19 5 June 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
More and more female associate professors
URE hopes to have best two-wheel-drive racecar 29 May - URE09 will be vying for the title best two-wheel-drive racecar in the Formula Student competition. On Wednesday 28 May, University Racing Eindhoven (URE) presented their latest black shiny racing pearl. Team manager Bart Kienhuis says URE09 should be able to make it into the top five of the overall ranking. Next year, URE hopes to have their own four-wheel-drive car to race with. Over the past months, several team members have been working on the basics of URE10 in secret - “and more than part-time, too”. Kienhuis says URE10 should be top-three contestant by 2015.
TU/e and Ph strategic all ilips launch iance 3 June - TU/e
28 May - In 2012 the number was very low still, but in 2013 almost half of all new associate professors (UD) at TU/e were women. In the first quarter of 2014 TU/e didn’t see any female UDs come or go. Mid 2012, the Executive Board set the objective to have at least fifty percent of all new UDs in 2012 and 2013 be women. The Board thought of forcing departments to hire female UDs only if their percentages were too low, but does not seen necessary now.
Ingrid Heynderickx new dean IE&IS
and Philips Re search have en man of the TU/e tered into a mul Executive Boar ti-year partners d Jan Mengele Henk van Hout hip, said Chairrs and Genera en on Tuesday l Manager of Ph 3 Ju ne researching di . W ith ilips Research in tw o years, sevent gital innovatio y extra PhD stud ns in the fields According to Ph ents will be of he al ilips heavywei thcare, lightin ght Henk van Ho g, and data sc company has en ience. uten, the allianc tered into e is one of the with a knowledg largest the e institution, globally. Some 28 million euro is involved with the partnership, m ost of which is paid for by Phili ps and TU/e. The Máxima M edical Center, Catharina Hosp ital, and the Kempenhaege Expertise Center -also joining th e alliance- pay a smaller part. In total, approximately two hundred researchers, pr ofessors, PhD students, and students will be working toge ther closely.
Clmn
and tuecursor on
28 May - The Executive Board has appointed prof.dr. Ingrid Heynderickx as dean of the Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences (IE&IS). Heynderickx has been a professor at TU/e since 2013, and will take up her new position on 1 January 2015. She is the successor to prof.dr. Sjoerd Romme. As new dean, Heynderickx sees her role as that of a bridge-builder. The IE&IS department consists of two schools, the School of Industrial Engineering and the School of Innovation Sciences. “I believe it will be valuable to look for areas in which our two schools can complement each other in terms of both research and education.”
More news on www.cursor.tue.nl/en
Rain, Sun, Rain…
‘Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.’ Above lines by John Ruskin give me the impression that he has never been to the Netherlands. Being an expat (also from a warmer region), the weather was one of the first challenges I had to face in The Netherlands. The incessant rains that go beyond refreshing, the grey and dark skies, crazy gusts of wind, sudden changes in temperature, and sporadic sunshine can become quite nettling and annoying. Weather has an impact on our health and even on our emotions and energy levels. It can’t induce emotions, but it can definitely affect our mood, and influence our energy level. Sunshine is connected to positive
changes in our energy level. Similarly, a darker day with little sunlight and lots of rain can make you feel tired and down. According to research on the effect of sudden weather changes on our health, ‘weather alone can’t make a person ill, but changes in weather are accompanied by a host of other changes that can give a person flu symptoms’. An abrupt change in weather can weaken the immune system and make you more susceptible to germs and bacteria. Summer days (I am very reluctant to call it ‘summer season’) are coming, but the Dutch weather is well-known for its unpredictability. I was thinking about writing about the never-ending rain, but then the sun came out. I don’t know what the weather will be like when you read this column, but I hope that the sun chooses to stay with us for a little longer.
Mohsin Si ra at Electric j, PhD candidate al Engineer ing
People | 25
See for more news www.cursor.tue.nl/en
And how are things in Montpellier? 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.
On February 6, 2014 at 9 o’clock sharp, a pilot who wishes to stay anonymous started the engines of his airplane to arrive in southern France only moments later. As a last assignment of our former Highness, I was assigned to make friends with the French people, and to launch a massive campaign for peanut butter. It seemed like a good plan to go look for the spatial arrangement population first. And so it was, because close to the place where we set up base camp I found a composition of concrete volumes named École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture. First contact wasn’t easy, since I only understood a few words; vice versa communication was even worse. I decided to sacrifice myself to master the French language. It is now four months later, and you may call me master. For those who want to travel here to study architecture I’ll paint a picture of the atmosphere. Half of the school building is accessible with a pass 24/7, which makes sleeping superfluous. A separate wing is reserved for project groups. The size of the spaces allows everyone to come and go as they please, resulting in a cross-pollination of ideas. During morning volunteer students prepare food. I decided to join that group in order to speed up my mastery of French. The atmosphere at the cafeteria is very pleasant, and the school is small enough to eliminate anonymity. There’s something going on in the city every night, and there are parties at school at least once a week. I have two months of field work left, after which I will report to her Highness the people here are dying for that brown stuff that I’ve been promoting for the last few months.
