On March 4-6, The Netherlands’ Catalysis and Chemistry Conference took place in Noordwijkerhout. A good number of MCEC PhDs were present with talks and poster presentations. The 20th anniversary meeting comprised plenary and keynote lectures by invited speakers, and selected oral papers and posters. Scientists, and especially PhD-students, were encouraged to submit abstracts so they can present their work, discuss it with leading scientists and representatives from industry. NCCC welcomed Prof. Sylvia Bordiga for an opening lecture sponsored by MCEC.
Devaraj van der Meer (UT) will receive a Vici grant, worth 1.5 million euros, from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). This Vici program will unravel the intricate physics behind the impact of a boiling water droplet on a surface.
The Vici grant, worth 1.5 million euros, is the highest in the Veni-Vidi-Vici programme of NWO. It enables very experienced researchers to form and strengthen their research group. Of 239 proposals, 32 were awarded, worth 48 million euros in total.
Congratulations to Pieter Bruijnincx! His research into ‘Sustainable production of aromatic chemical building blocks from sugar’ is one of the 17 projects that has been awarded funding by the NWO Science Domain Board.
About the project ‘Sustainable production of aromatic chemical building blocks from sugar’: ‘The growing demand for plastics, coatings and other products means that we need to carefully examine how sustainably we can produce the chemical building blocks used for these products. We will develop a new conversion route that, with the help of catalysis, can convert the sugars in non-edible biomass into bio-aromatics, an important category of these building blocks.’
Due to the measures against the spread of coronavirus in the Netherlands, the MCEC Annual meeting on 8-9 April will not take place. We are looking to organize an online substitute event on Thursday morning April 9.
Preliminary program:
10:00 Session 1
11:00 Break (Posters)
11:30 Session 2
12:30 End of meeting
If you wish to participate, please register using the form below and we will contact you with further details. We expect every participant to give a short presentation and to upload a poster.
We’re aware that the current situation is inconvenient for preparing posters/presentations. Therefor, this will not be a mandatory MCEC event, but please join us if you can. See it as an opportunity to present your research to the other MCEC PhD’s.
Registration MCEC Online Meeting 2020
We are still looking into the different formats that are available to present and discuss posters online. All registrants will be informed shortly.
Catalysis Connected is a two-day conference on the topic of catalysis fostering scientific excellence. Catalysis Connects challenges aspiring researchers in the field of catalysis to discuss their views and research on ”turning waste into the energy and materials of tomorrow” with a young multi-disciplinary audience of PhDs and PDs from Belgium and The Netherlands.
Catalysis Connected will be held in September 2021. For the organization, MCEC Research Center partners up with Capture and ARC-CBBC.
Are you curious to know more about Catalysis Connected 2021? Register at catalysisconnected.nl and follow Linkedin and Twitter to see the latest updates.
Online Lecture Series: Life after MCEC
On Thursday April 15 the first ‘Online Lecture Series: Life after MCEC’ was given by Laurens Mandemaker (UU). Thank you Laurens for sharing with us your personal approach and career choices! (Read more about Laurens Mandemaker).
In case you missed this one, make sure to join the next ‘Life After MCEC Lecture’ with Jeroen Vollenbroekon May 20.
You can join through our MCEC online education platform in Teams, the link to the meeting will be shared shortly.
Save the Date – MCEC Annual Meeting
This year’s Annual Meeting will take place on: Monday 21st of June and Tuesday 22nd of June 2021.
Depending on the number of COVID infections and the regulations, one of the days will be organized on location. We encourage you all to attend this Annual Meeting. Program and detailed information will follow.
‘Catalysis for CCU: Valorisation of CO and CO2 through Carbon Capture and Use’ is a multidisciplinary network of scientists, connected with well-established research groups in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, focused on Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) technologies as an essential step to developing the know-how for a low-carbon circular economy.
