16 April 18, 2013 | year 55
Biweekly magazine of the Eindhoven University of Technology For news: www.cursor.tue.nl and follow tuecursor on andmm
3 | Logging in with ‘passthoughts’ 2 A vibrant campus
4 Honorary doctorate Sabine Van Huffel: “No competition”
10 University news
2 | For Starters
April 18, 2013
Around the world
Colophon Editor in chief Han Konings
Executive editor Brigit Span
Editorial staff Judith van Gaal Tom Jeltes | Science Frits van Otterdijk Norbine Schalij Monique van de Ven Berry Zwets (trainee)
Staff
Clmn
For the Cursor editorial staff, TU/e campus is their primary work area. Visiting High Tech Campus, Máxima Medisch Centrum hospital or the Eindhoven city center is quite the trip for us - physically, that’s about as far as we get. Last week however, I travelled abroad for an interview. And I’m glad I did: my trip to the grand Arenberg Castle, Sabine Van Huffel’s home base, has resulted in a fascinating and frank conversation with our future honorary doctor.
Managing spring
Tom Jeltes
See page 4-5.
Nicole Testerink Gerard Verhoogt
Photography Rien Meulman Bart van Overbeeke
Rewwwind www.cursor.tue.nl
Cover David Ernst
Translation
Our Rewwwind feature provides you with snippets of last week’s news. What happened online after the previous Cursor magazine was published?
Annemarie van Limpt (pages 2,3,4,5)
Layout Natasha Franc
Editorial board prof.dr. Cees Midden prof.dr. Hans Niemantsverdriet Angela Stevens- van Gennip Thomas Reijnaerts Arold Roestenburg Anneliese Vermeulen-Adolfs
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Tech United working on cheaper soccer robots April 16 - Current world champion robot soccer team Tech United is working on a robot with a cost price of 5,000 euro. The robot the TU/e team is using now (called TURTLE) is costing approximately 26,000 euro.
By lowering the costs, Tech United wants to make the technical sport more accessible. The team hopes to sell at least fifty robots, enough for ten new teams in the competition.
First pile marks start of new TU/e building April 11 - By drilling the first pile, Executive Board member Jo van Ham, dressed in a green workman’s jacket and wearing a safety helmet, marked the start of Project 2 in the housing plan of the TU/e, ‘Campus 2020’.
It will be the second new building on campus, after MetaForum. The future home to Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering should be surrendered by the end of 2014.
The day before yesterday was one of the best Sundays. The sort of Sunday you don’t think about Monday and, although the day is coming to an end, you forget about your duties and to-do lists for tomorrow. You just sit and drink in the day from a pretty little cup. You seize the day with your friends, somewhere on top of a roof in what was once, not that long ago, the modern industrial district of Eindhoven. And from the deck it feels like you’re on top of the world. The breeze cleanses your hair, the sun kisses your cheeks, the buds are finally exploding and the sound they make plays like music in your ears. Spring has come! We waited for this for so long. With this wonderful weather cam the realization how great it is to have a different schedule from when I was a student. I remembered how surprised I was with the fact that the majority of Dutch students I knew back then end their school work at 5PM on weekdays days and usually don’t work in the weekends. But I and most of my foreign colleagues worked around the clock. The schedule made you feel guilty to be out on the porch on Sunday having an afternoon coffee with a couple of friends. There was so much I could be doing for my Master’s thesis or other assignments instead... It seemed each break I took was put into a small frame and with time racing by I felt like now I must go back to work, otherwise I will be squeezed into a small cube. I’m not trying to say internationals were working so hard that they spent all of their time writing top-quality theses and studying for other subjects like real geeks at universities of technology should (which is perfectly
fine, by the way). The main thing I want to say is that it seems to me that sometimes Dutchies were actually much more efficient and knew exactly how to work to have a well-deserved evening off and a great stress-free weekend. Most of the time, that is. Now I am a trainee at the USI department. And although we still work late from time to time, or come to the office earlier, we usually don’t have to do anything work-related during the weekends or when the working day is over. So for the first time after a long time, I’m finally beginning to understand how wonderful it is to have such a balanced life and be able to do so many amazing things, e.g. celebrating spring without being overwhelmed by feelings of guilt. As a former student, I hope the ones who are still studying will learn something from their Dutch (and not only Dutch) colleagues about proper time management. And do it fast, before this wonderful spring is over!
