve months). The trips are also a perfect opportunity to get to know the culture and people, which is a bonus that comes with my current job. How did you find your job? In 2010, I was doing a research project in Israel. A friend at ASML informe d me about the vacancy of my current position. She helped me by recommending me. I flew to the Netherlands for an interview. Two weeks later I got the offer. For the engineer work, I would say it is relatively easy to get a job, even for international student s. For other positions, language is often a problem for most non-Dutch people, even though it’s possible to work around that.
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.
How do you reflect on your time at TU/e? The best part of the time at TU/e is that there are always great opportu nities to gain experience in high-tech industries. But there was more to my time at TU/e than just study and work. Compared to Chinese students, Dutch students tend to enjoy life after work more. There is even a club in the basement of the Potentiaal Building (EE) that sells beer every week, which would drive most professors in China crazy. I got to know several good friends from other countries (including the Netherla nds), but I would have had more if I were given the chance to do my master study at TU/e again. What advice would you give to current students? Join the activities of the university and be part of them. That goes for Dutch students as well: you will get to know more interesting things from Chinese student s, much more than just Chinese food and ‘Hanky Panky Shanghai’. Mingle with the students from other countries. Most importantly, do not just stay in your own world, and do keep an open mind to all the new things. One useful suggestion to internat ional students who want a job in the Netherlands after graduation is: always make sure to use every opportunity to build your network outside of the class study. Possibly , the internship you did in the company or the alumni you knew during the beer drinking can help you to find a position which is not shown in the job board.
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Donderdag april, 13.45 - 15 Auditorium co .30 uur, llegezaal 1, TU /e -c ampus Openingslez in
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Lezing van voor van Middelkoo malig minister van Defens Afghanistan anp: ‘From the fall of the Wal ie Eimert in a changing d further. The Dutch milital to world, 1989-2 ry 014’. Entreekosten: gratis
don’t TU/e and Eindhoven so you Cursor collects all events at , and nts eve ic athletic and academ have to. Symposiums, films, notify can You nl. ue. or.t urs w.c at ww to parties: you can find them all ail em an d sen website, please e us of new events through our her will ine gaz Ma sor Cur do so. cursor@tue.nl if you want to ing happenings. publish a selection of upcom
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Dinsdag en w Filmhuis De Zw oensdag a arte Doos, TU/e pril, 20.00-22.00 uur, -campus Only
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Sportkaartvrije introweek
Een week lang gratis de keuze heb sporten? Op het Studentensportcenben uit zeventig verschillende trum kunnen sportkaarthouders van 23 tot 30 april weer een medestu Fontys of Design Academy meenem dent of collega van de TU/e, natuurlijk ook mogelijk om op eige en om lessen te volgen. Het is n gelegenheid kennis te maken met de uitgebreide faciliteiten en mog elijkheden die het SSC biedt. Entreekosten: gratis (sportkaart nu verkrijgbaar voor 35 euro)
mei, onderdag 15 0 d l ri p a 3 tot 18.0 Woensdag 2 g van 09.00 vrijda maandag t/m w, TU/e-campus bou uur, Hoofdge
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Foto: Pet van de Luijtga arden
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