To enhance the connection with other research groups Catalysis for CCU created a virtual platform that will be used to:
Share Master and PhD research topics
Stream relevant PhD defences, invited lectures, and CCU seminars
Create CCU podcasts
Create a CCU database of available infrastructure, on-going projects and job opportunities
“CCU Happy Hours”, online meetings where a small group of young researchers discusses viral matters with relevant experts.
Do you wish to participate in this virtual platform? Get in touch with us: science.mcecoffice@uu.nl
N3C Poster Award for Erik Maris (UU)
Erik Maris (UU) has won the Poster Award at NCCC for his poster entitled ”Making more efficient zeolites: Visualizing motion on the single-molecule level”. The jury particularly appreciated the infographic-style layout, which allowed easy reading on a computer screen, and embedded sound fragments that made up an audio tour explaining the poster. We spoke with Erik about his poster and the choices that he made in the process of making the poster.
David Fernandez Rivas (UT) wins Prince Friso Engineer Prize
MCEC Member David Fernandez Rivas, associate professor of fluid dynamics at the University of Twente, was elected Engineer of the Year. The Prince Friso Engineer Prize for Fernandez Rivas came digitally from the hands of KIVI President Joanne Meyboom. Fernadez Rivas also turned out to be the audience’s favorite, thus also winning the audience award. Many Congratulations!
19 February 2021: Jasper Lozeman – Surface enhanced vibrational spectroscopy: Implementations in lab-on-a-chip
Jasper Lozeman (UT) is a PhD student in the research group Biomedical and Environmental Sensorsystems (BIOS) at the University of Twente. His supervisors are prof. Mathieu Odijk and prof. Albert van den Berg from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS). Many congratulations to all!
Coming up:
21 April: Peter Dung – Heat and Mass transfer in bubbly flow with turbulence
On Yu (Peter) Dung (UT) is a PhD student in the research group Physics of Fluids (POF) at University of Twente. His supervisor is prof. DetlefLohse from the Faculty of Science and Technology.
Good luck Peter!
Please have a look at the brand new MCEC PowerPoint Template. Let us know what you think of the new design. In our latest MCEC Newsletter you can read about:
MCEC Annual Meeting
MCEC Lectures: Life After MCEC
PhD Defenses Laurens Mandemaker and Paulo Lovreglio
MCEC School 2021
Valery Muravev (TU/e) Article in Nature Catalysis
Christia Jabbour (UU) Review artivle in Nature Catalysis
The MCEC Annual Meeting 2021 was held both online and in person on 21-22 June. The first day we had the pleasure to enjoy lectures from Detlef Lohse ‘Pay to Publish’ and David Fernandez Rivas ‘How to utilize gas filled bubbles and microfluidics?’. We also got updates on projects from some of our current PhD candidates and Postdocs.
The second day we all could meet live in Utrecht at ‘de Moestuin’ where we enjoyed each others posters and company.
Also the workshop from the Pyrolysis demonstrator team was a great success.
On Thursday July 1st we hosted two lectures of our program: Life after MCEC. We would like to thank Dr. Katarina Stanciakova and Dr. Jessi van der Hoeven for their time and wish them succes in their future activities.
PhD Defenses Laurens Mandemaker and Paulo Lovreglio
Many congratulations to our new doctors Laurens Mandemaker and Paulo Lovreglio!
On June 2nd, Dr. Laurens Mandemaker (UU) successfully defended his PhD thesis titled ‘The Birth, Life and Death of Surface-Mounted Metal-Organic Frameworks’. Read more about Laurens’ thesis here.
Dr. Paulo Lovreglio (TU/e) also defended his PhD thesis successfully. On June 5th he presented his work ‘Flow and dispersion in packed beds’. Have a look at Paolo’ thesis here.
MCEC School 2021 – Oktober / November
This fall will be the 6th (and last) MCEC School specifically organized for MCEC PhD students and the Postdocs as part of their training program. We will update you with a Save the Date as soon as possible.
Christia Jabbour set out to test the potential of a catalyst when it’s embedded in different types of materials that are used in our lives. The concept of the review was to see if we were able to bridge the link between material science and chemical reactivity of different catalysts.