Michiel Master van Steen of Arch bergen, itectur (pictu e red left ) 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: Vassil Stoitsev Place of Birth: Pleven, Bulgaria Year of Birth: 1987 Studied at TU/e: September 2010 - November 2012, MSc Business Information Systems Current position: IT consultant at Capgemini, a major ICT consultancy agency in the Netherlands How did you find your job? Actually, I didn’t follow the standard path to find a job since I have complet ed my internship and subsequently my master’s thesis at my current employe r. It made it easier to get on board upon graduating. I wouldn’t say I had a clear future career in mind before starting at TU/e. Most people who have studied my program end up in consultancy, so it probably makes sense. At the moment I am not conside ring relocation or changing my core job. I am interested in exploring new areas like sustainable energy or transportation, however. How do you reflect on your time at TU/e? TU/e offered the best program in the Netherlands for what I wanted to study. Actually I decided on a country first and a university second. I traveled Europe to research what culture suited me best, and what country offered high-qu ility education in English at the same time. The program has definitely been challenging. It’s taught me useful concept s. I have been able to conduct research and I enjoyed to a certain extent. Research is completely different from working in the industry and has the advanta ge of being innovative, and researchers are free to make their own decision s. Social life at TU/e has also been rather good thanks to the many internat ional students and study associations (I was a member of GEWIS). I was also part of the international student association (nowadays Cosmos). All things considered I think my choice of TU/e has been a good one: I’ve enjoyed both good education and great times. 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? Well, in general the Netherlands offer very good opportunities for a good job, but it’s important you like the country if you want to stay and work here. I think learning some Dutch can definitely help students in their job hunt, but it’s not a must as there are many international companies here, too (especia lly in the Eindhoven area).
26 | Zoom in
5 June 2014
Circuit Overload: Should you Standing next to me at the Brussels airport the other day were two young brothers -say, about 16 and 17- parked up against the railing at the arrivals gate, waiting, like me, for a loved one to come through the sliding glass doors. Their parents stood next to them, and also like me, the parents’ eyes were trained on the doors so they wouldn’t miss their family member as she emerged from baggage claim. But three minutes into our watch, the tedium of doing absolutely nothing had already taken its toll on the teenagers - both of them whipped out iPhones and began hammering away at the screens. Sound familiar? During the last decade, our relationship with technology has taken on a whole new tint. A few, short years ago, we didn’t sleep with our cell phones, text during dinner or know the precise angle in order to achieve the perfect selfie. But now, and for just about everyone the technological advancements that once made our lives easier and helped us connect to our fellow humans are now threatening to swallow our days in a barrage of emails, apps, games and texts. Where is our technology use taking us socially and culturally? Should we adopt a more moderate relationship with our devices? And are there any benefits to unplugging, disconnecting and ignoring the ‘ding’ of that email you just got? “If it’s a really interesting lecture and I get the feeling that it’s important, I don’t look at my phone”, explains Tim Gerth (Department of Electrical Engineering) about his in-class technology use, continuing “But if it’s a boring lecture, then, yeah, I might get on my phone. If I’m expecting an important email, then I always take the time to read it.” Gerth is a good example of the Millennial generation, also known as Generation Y. He and his peers were born between the early 1980s until about 2000. They were the first to come of age with cable TV, the Internet and cell phones so technology is basically woven into their DNA. In fact, when asked what makes their generation unique, Millennials ranked ‘Technology Use’ first (24%), followed by ‘Music/Pop Culture’ (11%) and ‘Liberal/Tolerant’ (7%). In contrast, Baby Boomers (born immediately after WWII) ranked ‘Work Ethic’ as the most defining characteristic of their generation. So, the Millennials are tech-savvy, hyper-connected and the masters of multi-tasking. They can respond to emails, monitor a Twitter feed and follow a lecture (at least the good bits) and not miss a beat, right? Not exactly. New research reveals that even these digital natives are
starting to feel the strain of their ‘always on’ lifestyle, especially after they enter the work world. According to a 2013 study by Cornerstone OnDemand, a global leader of cloud-based talent management software solutions, the Millennials are struggling to find a tech balance in their daily lives. The company’s vice president, Jason Corsello, says: “Gen Y workers, whom we have largely pigeonholed as having an insatiable appetite for technology, are expressing both a desire for more human, face-to-face interaction and frustration with information and technology overload”.
