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Biweekly magazine of the Eindhoven University of Technology

28 November 2013 | year 56

For the latest news: www.cursor.tue.nl/en and follow @TUeCursor_news on

TOP funding for Mathematics & Computer Science Tuesday 26 November 2013 - Three researchers of Mathematics & Computer Science will be receiving a TOP Grant. Prof.dr.ir. Onno Boxma and prof.dr.ir. Wil van der Aalst have each been awarded a grant of approximately half a million euro for the queuing theory and the search for ‘desire lines’ in Big Data. With these two grants, TU/e has landed a quarter of the major TOP Grants that NWO makes available for hard science every year. Dr. Maria Vlasiou has received a more modest TOP Grant that will allow her to finance a PhD student or postdoc.

New lab for res into solar cells earch

Monday 18 Novemb er 2013 - A new te st facility for breakthrough research into thin -film solar cells was opened at the High Tech Ca mpus Eindhoven on We dnesday 27 Nove mb er 2013.

The new TU/e lab includes a high-re solution transmission electr on microscope th at will allow detailed study of the components of solar cells. Thin-film so lar cells consist of stacked layers of of these cells is to different materials. a large extent dete The efficiency rmined by the prop the different layer erties of the boun s. To gain a better daries between understanding of want to study the these properties, materials and the the researchers boundaries betwee n them atom-by-a tom.

First doctoral candidates to start at Data Science Center Tuesday 19 November 2013 - In January 2014, the first doctoral candidates will start their research projects at Data Science Center Eindhoven (DSC/e). Starting 2015, the new research institute and education center of TU/e will also offer study programs, but when full undergraduate and graduate programs will be launched is yet unsure. The virtual center will be embedded in the Departments of mathematics & Computer Science, Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, Electrical Engineering, and Industrial Design. The four departments plan to collaborate with several companies. The center sets out with twenty doctoral candidates, and wants to expand to fifty.

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and tuecursor on

Diwali in Chapel Monday 25 November 2013 - An Indian caterer, tons of paper lanterns, and lots of people in traditional Indian attire turned the Eindhoven Student Chapel into a special place last Saturday.

Both Indians and other nationalities came to celebrate Diwali. There was a dinner with dance and music. The event was organized by Indian TU/e students, Tint, and the Cosmos student association. Tint event planner Heather Donaldson loved the intrinsic party last Saturday. “There wasn’t any show element.

Two-thirds of the visitors were of Indian descent and wore traditional Diwali clothing.

They were really celebrating their own holiday.”

Lex Lemmens Professor of Academic Science and Engineering Education Monday 25 November 2013 - The Executive Board of TU/e has appointed dr.ir. Lex Lemmens as Professor of Academic Science and Engineering Education with effect from 1 December. As professor, Lex Lemmens will lead research into the development and introduction of the reforms in the Academic Science and Engineering Education within the TU/e Bachelor College. Through the appointment of a professor, TU/e strongly underlines the importance it places on this specialized area of education. As well as research and collaboration with industry, social institutions and government, the quality of education remains a key value for TU/e.

Next to his new role as Professor, Lex Lemmens also remains Dean of the Bachelor College.

Lex Lemm ens

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

Elles Raaijmakers

Elles Raaijm akers, Electrical Elles alway Engineering studen t. s tries to se e the fu of things an d reproduc nny side es this in cartoons and comic s.

20 | People

28 November 2013

And how are things in Zürich?

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.

Grüezi Mitenand! It the Swiss German way of saying ‘good day’ in Zürich.

About three months ago Samantha Basalo Vázquez and I embarked on an adventure: an Erasmus minor at the Department of Chemistry of the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zürich, Switzerland. After months of preparing, filling out forms, and sending in Erasmus applications, it was official: we were accepted to one of the world’s best universities.

Everyone can imagine the beauty of Switzerland, with its snow-capped mountains and valleys with glistering lakes. Although Zürich and surroundings may be considered almost flat compared to the rest of Switzerland, it’s still almost 150 meters above the Vaalserberg, the highest point in the Netherlands. The highest point here is the Uetliberg (869m), and it provides a breathtaking view of the city and its lake, the Zürichsee. Zürich is the largest city of Switzerland, although with only 380.000 inhabitants it’s hardly a metropolis. Still, that’s exactly what gives the city its charming appeal.