Indre Ka Interactionlinauskaite, User Sy st trainee at ID departmem ent
Brainmatters Psychology is becoming ever more important at TU/e. Technical systems and artifacts, be they games, cars, robots, lighting systems or buildings, are all meant for human end users eventually. It’s essential to know how these users perceive, think, feel, and act. The new human-oriented program Psychology & Technology examines every technical design from a psychological perspective. From now on, Cursor will be taking a closer psychological look at students, teachers, labs, technical artifacts, the workplace, the scientific business, campus, education, and websites.
Come and get it! ‘On any campus, there should be at least ten interesting, well used public places that attract all kinds of people.’ This concept is what PPS -the project for public spaces- calls ‘The Power of Ten’. Within each place, there should be at least ten things to do, such as eating, drinking, reading, browsing, playing games, looking at art, and so on’. (http://www.pps.org). Is our campus (becoming) such a vibrant campus? Do we have ten of such places? If I were to suggest a few, I could propose the Auditorium, our new MetaForum, and the sports centre as good candidates. I might mention the Dommel. Perhaps I should mention the market hall, but I won’t: too cold, too windy, too barren. Which places would be on your list? Good places are unique, comfortable and meaningful: they bring people together, offer them ways to interact, make them return time and time again. They set the stage for informal get-togethers, scientific debates and help create a sense of community among us, the people at TU/e. One process that characterises good spaces is ‘triangulation’, coined and described by William Whyte, the father of placemaking, as the phenomenon that interesting events or objects can make perfect strangers connect and interact as if they had known each other for years. Consider for instance the passing of the parade of professors on the dies.
To most communities, the culmination of these types of processes is found on the market: we love markets for numerous reasons, but most of all for being able to see others, to interact with them, and for the multitude of stimuli that tickle our senses. And because the bargaining and haggling are Yvonne de processes much more social than passing the register, Kort, asso ciate profes at Human sor enviro no supermarket will ever be a better place than the market. Technology nmental ps Interaction, ychology departmen Photo | Bar For this reason I applaud the idea that TU/e’s Bachelor t IE & IS. t van Overb ee ke College is hosting a market to offer our freshmen a chance to rummage around through the numerous electives and elective tracks. My vision: a hustle and bustle of students passing endless rows of eager professors in colourful stalls calling out to them: Come and see! Come and get it! Fresh produce! SG-employees livening up the event much like street musicians around every corner. But please have it feel like your local farmer’s market, or our old-fashioned flee markets on Queen’s day, and not like one of those tourist traps you might run into during the holiday season. I want to experience the market like the pounding heart of our bachelor school community.
For Starters | 3
See for more news www.cursor.tue.nl
Vox Academici Dr. Tanya Ignatenko, assistant professor of Signal Processing Systems, Department of Electrical Engineering
Will passwords become obsolete upon introduction of brainwave scanner? Imagine there’s no need to enter passwords to access your computer anymore, but merely thinking about it will do the trick. According to researchers at UC Berkeley it will become the new way of logging in. Could these science-fictionesque ‘passthoughts’ become reality? And how safe is this type of biometric recognition compared to other techniques? With the help of special software, the American researchers developed a method to analyze brainwaves very accurately. The margin of error is small
and individual brainwaves are already easily recognizable. The price isn’t whopping either: approximately one hundred dollars will buy you head-
phones with built-in EEG and software that reads brainwaves. “For most people biometric recognition, especially this kind of brainwave recognition, is close to science fiction”, says Tanya Ignatenko, assistant professor of Signal Processing Systems at the Department of Electrical Engineering. She laughs. Then, more seriously: “It’s the future. Biometric recognition
Tanya Ignatenko. Photo | Bart van Overbeeke