Why don’t we just walk away? So if it’s all starting to be too much for us, why don’t we just walk away? What is it about checking email, Facebook, and all the rest that is so incredibly attractive? Sherry Turkle is a psychologist and world-renowned researcher of human-technology interaction. At a 2012 TED conference she discussed her latest book, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other, and says: “We’re getting used to a new way of being alone together. People want to be with each other, but also elsewhere - connected to all the different places they want to be. People want to customize their lives. They want to go in and out of all the places they are because the thing that matters most to them is control over where they put their attention.” Mary Bastawrous (Department of Mechanical Engineering) moved to Eindhoven from Egypt last September. She’s trying to focus on her work as a PhD candidate and build a social life here. Her emerging technology use (she got her first smartphone when she arrived in NL) mirrors Turkle’s findings. Mary explains: “I’m thinking of using more messages to talk to friends. If you
make a call, you need the time and the mood to do that. But maybe you had a long day and you don’t feel like having a conversation. This way, you’re still staying in touch but it’s more on your own terms.” Controlling our communication with others is only part of the reason we turn to our devices. For others, social media might even be addictive. A recent Harvard University study showed that disclosing personal information on websites like Facebook and Twitter activates the pleasure centers of the brain, the same areas that light up on an MRI when a person enjoys good food, receiving money or having sex. And similar research reveals the same phenomenon at work when we check email. Like mice in a lab that only receive food after a specific behavior, checking email sometimes offers up particularly delicious nuggets - an email from a long-lost friend, a job offer, or an invitation to a social event. In response, we develop the habit of ‘over-checking’ our email in the hopes that we’ll be richly compensated for our efforts. Harold Bak (Department of Electrical Engineering) jokingly sums up this impulse: “If I notice an email, I will look at it right away. People in the current age, they have their email linked directly to their brains. New email in! Must respond immediately!”
Being alone feels like a problem that needs to be solved Sherry Turkle further defines our love affair with our devices: “Those phones in our pockets are changing our minds and hearts because they offer us three gratifying fantasies. One, that we can put our attention wherever we want it to be; two, that we will always be heard; and three, that we will be alone. And that third idea is central to changing our psyches. Because the moment that people are alone, even for a few seconds, they become anxious, they panic, they fidget, and they reach for a device. Being alone feels like a problem that needs to be solved. And so people try to solve it by connecting. But here, connection is more like a symptom than a cure. It expresses, but it doesn’t solve, an underlying problem.”
When was the last time you were well and truly bored? You know… that feeling that the hours are yawning heavily before you and you have NO idea how to fill them? No? Can’t remember? You’re not alone. For most of us, it’s a virtually unknown phenomenon. And particularly for the Millennials, who’ve grown up with countless digital diversions within arm’s reach, it’s natural to immediately fill an idle moment (or a boring lecture) by texting, tweeting, changing their Facebook status, or launching a few angry birds. However, for many psychologists, educators, and researchers the extinction of boredom is a worrying facet of modern life and they advocate quite the opposite: that boredom is good. Boredom is even useful. Allowing yourself to experience healthy doses of it could be an important key to creating a happier, more meaningful life and a vital component to boosting your creativity. In fact, a recent study by Dr. Sandi Mann and Rebekah Cadman of the University of Central Lancashire found that people who were engaged in passive activities, such as simply staring into space, were more likely to daydream which ultimately had a direct effect on their creativity levels. So, should we all go sit in a room and watch the proverbial paint dry on the wall? Not exactly. “Boredom in and of itself is not so important but the ability to be bored signifies the capacity for reflective thought”, explains Dr. Adam Cox, an American psychologist specializing in youth mental health. He continues: “Young minds are currently being sculpted by electronics to be all peaks and no valleys.” And it’s in those valleys -those low-key moments of doing little and being alone- where we not only tap hidden founts of creativity but also find ourselves. “I’ve been on my own since I was 16 and I got used to it”, explains Mary Bastawrous (Department of Mechanical Engineering), continuing: “Of course, I like to be around people. But sometimes you need to be alone and settle things with yourself. Clear your mind. I find it very important to have that time with myself. I think that’s why I don’t like to call or text so often.” Bastawrous instinctively keeps herself from becoming hyperconnected and that could be a good thing for her in the long run. It seems that shelving our devices and disconnecting could be vital to
sculpting a healthy self-identity which is the bedrock for how we interact with others. Sherry Turkle warns that an inability to be alone, separate from our devices and all they offer, could in the end backfire: “Solitude is where you find yourself so that you can reach out to other people and form real attachments. We slip into thinking that always being connected is going to make us feel less alone. But actually it’s the opposite that’s true. If we’re not able to be alone, we’re going to be more lonely.”
