With MCEC’s first phase coming to an end, Team Community and MCEC Office thought it high time to get the community together and look back on five years of MCEC. Five years in which we welcomed more than forty PhDs and PDs, witnessed new collaborations (and friendships!) coming into existence, and were part of the growth of both the ambitions and the scope our research center.
We’ve already waved our goodbyes to some very talented members of our community who have finished their research, and we will continue to do so in the year to come. Some of them, luckily, will still be around in positions where we can regularly meet them. Others have found opportunities outside of academia and/or the Netherlands. Of course, saying goodbye to our first phase happens simultaneously with welcoming MCEC’s new generation.
During the MCEC Wrap-Up Event, room was given to MCEC’s first phase PhDs and PDs to present their research and results. Jan Wiesfeld (TU/e), Hai Le The (UT), Lennart Weber (UU) and Maxim Masterov (TU/e) kicked off before lunch, and Giulia Fiorucci (UU), Mathieu Odijk (UT, stepping in for Miguel Solsona) and Freddy Oropeza Palacio (TU/e) continued thereafter. All held well-received presentations which sparked critical questions and discussion.
After these presentations, hosted in the Minaert Building at Utrecht Science Park, the group crossed over to the Botanical Gardens where MCEC’s Team Community had organized a surprise ceremony and an excellent pub quiz which combined general and musical knowledge with scientific facts. Biggest discussion that afternoon centered around whether the element AR was (also) the abbreviation for Arizona or Arkansas, and who performed the song ‘Vamos A La Playa’. (Actually, that didn’t matter, since that song turned out to be the wrong answer anyway.) The day was closed with foods, drinks, and chocolate.
Below, you’ll find an impression of the day (click on the pictures for an enlargement).
MCEC Community, thank you all for a great Wrap-Up Event!
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18 January 2019