is unique and has a number of major advantages, as opposed to today’s typed passwords. Still, I don’t think we should be looking to implement brainwave recognition just yet. Reliability isn’t great, even though Berkeley researchers say they’ve lowered the margin of error substantially. Unfortunately, brainwave recognition has never been tested on a study population - not in this study, either. They’re using small groups of 5 to 20 people, which is fine for a proof of concept, but hardly enough for the set-up of a technical system. That requires major studies. It’s not easy, because such tests often take a long time and people may well be afraid of ‘having their thoughts analyzed’; what will an EEG extract? On the other hand it doesn’t differ that much from a standard EEG at the hospital.” “The software the American researchers describe isn’t all too complex. The EEG signal is represented as time-frequency from which only the mean amplitude in a certain time per frequency component is used for verification. It still needs much improvement, also regarding the signal processing, so more information can be extracted and a more reliable system may be built. Right now, the complete system isn’t as solid as, say, iris or fingerprint recognition.” “Right now, the iris scan is most advanced
within biometrics. Measurements are conducted in a highly controlled environment and the system is very stable. But apart from the biometric signals -be they brainwaves, iris scans, or fingerprints- we must always use a code that can guarantee our safety. As far as I’m concerned, that’s the most important condition.” “The biometric signal is a unique means of identification, which is great for the safety of the system. At the same time, however, it shouldn’t interfere with privacy too much. Should a password be hacked or leak, a new one is easily installed. Brainwaves or iris scans don’t allow for that, so they have to be protected extremely well. Special codes have to prevent hackers from obtaining personal information in case something should happen with a database containing biometric data. Our group is currently working with such codes so biometric recognition may be implemented reliably. Because it will definitely take over the old password. They’re often too easy, are used at different locations, get lost or hacked. A biometric code is with you at all times. And I don’t expect gruesome crimes involving stolen eyes and hands chopped of - I’d expect that to happen in Dan brown’s books.” (NT)
Ready for birthday party TU/e At the dies on April
25, the
4 new university professors
will be wearing a toga adorned with special piping. The silver ‘soutache’ has a total length of
5.5 meter, is 3 millimeters
wide, and it takes George Pisa & Zn. Tailleurs approximately
1 hour per toga to apply the piping (10 minutes to pull the lining, 30 minutes for stitching, and 20 minutes for the finishing touch). The Eindhoven company George Pisa was founded in
1927
and their work includes prince Willem-Alexander’s wedding suit. Its
35 employees are
also in charge of the ceremonial military attire that will be worn at the inauguration of the new king on April
30.
Photo | Bart van Overbeeke
4 | Zoom in
April 18, 2013
Sabine Van Huffel. Photo | Rob Stevens
Zoom in | 5
See for more news www.cursor.tue.nl
“There’s more knowledge surrounding me than there is in my own head” At the dies natalis on April 25, Leuven professor Sabine Van Huffel will be awarded an honorary doctorate from TU/e. The Flemish professor is an authority in the field of biomedical signal processing as well as an acknowledged role model for women in science in her own country. The interior of prof.dr.ir. Sabine Van Huffel’s office in Arenberg Castle reveals a lot about the honorary-doctor-to-be. On the walls are posters displaying texts such as ‘the female engineer’ and ‘5 years of women’, and a calendar picturing the members of ‘her’ group of Biomedical Data Processing stands in the windowsill. Van Huffel is living proof it’s possible to be a mother of five of her own children as well as of two dozen doctoral candidates and postdocs, be a voice in the public debate on women in science, and “be a cut above” the competition at that - in the words of honorary official prof.dr.ir. Jan Bergmans. From the outside, the home to the Department of Electrical Engineering of KU Leuven may exude grandeur, but its interior is rather prosaic. The tiled hallways with empty walls and heavy doors give the place a more practical feel that fits the purpose of the building. “It’s not too big,” the hostess says. “But luckily we’re about to expand so there will be ample space for potential guests from Eindhoven.” Indeed, these Eindhoven guests are expected: Sabine Van Huffel’s honorary doctorate has sparked plans for a collaboration
between her Leuven-based research group and the Signal Processing Systems group led by honorary official Bergmans, for example. The plans should result in the appointment of common doctoral candidates who will do part of their work in Eindhoven and part in Leuven.