“There’s no escaping technology” For the majority of TU/e students and staff, separating from social media and email is almost impossible for any extended period of time. The demands of work, study and social life dictate daily connection. “If I stepped away from social media for a whole week”, jokes Gerth, “I think I’d have a fight with my girlfriend. And my friends!” Harold Bak agrees: “Everything I’m going to do in the next 40 years will be based on technology. I’m surrounded by it. In my line of work, there’s no escaping from it.” So, what are we to do? If we’re utterly enveloped in our technology with virtually no escape, how do we strike the right balance between technology use that helps versus technology use that hinders? For some, the key to preventing the information overload of today is by drawing on the philosophy of 2000 years ago. ‘Mindfulness’ is a current buzzword in psychology and self-help circles, but the idea has been around for millennia as a cornerstone of Buddhist philosophy. Today, engaging in the practice of mind fulness generally means ‘bringing one’s complete attention to the present experience on a moment-tomoment basis’. In practical terms, it looks like this: You’re walking across campus, on your way to class. But instead of listening to music and thinking about that paper you have due, you wholly and consciously engage in (and hopefully enjoy) your current activity. You remove your earbuds, notice the trees, breathe in the fresh air, and generally ‘experience’ your walk for just what it is - a five minute pause in the middle of your day.
See for more news www.cursor.tue.nl/en
Zoom in | 27
tame your technology use? Jerome Wehrens is the owner of B-Mind Eindhoven, a local mindfulness training center, and explains that the busy professionals who seek his help often complain of technology overload. “We have so much information that needs to be processed and our brains just aren’t equipped for that. Think about a typical farmer in the Middle Ages. In his entire life, he was probably only confronted with the same amount of new information that we try to process in a single month. It’s just too much for us.”
Indulge in Il dolce far niente Wehrens believes that part of our happiness depends on keeping our tech use at bay, at least for defined periods. “When you check in on social media or check your email, it’s a surrogate happiness. You can create the same emotion, much more strongly, when you become aware of things in the moment. In fact, it releases a hormone in the hypothalamus that provides an actual good feeling. By doing this a hundred times a day, it’s not that you think you’re happier - you actually are.” Wehrens also coaches his clients to take their mindfulness further by teaching them the art of meditation - 20 or 30 minutes a day of meditation and clients lower their stress levels and become more productive. Learning to be alone, cultivating boredom, mindfulness, meditation - sure, we can arm ourselves with tools that’ll help safeguard our peace of mind during this unknown and ever-developing relationship with our technology. But maybe in the end, the best thing to do is to adopt a life strategy from our fellow Europeans - from time to time shut down, switch off and log out to simply indulge in Il dolce far niente - or the sweetness of doing nothing.
Text | Angela Daley Photo | Bart van Overbeeke
28 | Student housing
5 June 2014
Text | San van Suchtelen and Leo de Boer
In recent years the housing landscape for students has been changing considerably. The decrepit suite, the ramshackle kitchen cupboards and the tangle of bikes in front of the door make room for new patterns: a personal shower, toilet and kitchenette and a neatly parked bicycle. Cursor found out where today’s students live in Eindhoven, what their campus accommodation will look like and whether the new luxury is still affordable.
