Prof. Marjolein Dijkstra
Marjolein Dijkstra studied chemical engineering at Wageningen University and physics at Utrecht University. She received her PhD degree at FOM-institute AMOLF, and worked in Oxford, Lyon, Bristol, and Shell Research Amsterdam. She started as an assistant professor in 1999 at Utrecht University and was appointed as full professor in 2007. Her group uses theory and simulations to obtain a better fundamental understanding on how colloidal building blocks self-assemble and how the self-assembly process can be manipulated by external fields such as gravity, templates, air-liquid or liquid-liquid interfaces, and electric fields. The group employs Monte Carlo, (event driven) Molecular and Brownian Dynamics simulations, Stochastic Rotational Dynamics simulations to include hydrodynamics, Umbrella and Forward flux sampling, free-energy calculations based on thermodynamic integration methods, and simulated annealing techniques to predict candidate structures, to determine the (non)-equilibrium phase behavior of colloids, nanoparticles, liquid crystals, etc. A better insight in the self-assembly process is essential for developing new materials.