Bert Weckhuysen, Katinka Wondergem and Anne-Eva Nieuwelink feature in the first episode of ‘Captains of Chemistry’, a podcast by BNR. In this series, reporter Edwin Mooibroek explores the subjects of chemistry and innovation and tries to answer the question: How can the chemical sector contribute to a better, sustainable world?

In this first episode, Katinka Wondergem explains how catalysts can be used to make plastic from tree bark and, ultimately, even of sunlight, water and CO2. Anne-Eva Nieuwelink explains how she has developed a cleaner way to make polyglycerol, a hydrating substance that is often used in day and night creams. Bert Weckhuysen gives a glimpse into his research and tells how he educates young researchers in developing sustainable chemical processes.

The series are in Dutch only. You can listen to this episode online here (where you can also subscribe to the series), or read the news item (Dutch) on the news page of Utrecht University here.

 23 May, 2017

Jeroen Vollenbroek is this year’s MCEC Poster Prize Winner with his poster on Design and Characterization of a Microreactor for Nanodisperse Catalytic Droplet Generation at both Elevated Temperature and Pressure. The jury – composed of Wouter Olthuis, Frank Peters and Florian Meirer – had a hard time making this decision, since most participants showed a strong performance in both the design of their poster and their pitch.

Jeroen‘s poster (click on image for an enlargement) was chosen because of the balance in design and content, and the clear demonstration of the collaboration between different MCEC groups that led to the findings presented. A special mention goes out to Robin Broos, who put a lot of effort in the poster and dared to design it in a different way. The jury found this to be very impressive.

An interview with Jeroen can be found here: Interview Poster Prize winner 2017.

At the MCEC Annual Meeting 2017, a total of sixty PhDs, PDs and MCEC Members were present. The two-day programme in Drienerburght (Enschede) included scientific lectures by Jovana Zecevic, Frank Peters and Rob Lammertink and 8-minute presentations (and poster viewings) by all PhDs and PDs present.

The invited evening lecture, Understanding Science Journalism: balanced reporting and alternative facts, was provided by Anne Dijkstra, who talked about balanced reporting, alternative facts, science-media relations, how society perceives science and technology, and how the role and impact of science communication evolved during the last century.

The organization would like to thank all participants for a dynamic and insightful meeting.

19-20 April, 2017

The University of Twente has created a great environment to start your own company and the campus is swarming with ambitious start-ups. But if you want to become one of them, be forewarned:  a lot of start-ups origin from a patent – but as soon as your research has been published or presented, you won’t be able to patent it anymore. These are just a few of the insights MCEC PhDs gained from their PhD Excursion: Business Development & Start-ups, held prior to the Annual Meeting.

On April 18th, MCEC PhDs and PDs made a visit to start-up companies at The Gallery and the High Tech Factory at the campus of the University of Twente. Lectures were provided by Roy Kolkman, patent specialist and Rogier de Haan, business developer (both working at Novel-T), and the company tours in the afternoon went to nymus3D, Lyonix bv., Tide microfluidics, Solmates and Micronit. Most of these start-ups originated from PhD research, once conducted at the University of Twente. The day was closed with diner and a bowling match. 

This PhD excursion was organized by Team Community, together with Aura Visan and Renée Ripken.

18 April 2017

Bert Weckhuysen receives this year’s Kozo Tanabe Prize for Acid-Base Catalysis. The prize was initiated by the International Acid-Base Catalysis Group and bears the name of Kozo Tanabe, who pioneered many of the modern concepts in catalytic chemistry of acids and bases.

Weckhuysen will receive the prize next month during the International Symposium on Acid-Base Catalysis in Rio de Janeiro, where he is also invited to give a plenary lecture about his research.

Read more>>

April 21, 2017

In preparation of the MCEC Annual Meeting 2017, PhDs of Twente, Eindhoven and Utrecht have spent a full afternoon (in the first week of April) improving their presentation skills. They exercised with telling their key messages in one minute and then tested their lectures. For each his/her main pitfalls in presenting were identified and improved. The training was led by Frans van Dam of ScienceCom consultancy.

Frans: “During the training, in which we refined the participants’ presenting techniques, I could tell when they felt it ‘click’. Their enthusiasm grew, and with that their eyes started to beam and their posture changed. I’ve enjoyed giving these workshops and I look forward to seeing some of ‘my’ students on the 19^th.”