“Ideally, you want to create something that lasts” Van Huffel: “We’ll be focusing on neonatal monitoring (the electrical monitoring of vital functions, including brain and heart functions, of newborns, ed.). I’ve been working on that for some time now, because it hits close to home. Newborns are extremely vulnerable and the right treatment is vital for the development of the children at a later age. TU/e has wide experience in the field of monitoring in a way that’s less drastic for the children. The monitoring equipment can be incorporated into their clothing, for
Symposium perinatal monitoring On Wednesday April 24, the day before the dies natalis, in De Zwarte Doos on TU/e campus there will be a symposium on perinatal monitoring techniques that monitor mother and child’s health prior to and right after labor. There will also be an exhibition with posters and new techniques will be demonstrated. Honorary doctor Sabine Van Huffel will be delivering the final lecture. For more information: www.symposiumperinatologie.nl.
example. Unfortunately, that does have a negative influence on the signal. With our expertise, we can help make sure the signal is used to maximum effect.” Apart from the group of Jan Bergmans, which is part of Electrical Engineering, the collaboration may come to include researchers of the Department of Biomedical Engineering. One partner they definitely want to include is Philips Research. “It’s important to me this study results in an actual product. It’s very common for a certain method to be used only for as long as the inventor is involved, while ideally, you want to create something that lasts. For that to happen, you have to be able to sell your finding. And the Netherlands, and especially Eindhoven, is definitely much better at that than we are.” It’s what marks Sabine Van Huffel: she doesn’t conduct research for the sake of research, or for her own success. The only thing that matters to her is that the techniques she develops improve the living conditions of her patients. That’s what drives her and makes her work around the clock. It’s obvious where her motivation comes from, she says. “When I was sixteen I needed back surgery because of scoliosis. I was in the hospital for two months. There were three other girls in my room, all three of whom suffered from bone cancer and were there to have one of their legs amputated. Two of them died within a year and the third, who was my age, became my best friend.” “Thinking about that period now, I especially remember the friendly, caring doctors and nurses. Up until my surgery I wanted to become a sports instructor, but my back made that impossible. Besides, I wanted to give back. At an open day of Computer Science I had a crucial epiphany: I could use my talent for mathematics to improve medical technology.
However, I was in a girls’ school that taught only four hours of mathematics a week, which wasn’t enough at all for an engineering program. In my final year, I gave my all to pass the engineering exam. And I did.” She soon found out that patience is a virtue. It was only after a general five-year program that made her a computer science engineer that she could finally choose a medical subject for her final project. Or so she thought.
“There’s no competition here, I always tell new colleagues” “They thought it was a stupid idea, so I went looking for a suitable project myself.” After a while she found it in the Leuven hospital, where she analyzed the best direction from which to radiate a tumor. It turned out to be the start of a glorious career in biomedical signal processing. Van Huffel is excited about the Biomedical Engineering program at TU/e. She would have liked to study that herself, she says. “When they started the program in Eindhoven, I thought that was fantastic. In Leuven I helped make the biomedical engineering subjects that were incorporated in the Masters Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering into an independent Master’s degree. It’s currently the program that attracts the most women, after architecture.” The Flemish professor had never thought she would ever be an honorary doctor. “I couldn’t believe it when they told me. Hardly ever have I lobbied for awards,
because I don’t care for personality cults. My priorities lie with supervising my students. Society may actually benefit from that.” The honor is definitely not just hers, she adds hurriedly. She regards it as an honor to her entire research group. “There’s more knowledge surrounding me than there is in my own head”, she says in an attempt to explain how she feels. Cooperation and good fellowship are most important for Van Huffel. “There’s no competition here, I always tell new colleagues. Sometimes, they give me a surprised look, but I’m quite certain that cooperation leads to greater achievements than competition. These days, it’s especially remunerative for scientists to publish a lot. Because of that, people tend to keep new results to themselves for as long as possible. I’m convinced knowledge is lost owing to that attitude, and that’s why I promote solidarity in my group.” And she seems to be doing a good job, as young parents in her group have asked colleagues to be their children’s godparents. “It’s a little extreme, but it shows they support each other in good times and bad times. Friendships like these improve cooperation.”
Interview | Tom Jeltes Photo | Rob Stevens