Absolutely everything in Zürich is of the very best quality, be it a cup of coffee or public transport.

And although all that definitely comes at a price, it’s rather worth it most of the time!

There are two ETH locations in the city. There’s a historical site in the city center, and a new complex on the Hönggerberg, where the Department of Chemistry is the largest.

Apart from very interesting courses in biochemistry and inorganic chemistry, I’ve also been granted the privilege to work in a research group of a professor here. The project gives me a really good insight in scientific research, and how it feels to be working at the frontiers of science.

Of course, planning and preparing for a minor in a foreign country takes a lot of work and time, but the amazing memories and experiences you’ll get in return are well worth it! Studying abroad is something you’ll cherish for the rest of your, and I strongly recommend it to everyone.

J studeenlle Pender and Ch t of Ch s, emical emistry Engine ering 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: Angelica Nava Richardson Place of Birth: Toluca, Mexico Date of Birth: 19 September, 1986 Studied at TU/e: August 2010 - September 2012, graduate program Systems and Control Current position: Designer engineer at ASML Mechatronics Why did you choose to study at TU/e?

Because TU/e had a graduate program that had my interest, and ASML offered me a scholarship. I studied Systems and Control. In Mexico I did my Bachelo r’s thesis on Mechatronics, and there aren’t too many universities in the world that offer a graduate program in Control, and have such a close relationship with companies at the same time.

How do you look back on your study time at TU/e?

It was very difficult for me to get used to the Dutch way of working. In Mexico, we tend to do what’s required only. The reason we don’t stick our neck out is because it might get you in trouble with the professors – they assume you want to prove you know more than they do. If you’re a threat to your boss intellectually, you could lose your job.

That’s how it works. So we only do what’s required of us – as well as we can, of course.

Here, if you merely meet the requirements, you’ll get a 7. You need to take it up a notch for a better grade, and you have to challenge yourself and really get into the projects.

Do more. After several months I finally realized that professors actually appreciate it when you go the distance and want to go deeper. After that, things went more smoothly.

What did you do after TU/e?

ASML offered me a job as a designer engineer at their Mechatronics department, and that is what I’m doing now. I think my internship at ASML plus my graduat e project with Philips opened doors for this job specifically. Since I had been studying on an ASML scholarship and did my internship with them, it wasn’t difficult for me to arrange a job interview. I don’t think that my nationality would have made any differen ce in this case.

I think my previous work was more important than my being Dutch or not.

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.

Was this what you intended to do?

Yes, I intended to stay in the Netherlands to work after I graduated. I like the lifestyle in the Netherlands: biking to university every day, and now to work.

I like the fact that people only work during working hours. I like that everything is well-org anized. I also like the engineering work level in the Brainport area. I like to be challeng ed and this is one of the few places in the world to find challenging engineering.

But I’m still not used to the fact that the shops close early and I still struggle with the language.

What advice would you give current students?

My advice is to arrange an internship and/or a graduate project with a company.

That way you’ll find out whether or not you appreciate Dutch work ethics soon enough, and you can build your résumé.

Research | 21

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

Karin Smolders in the test environment for light.

Bright light boosts energy and increases alertness Interview | Judith van Gaal Photo | Bart van Overbeeke What effect does light have on a winter depression? How to avoid a jetlag? We already know a lot about the role of light in such circumstances. But what can light do for our energy levels and wakefulness during office hours? We’re not so sure. Doctoral candidate Karin Smolders researched just that and found out people benefit from bright light during the day just as well.

She’ll be defending her dissertation on the subject on 3 December, after which she’ll receive the first-ever doctorate from the Intelligent Lighting Institute that was founded in 2010.

Everyone has felt low on energy at work at some point. Coffee can help, or a brisk walk outside.

But lighting can also make you feel more vital and alert in the workplace, research from Karin Smolders shows.