From space cabin to high-rise apartment building Although the view of the river Dommel stays as it is, many other things are about to change for students who want to live on the TU/e campus. More space, more individual facilities, a shared balcony and considerably more neighbors. Living on the campus of TU/e. It was and will remain possible until 2016 if one pinches and scrapes in a cozy though particularly cramped space cabin of barely twenty square meters. With a view to the river Dommel, it must be admitted. Yet also with a tiny little bathroom, with no space to swing a cat in the shower. Close attention will reveal an ultra-compact twin-burner stove. In spite of these tight dimensions, its inhabitants always thoroughly enjoyed living there. In recent years they formed a motley collection of Iranians, Chinese, Japanese, Italians, Spaniards and Indians, who got what they wanted: furnished and reserved accommodation. Anyone intending to live in such a cubicle will be well-advised to bring only the bare necessities. A table, a chair, a bed and a cupboard will go a long way towards filling the available space. Living in space cabins is not cheap, though: 435 euro exclusive of gas, water, electricity and service charges is
the monthly amount inhabitants are expected to dish up for their humble abodes. The double variant for studying couples works out at 675 euro exclusive. Of late years occupants have not brought along a lot, for that matter. Vestide reserves and lets the cabins to international students only in furnished condition. The Serbian PhD student Dobrivoje Dackovic (27) regularly stays in a space cabin when he wants to see his girl-friend Laura, who lives there. They do not sleep together, as the single bed is too narrow by an inch. Dackovic calls the cabins ‘small but habitable’. “But that’s all there is to it. For such an amount you should actually get 60 square meters”, he thinks. The Serb fully understands why TU/e has decided on a new approach. “This is not enough to compete with the other campuses. That kitchenette may be tight, but one cupboard for all your stuff just won’t do.” In his girl-friend’s arrangement the table, the sink, the chairs and the bed are
also being used as ‘cupboards’ from lack of space. Housing corporation Vestide has closed the space cabin era on paper as well as in practice, witness the green deposit that is appearing on the exterior. Ever since the corporation decided in 2011 together with TU/e to replace the 186 cabins by 600 new dwellings, no more maintenance has been carried out. After all, those dwellings had to accommodate all the additional foreign students, doctoral candidates and postdocs that TU/e wanted to tempt to come to Eindhoven. For their specific living requirements the city did not have a sufficient supply available in 2000. Which meant that TU/e had to build them itself, especially if it wanted to compete with other cities, where living on campus was already a matter of course. The ambitions have been elaborated in the housing program included in the TU/e Campus 2020 Master plan. It will start with the construction of a new high-rise building, to be erected between Potentiaal and the Sports Center. Soon after that Potentiaal -which now still accommodates Electrical Engineering- will
be converted in such a way that it will also be fit for living. Moreover, in a later stage a student village will be built around the new residential high-rise, consisting of two fields of interconnected duplex apartments. These will have two floors and be equipped with an individual kitchenette, sanitary facilities and a roof terrace. The scenario of Campus 2020 does not schedule the construction of the student village sooner than between 2018 and 2020.
Residential high-rise for all types of students Altogether, then, 600 dwellings will be added to the TU/e campus until 2020. The prelude is about to kick off when the soil beneath Vestide’s tower block is prepared for construction. The fourteen-story giant is located between Traverse, Potentiaal and the current space cabins, right across a parking lot and a road that will be partly rerouted. Barring mishaps, the construction of the high-rise building can be commenced in the spring of 2015. Its completion
is expected in the summer of 2016. The layout of all stories will be identical. On the outside there will be two group dwellings with shared facilities, each comprising four rooms. The arrangement of these clusters could be compared with a traditional students’ residence. The group dwellings (26 altogether) are connected by a long corridor. The corridors in turn give access to nine smaller and five larger independent units with individual facilities such as sanitary fittings and a kitchen unit. In addition, each floor has space for a two-room apartment. Might that be an option for Dobrivoje and Laura? “Not for me unfortunately”, says Dackovic. “I will only be in the Netherlands until October”. Per story the inhabitants will have to share a communal balcony facing south, if they want to sit outside when the weather is nice. There are more such shared facilities, particularly on the ground floor, which will house a large bicycle shed, a laundromat, an HCS installation and a common room. The exact layout of the last-mentioned space is still an open item for Vestide. Solar panels fitted on the roof will generate most of the energy for the public lighting in the building. The rent for the small rooms in the cluster dwellings will be around 225 euro. The individual rooms will have an average basic rent of around 340 euro. Harald Evers (Vestide): “In practice its occupants will be mainly TU/e students. Still, that does not mean that it is off-limits for Fontys students, who also study here on campus. We hope to provide accommodation for all types of TU/e students, whether studying for short or longer periods, living in Eindhoven temporarily or wishing to experience what living in digs is like.” Before commencement of the activities, the municipality’s Spatial Quality Committee will need to pass judgment. Subsequently a European tendering procedure will determine who is going to construct the project. If TU/e should face an extra demand for dwellings on campus after 2020, it is duly prepared for this. Indeed, the present location of Traverse has been earmarked for an as yet undetermined and flexible building capacity, which may also be used to accommodate students.
Photo | Bart van Overbeeke
The high-rise Vestide is going to build on TU/e campus.