Experiences from participants

Christa van Oversteeg: “Discussing the aspects of all participants’ presentation – both on content and on the presenting itself – turned out to be very useful. The view everyone had of the audience and their knowledge of my topic, made me look at the content of my presentation in a different way.”

Jochem Wijten, embedded PhD: “One of the most important skills one can have is presentation skills. Whether from a professional or personal perception: the way you present your PowerPoint when applying for funding, or the way you talk in a job interview, influences the way people perceive you. It’s not your résumé that sells, it’s you.

I’m quite aware of this and that’s why I participated in last week’s training. I learned a lot and I thought it was fun. Of course, it’s always a bit confronting to do a presentation, knowing you’re being watched critically and judged. But the trainer was very competent and also a nice, easy going person, so that helped a lot.”

10 April, 2017

Bewaren

As of February 8th, Detlef Lohse has been elected ‘foreign member’ of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), USA.

Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer.  Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature” and to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/ implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.”

“Deze verkiezing voelt als een onderscheiding” – Read more on UT Nieuws (in Dutch) >>

See the list of all new members on the website of the NAE >>

February 8, 2017

MCEC researchers Han Gardeniers and Detlef Lohse (UT) have both been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant by the European Research Council.

Han Gardeniers will use the grant to conduct further research into making chemical processes more effective, efficient and clean. His proposed route is based on the implementation of innovative materials and precisely defined nano structures.

Detlef Lohse receives his second Advanced Grant for his work in the field of fluid dynamics. He wants to develop new fundamental insights and experiments in the field of diffusive droplet dynamics. He is planning to do this on length scales varying 9 orders of magnitude: from nanometers to meters.

Read more about their research on the website of UT >>

April 7, 2017

MCEC was represented at NCCC 2017 with a session ‘Chemistry in Flow’ chaired by Mathieu Odijk and Timothy Noel.

MCEC PhD students Jeroen Vollenbroek, Miguel Solsona and Anne-Eva Nieuwelink presented their work at the MCEC session. Other MCEC students and members contributed to this event as well, as chair or speaker at several sessions: Evgeny Pidko, Krijn de Jong, Robin Broos, Katarina Stanciakova and Roderigh Rohling. Many others presented their work during the poster sessions.

Read more about NCCC on their website >>

March 6-8, 2017

This very first Max Planck Center in The Netherlands was opened March 3, 2017 in the presence of State Secretary Sander Dekker and the President of the Max Planck Society, Prof Martin Stratmann.

The Max Planck Center will do research on the dynamics of fluids, in the broadest sense. This starts with a single nano size droplet, can also be about fluids in microchips or industrial-scale turbulence. The application areas range from catalysts for sustainable energy to medical lab-on-a-chip systems.

Two University of Twente research groups and two Max Planck Institutes find each other in this line of research. The Physics of Fluids group of Detlef Lohse and the BIOS Lab-on-a-chip group of Albert van den Berg cooperate with two Max Planck Institutes, in Göttingen (Dynamics and Self-organisation) and Mainz (Polymer research).

Read more on the website of UT >>

See joint press release with the Max Planck Society >>

“Hoe komt het dat in een rustige stroom die door een vernauwing gaat of op een obstakel stuit, ineens wervels en kolken ontstaan?” – Read this article in Trouw (in Dutch) >>

March 3, 2017

Canadian Catalysis Foundation honours Weckhuysen for his “outstanding contributions” to the field

Bert Weckhuysen will receive the 2018 Robert B. Anderson Award for his outstanding contributions to the fundamental understanding of the functioning of solid catalysts and the related development of advanced microscopy and spectroscopy methods. The Canadian Catalysis Foundation awards the prize every two years to an internationally recognised leader in the field of catalysis, without regard for nationality, gender, age or location where the research was carried out. The Award consists of CDN$ 1500 and a travel budget of CDN$ 5000. There is also a lectureship associated with the Award.

Bert Weckhuysen will present two lectures at the 25^th Canadian Symposium on Catalysis in Saskatoon in 2018; one educational one aimed towards graduate students and post-docs, and one plenary talk during the symposium. The Robert B. Anderson Award was formerly called the Canadian Catalysis International Award, but the Canadian Catalysis Division decided later on to name the award after one of its prominent catalysis researchers.

February 27, 2017