“There have been many studies at night”, she says. “But we were interested in the effects of light during the day, studying healthy people.” The researcher at Human Technology Interaction focused on the effects of artificial white light on alertness and vitality. She explains: “We’ve monitored how people carried out certain tasks, and how alert and energetic they feel under specific lighting conditions.”

Smolders researched the influence of light in several ways. She started

by conducting a field study for which she attached a light meter either to glasses or a special headband.

Over the course of a year, 52 test subjects were asked to wear the instrument for three days, so it could measure the amount of light that hits the eyes. Via an application on their phones, subjects were asked about how they felt every hour. The answers proved that the more light they had been exposed to the more energetic they felt right after.

Smolders also conducted lab tests.

There, lighting conditions were predetermined rather than arbitrary like in the field study. Using a light panel, subjects were either exposed to bright light (1000 lux) or dimmer light (200 lux). In both cases, the

light was beamed directly into the eye (photo). Participants were asked to carry out several tasks and answer surveys while exposed to the light.

Their physiological activity was monitored as well. During the tasks, they had to respond whenever they heard a beep, or organize letters and numbers, for example.

Smolders also studied if the effects of lighting were more drastic when people are mentally exhausted.

To that end, subjects had to carry out demanding tasks such as handling a flight simulator where they had to check the fuel, fly the aircraft, and monitor all communication, all prior to being exposed to bright or dim light. Thus, exhaustion was introduced by performing tasks that required a lot of concentration - and not by forced sleep deprivation.

“It was important they slept like they always did, had a normal rhythm”, Smolders explains. “We were interested to know how healthy people could benefit from lighting in their daily lives especially.”

Finally, the researcher studied the lighting needs of people who feel tired, in the lab. For those studies, subjects were asked to set their own lighting preferences.

Results showed that people feel more alert and energized after having been exposed to bright light.

Both the field study - in ‘natural’ circumstances - and lab tests - with predetermined conditions - proved that. Lab studies also showed that being exposed to brighter lighting may lead to quicker responses during tasks that require a high concentration, and a higher level of physiological activity. Still, test subjects neither preferred brighter lighting, nor did they always score better on every task necessarily, even though they indicated feeling more alert and vital. Lab results also brought to light that participants felt more alert and revitalized almost immediately after being exposed to bright lighting, but their performances (carrying out attention tasks) only improved approximately half an hour after first exposure.

Bright light improves performance for specific tasks only Smolders: “We can’t translate the results from night-time studies to the influence of lighting during the day just like that. Bright light seems to improve people’s performance

for specific tasks only. The time of day, time of year even, also seems to play a part. Results indicate that people benefit from bright light in the morning rather than in the afternoon. And fall and winter are the best seasons to be exposed to brighter light. We have to continue research, of course, but so far our results prove that people feel more alert and revitalized, and possible even perform better when exposed to relatively bright lighting. Whether or not bright light really contributes to people’s alertness and performance seems to be dependent on the nature of the task, the subject’s mental state, and the time of day. The best thing would be to adjust lighting for every user individually, bearing in mind their activity and time of day as well.”

According to Floor van der Heijden, health-and-safety expert and environmental scientist, it’s hard to say what light is used at TU/e.

“It varies widely, and depends on the level of daylight in a room as well. Newer offices at Mechanical Engineering have a daylight-dependent lighting system, for example.”

She says it’s ‘especially important to adjust lighting to what needs to be done: the lights in an office will therefore differ from the lighting in a lab’.

22 | Research

28 November 2013

4 burning questions

Ivelina Shishmanova | Chemical Engineering

Membranes with ordered nano-sized pores

1 ’s on f your o r e ov the c rtation? disse What

2 Wh a peo t do y ou t ple a t par ell whe n t abo ut y they a ies our s rese k arch ?

1 | cover

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

4

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

(edited by Tom Jeltes)

The cover shows an image of the base material I’ve been using for my research project. More specifically, it’s a focal conic texture of ‘smectic A’ liquid crystal molecules captured with a polarizing optical micro­ scope.

2 | parties The main aim of the research is to fabricate nanoporous membranes with a controlled pore size, and to demonstrate their application potential.