Student housing | 29
See for more news www.cursor.tue.nl/en
How viable is the luxury? In the past few years they seem to have mushroomed in Eindhoven: spacious, luxurious housing complexes with more than a hundred, and sometimes hundreds of studio apartments. They are mostly inhabited by international students and doctoral candidates, whom TU/e loves to see in Eindhoven. This group comes with new needs, such as privacy, personal facilities and quality. With the borrowing system in the offing the question is whether this early luxury can also be afforded by Dutch students. Whereas most students still live in the traditional way -grouped in cozy students’ residences-, research carried out by knowledge center Kences shows that the demand for independence among students is on the increase. Living on their own in turnkey furnished accommodation is also what international students want when coming to Eindhoven to
study for a limited time span. This need is filled both by corporations and private housing providers via big complexes that occasionally count more than a hundred inhabitants. Builders are catching up in quality especially - in absolute terms the growth is not so specta cular, because a portion of the new buildings replaces old housing.
Student housing in the Cederlaan. Photo | Bart van Overbeeke
Thus, in the TU/e grounds almost 200 space boxes will be replaced by 600 new dwellings. The reason why both the municipality and the housing corporations are eager to fill those needs is that the city as a prominent knowledge region of Europe wishes to be a magnet for new talent, particularly in the technical domain. This talent is necessary for the continuous infusion of the local economy with fresh blood. Until 2020 a significant increase is expected in the number of international students in Eindhoven. Both corporations and property developers are serving this market with the construction of luxurious complexes, which are predominantly located within the so-called ring; the orbital circling
Eindhoven’s city center. The municipality is facilitating this construction spate by selectively granting and denying permits. Nearly 70 percent of the applications for student housing was granted in the last three years (864 studio apartments) whilst 600 applications (84 percent) for more expensive apartments were denied.
New life in dormant locations
Another conspicuous feature is that the new complexes often give an impulse to derelict locations in the city, under threat of further deterioration or occupation by squatters. Projects in areas like the Cederlaan (abandoned Philips site), The Beech, Bomansplaats, OLV8 and Mauritslaan (orphaned offices) suddenly appear to breathe life into dormant locations. The environment reaps the resulting benefits. On a smaller scale students in the strong community of Woensel-West personally give an impulse in their neighborhood. They provide social services in their neighborhood and get housing with a rent reduction in return. “Children who have a language deficiency are given extra Dutch lessons and pupils are assisted in doing their homework”, as Nienke Bruinsma from housing corporation Trudo explains. This way the municipality, education and corporations appear to control the supply and demand market, backed by clear agreements (Student Housing Covenant 2012-2020) on what they need to do until 2020 to accommodate the growth. Yet there is one party with a plan of its own that wants to cater to more target groups than students alone. It is the real estate duo Foolen and Reijs, which is leaving its traces with various transformed premises in the city center. Recently they announced a new project: the reincarnation of the ‘deceased’ office De Groene Toren at Vestdijk. The intention is to convert this into no less than 200 furnished residential studios for young professionals. Lee Foolen: “We are aiming for young professionals. They may be students as well as newly graduated professionals, starters, expats or exchange students”. In their approach the real estate duo adopts a fixed concept: they purchase vacated premises, convert them into a cluster of fully furnished studio apartments and subsequently sell the premises to a proprietor who regards it as an investment. Research conducted by TU/e Architecture, Building and Planning student Janneke Koeleman recently showed the need for this kind of accommodation for expats.
By deciding on such a broad target group the real estate duo is leaving its comfort zone. Indeed, a condition set by the municipality for granting a permit is that campus contracts should be used. Which implies that tenants can only be youngsters enrolled with an educational institution. That way the municipality wants to boost the flow within student complexes. Accordingly, the applications solemnly promise to comply with this. In practice, however, the youngsters populating the premises of Foolen and Reijs are not only students. Camelot Student Housing is also shifting its boundaries by not forcing students who have graduated to leave. While the municipality is aware that some housing corporations are doing as they please, it is not monitoring this. “We are currently charting the accommodation landscape for students”, is the explanation given by Bert Gerritsen, urban policy developer for the municipality of Eindhoven. “This could result in granting permits to more target groups than just students.” Harald Evers from student housing corporation Vestide has some misgivings about the one-sided nature of property development for students: “The affordability of those houses will be jeopardized if the Cabinet is going to tamper with the rent surcharge. It only includes independent dwellings, when there is still a demand for students’ residences with shared facilities.” Urban design and planning engineer Fulco Treffers, who is working for Vestide to design new forms of accommodation for students at Strijp S, also questions the popularity of all those new ‘meters’. “Not the facilities and the luxury, but the rent is becoming an increasingly important factor in the choice of lodgings. Especially with the introduction of the borrowing system. For project Space-S at Strijp S Treffers was made aware of other values and housing wishes among students: “This group indicated that it preferred skimping on their own rooms to stinting the common room”, he says. “Apparently the group interest takes precedence over their individual interests. In addition, they wanted to have a highly mixed population rather than a community with occupants that are all one of a kind. That’s what we’re going to build here.” It seems as if tomorrow’s student housing corporations would be wise, given all these uncertainties, to lay out their added space in the most flexible manner possible. This would allow them to tune in to new needs or to changes in the financial starting position of their target group. Or, if need be, to serve an entirely different group with their premises.
30 | Research
5 June 2014
4 burning questions
Alexander van Reenen | Applied Physics
Moving magnetic particles for diagnoses
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?
Influenced by generated magnetic fields, the magnetic particles on the cover complete several steps in a microfluidic liquid cell. First, the particles form spinning chains so they can pick up proteins (green) efficiently. Then the particles are spread over an area in order to bind the captured proteins to the sensor surface. These are the steps in the process I’ve researched and developed. In an integrated biosensor, there would be an extra step where the proteins are washed, after which the number of bound particles are determined to establish the protein concentration.
2 | parties I’ve researched a new technology to optimize certain microfluidic processes for miniaturized diagnostic tests. Magnetic particles prove to be very suitable to that end, and I’ve researched the influence dynamic magnetic fields may have on improving performances.
4
es ow do
H
3 | essential
fit
ne e b y iet
soc
k? r wor u o y from
If it wasn’t for Philips, my research project wouldn’t have been as focused on relevant challenges in this area of expertise. It’s quite unique to conduct fundamental research in light of an actual and relevant implementation.
4 | society benefit The techniques I’ve developed allow for magnetic particles to be used even more effectively in pointof-care technology, i.e. for direct diagnoses (for heart failure, for example). This type of diagnostics is bound to improve the efficiency and (cost) effectiveness of healthcare considerably in the future.
(edited by Tom Jeltes) Photos | Bart van Overbeeke
Research | 31
See for more news www.cursor.tue.nl/en
Joep de Groot | Electrical Engineering
Safe fingerprints 1 | cover The cover shows a fingerprint, one of the most well-known forms of biometrics. Looking closely, you’ll see it’s made up of ones and zeroes. My dissertation is about converting biometric data into digital data. My cousin designed the cover for me, and he’s also the one who came up with the idea. I like it because now people have to look at the dissertation from a distance as well as from up close to get the whole picture.
2 | parties I usually start by explaining what biometrics entails: recognizing people from personal characteristics like fingerprints, iris scans and the like. Then I’ll explain that my study isn’t so much about whether we should and how we should go about it, but about how we can keep it safe. By using biometric data, people’s privacy and security may be jeopardized unintentionally.
3 | essential The techniques used in my research project are inspired by the digital watermarking of media like films and music. The first steps for using this technique in biometrics were taken by my promotor. I continued the study by looking at how to prevent information leaking from the system, and to ensure the recognition of individuals is optimized.
4 | society benefit Currently, many biometric systems like the e-Passport are based on a naive security method:encryption-decryption. This system assumes that anyone with an encryption key can be trusted. With the system we’ve developed, that assumption is no longer necessary, because the stored data cannot be traced back to the original biometrics.
Shady Keyrouz | Electrical Engineering
Wirelessly-charged mobile phones 1 | cover There’s an RF power harvester on the cover. Like solar cells convert the energy of light into electricity, the device on the cover captures part of the available RF power (radiated from a GSM base station or a TV tower) and transforms that into direct current (DC). This prototype has been developed to produce an RF power harvesting glass.
2 | parties The dream application for our research project would be wireless phone charging. In other words, whenever a WiFi signal is available (in most restaurants and public places), our technology would allow for mobile phones to start charging automatically.
3 | essential System optimization and the cooperation between antenna designers and RFIC designers have been essential for this project.
4 | society benefit Using wireless motion detection sensors as well as temperature and light sensors, heating and lighting can be adjusted automatically, which is a great way to save energy that would otherwise be lost, in buildings for example. The integration of wireless sensors not only has the potential of minimizing energy consumption, but can also improve the well-being of elderly still living at home. They can monitor vital functions for in-home healthcare, telemedicine, and remote intervention. Powering these sensors wirelessly boosts the use of wireless sensor networks and minimizes energy consumption. We have been able to wirelessly power different kinds of sensors: temperature and humidity sensors, and temperature sensors with LCD displays.