Using the self-assembly properties of liquid crystals I’ve been creating well-ordered networks with similarsized pores (<2nm). The pores are decorated with negative charges making them excellent absorbers for positively charged species.

3 | essential To observe and investigate structures on a nano­ scale you need techniques like X-ray diffraction measurements, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy.

4 | society benefit Nanoporous materials that are size and charge selective are appealing for a variety of applications in areas such as filtration, separation, ion conductivity and catalysis. An interesting application for my system would be its use in reverse electrodialysis, for example. This process, also called blue energy, is an approach to produce clean, renewable electricity by advanced mixing of salt and freshwater.

Research | 23

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

Snezhana Hristova | Chemical Engineering

Keeping the catalyst inside 1 | cover The front cover shows a cartoonified picture of the jet loop reactor setup I worked with.

And on the back cover there’s a cat peering through a submarine window: The jet loop reactor has a high-pressure window just like it through which you can observe the fluid behavior in the reactor. And the cat represents the cat-alyst.

2 | parties I’m working on the development of a more effective reactor setup for hydroformylation.

Hydroformylation is a chemical reaction that produces aldehydes from alkenes: raw materials for the production of detergents, fragrances etc. The reaction is catalyzed by a catalyst (Rh), which is not consumed during the reaction, so it can be used to convert alkenes to aldehydes over and over again, provided we can keep it inside the reactor. But the catalyst is homogeneous, meaning it’s in the same phase as the products. By adding a nanofiltration membrane to the reactor setup, we can filter the products while keeping the catalyst inside.

I also developed mathematical models to predict the reactor/membrane behavior as a function of process variables like temperature and pressure.

3 | essential The university workshop (E&PC) in collaboration with Ton Staring (our technician) have been a great help. There wouldn’t have been a reactor setup if it weren’t for them

4 | society benefit Hopefully, we can still buy our detergent and perfumes at reasonable prices even when Rh becomes scarce.

Frank Karsten | IE&IS

How competition can still work together 1 | cover There’s a swimming pool on the cover with dice falling into it. The pool is a play on the word ‘pooling’ in the title. The dice symbolize the uncertainty and games in the queuing theory and the cooperative game theory, the two mathematical fields I’ve combined in my dissertation.

2 | parties My study involves the modeling and analysis of situations in which several companies share means of production (machines, stock, workforce). The queuing theory shows that such collaborations can be significantly advantageous, especially if the demand for means of production is uncertain. The cooperative game theory describes how collaborative advantages can be distributed among parties evenly. My research project combines both perspectives into fun, new models and insights.

3 | essential The coffeemaker has been essential. A wise man once described mathematicians as machines that convert coffee into theorems, and I haven’t been able to debunk that theory yet!

4 | society benefit I’ve developed new allocation rules and proven some beautiful characteristics of those.

Those characteristics weren’t determined before, which hampered collaboration. Companies may use my allocation rules to set up collaborations and share resources, and so reduce waiting.

3

Dinsdag december, 21.00 uur, Caf é Spijker, Stratumseind 17-21 Eindhoven

F.A.C.U.L.T.I. - Full Moon Party

Tijdens de tiende lustrumweek van Studievereniging Industria zal er weer een groot open feest geor Spijker. De dresscode is makkelijk: ganiseerd worden in Café colourful. Het eerste fust is gratis!

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3TU Innov ation & Te chnology Conferenc e

3TU Innovat innovations ion & Technology Confe latest devel and high-tech solution rence Looking for Dutc and mobilityopments in the areas o s, staying in tune with h and the opp , and catching up with f high-tech, health, en the invited, on bortunity to build new on existing business relaergy Innovation &ehalf of the 3TU.Feder es? Then, you are cord tions 6 December Technology Conferen ation, to attend the 3T ially U. The Confere 2013 at the Eindhovence, which will be held at n U ce n iv w er ill si st ty art at 10.00 a gathering of Technolo an network wit at 16.30 which gives yo d the day will end wit gy. h fellow atte h u the opport ndees from the corpora unity to Language: En te world.

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