0h,
-23:0 June, 15:00 5 y a d rs s u Th U/e campu oos, T De Zwarte D l
stiva
Ja!pan Fe
ival. Make e Ja!pan festith karaoke, th g n ri u d n w ng Japa Experience h martial arts, sing alo, be amazed by sushi, watc nce Dance Revolution to Koto playing move to Da op culture Anime, listenand freak out on Japanese p ic Japanese drummingSounds. and fantast f Deejays of Deshima the beats o e: none Entrance fe
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
11
Woensdag juni, 12:40 - 13 :35u, Blauwe Zaal, A uditorium, TU /e-campus Studio Ge
6, 7 en 8 juni, 20:00u, Gaslab, TU/e-campus
neralio WK voeltbal show met sid ekick Hans v an Breukelen
Hormonologica
Doppio speelt een montagestuk, een toneelstuk dat wordt opgebouwd uit materiaal dat de spelers zelf inbrengen. Het gaat over vier vrouwen die ieder tegen hun eigen obstakels aanlopen en daarmee proberen te dealen - overigens niet altijd even succesvol.
In deze mix va vooruit op het n Studio Voetbal en DWDD voetbal in Brazaanstaande wereldkampioeblikt SG -door technolo ilië. Verder worden de nieu nschap voetballand begie gedreven- ontwikkelingewste sproken. n in Entreekosten: gratis
Entreekosten: studenten 4 euro, anderen 8 euro
Wednesday
11
TU/e ozaal, Traverse, el rg o D , h 0 3 7: -1 June, 13:30
search data ymposium Re
S
campus
management
of TU/e the IEC/Library U.Datacentrum rch data management: 3T th wi er th ge To mposium ‘Resea ’. More organizes the syents, questions and solutions with their m y pl ire m qu co u to funder re ement. ch funders ask yo and more resear ncerning research data managn their co ai pl ts ex en ll m wi ire EC qu e re um NWO and th At this symposi
m . Researchers froement d requirements vision, plans antheir experience of data manag TU/e will share es of research. in different stag ne. Entrance fee: no ki@tue.nl Register : l.osins
Donder da ju voor he g t Audito ni, 16:00u, KO r E-vel i um Plugge d Festi , TU/e-campus d, val Een
12
div muziek ersiteit aan ba Pluggedmaken op de ndjes komt ee van mu Studentenfestweede editie vn avond Why Tonziekstijlen. LIN tival. Er is vee an het Desert, y, She’s got L E-UP: LEFT, Sa l afwisseling hongerigThe Droeftoeteegs, Gork A27, lisbury, Ta rs e maag zijn frie , JAGGS. Voor marin d t en sna Entreek cks te k e osten: g oop. ratis
12
Donderdag juni, zaterdag 20:00u, Gaslab, TU/e-campus
14 juni en zondag 15 juni,
Prachtig Beest
Doppio beperkt zich In deze versie van Macbeth en Lady Macbeth. Het gruwelijke universum dat tot de dialogen tussen Macbeth verbonden met persoonlijke ambitie en de drangzij creëren is onlosmakelijk om samen op te trekken tegen de ‘boze buitenwereld’. Woordenspel, houva leiden uiteindelijk tot waanzin en destructie van st, manipulatie en erotiek het koningskoppel. Entreekosten: studenten 4 euro, anderen 8 euro
Zaterdag
14 juni 20:00u , Parktheater, Theaterpad 1, Eindhoven
Dreams - ESDV Footloose Dance Showca
se ‘14
Laat je inspireren tijdens de dans showcase ‘Drea ms’ van Footloose, de Eindhovense Studenten Dans Vereniging. Wanneer je verde r kijkt dan naar een klas vol studenten, zie je een klas vol personen, met eigen nachtmerri es, dromen en fantasieën. De show zal bestaan uit verschillende choreografieën, met danse rs van alle niveaus en stijlen. Van hip-hop tot stijldans, modern tot burlesk beeld van de personen achter de nerds, machen van tap tot salsa. Zij geven je een o’s en material girls. Entreekosten: studenten 7,50 euro, niet-studen reserveren via showcasereserveringen@gmail.cten 10 euro om
13
Vrijdag juni 16:00-23:30u, Markthal MetaForum, TU/e campus
Industria Lustrum: Final Event
Industria’s tiende lustrumjaar is bijna afgelopen een grootse afsluiter. Op 13 juni zal een groot krijgt festijn plaatsvinden bij de Markthal van het Metaforum alle Eindhovense studenten. Vanaf 21.00 uur zal voor groot scherm de WK wedstrijd Spanje - Nederlandop te zien zijn! Dus ben er bij in je oranje outfit, kom oranje mannen aanmoedigen en kom meegeniet de en van het feest! Entreekosten: geen