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Berg

Professor Albert van den Berg is Distinguished University Professor of the University of Twente (The Netherlands).

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He received his master degree in applied physics from the University of Twente (The Netherlands) in 1983. After obtaining his PhD from the University of Twente in 1988, van den Berg worked at the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) and the Institute of Microtechnology (IMT) of the University of Neuchatel (Switzerland). From 1993 until 1999 he was research director Micro Total Analysis Systems (μTAS) at the MESA+ institute of the University of Twente. In 1998 he was appointed as part-time professor Biochemical Analysis Systems and in 2000 as full professor on Miniaturized Systems for (Bio)Chemical Analysis in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computational Science of the same university. Van den Berg (co-) authored ~ 270 publications in peer-reviewed journals with an average number of citations per paper of ~ 27 and a Hirsch index of 47. He was asked to write two Nature News & Views articles on nanofluidics publications, and co-edited a special issue in Chemical Society Reviews on micro and nanofluidics. Furthermore, van den Berg (co-) edited 4 books, is (co-) author of > 5 conference proceedings publications, > 10 national journal publications, > 10 book chapters, and holds > 15 patents/ patent applications.

Van den Berg is associate editor of Lab on a Chip and editorial board member of Biomedical Microdevices, Sensors and Actuators B and Microfluidics and Nanofluidics. He obtained a TOP NWO (2012) grant from The Netherlands Science Foundation (NWO) and an Advanced ERC grant (2008) and ERC Proof of Concept grant (2011) from the European Research Council. Van den Berg also has received several research awards, including the 2002 Simon Stevin Master award from the Dutch Technical Science Foundation (STW), the 2004 Leverhulme Trust Award for knowledge valorization, the 2007 Top Institute Food and Nutrition publication Prize and the 2009 Spinoza Award, the most prestigious scientific award in The Netherlands. Furthermore, he has been appointed in 2012 as Distinguished Professor at South China Normal University.

Van den Berg is Flagship captain of the Nanofluidics program of the NanoNext research program (since 2008). Van den Berg is also an elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW, 2008-onwards). He serves on several boards and panels for research, including board member of the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, the ETH D-BSSE institute in Basel, board member of the KNAW, member of the Dutch Health Council and board member of the Chemical and Biological Microsystems Society. He also has been founding chairman of the microTAS conference series (1994-now) as well as chairman of the National Sensor Conference (1998), the Gordon Research Conference on Chemistry and Fluidics of Microfluidics (2003) and the 1st International Conference on Nanofluidics (2006).

Lohse

Professor Detlef Lohse is Distinguished University Professor of the University of Twente (The Netherlands).

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Lohse received his Diploma degree in Physics from the University of Bonn (Germany) in 1989, in the field of theoretical high energy physics. After obtaining his PhD degree on the theory of turbulence from the University of Marburg (Germany) in 1992 under the supervision of Professor Grossmann, Lohse has worked in the period 1993-1995 as a postdoctoral fellow with Professor Kadanoff at the University of Chicago (USA). He became research assistant at the Department of Physics of the University of Marburg in 1995 and obtained his “Habilitation” in Theoretical Physics from the same university in 1997. In 1998, Detlef Lohse was a Heisenberg Fellow of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich (Germany). He was promoted to full professor of physics of fluids at the University of Twente in 1998. Lohse (co-) authored ~ 340 publications in peer-reviewed journals with an average number of citations per paper of ~ 24 and a Hirsch index of 45.

He is the editor of Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Physica D, Nonlinearity, Journal of Turbulence, Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment, and Physik Journal, and was editor and editorial board member of European Physical Journal B, Physical Review E and Annual Reviews of Fluid Mechanics. He obtained an ERC Advanced grant (2011) from the European Research Council and he leads four FOM programs. He has received various research awards, including the 2012 G.K. Batchelor Prize of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics and Journal of Fluid Mechanics, the 2005 Spinoza Award of The Netherlands Science Foundation (NWO), the 2009 Simon Stevin Meesterschap Prize from the Stichting Technologische Wetenschappen (STW), the 2011 Physica Prize of the Dutch Physics Society, the 2012 Wim Nieuwpoort Award for Scientific Computation, and the 2012 AkzoNobel Science Award.

The research of Lohse’s Physics of Fluids group, focusing on granular matter; and micro- and nanofluidics, is characterized by the direct interaction of experiment, theory, and numerics, is problem-driven and often uses methods or knowledge from neighbouring science fields.

Lohse is an elected Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (2005-onwards), the Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (2012-onwards), the German Academy of Sciences “Leopoldina” (2002-onwards), Fellow of the American Physical Society (2002-onwards) and of the Institute of Physics (2004-onwards). He was knighted by the Dutch Queen as “Ridder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw” in 2010. Lohse serves on various national and international boards and panels for research, including member and now vice-chairman of the Executive Board of Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek van de Materie (FOM) and also of NWO-physics, Member at Large of the APS-Division of Fluid Mechanics Executive Board, and Chairman of the Euromech Turbulence Conference Committee.

 

Kuipers

Professor Hans Kuipers is Full Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering of Eindhoven University of Technology (The Netherlands).

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He graduated in 1985 at the Department of Chemical Engineering of the former Technical University of Twente (The Netherlands). In the same year he started his PhD at the Reaction Engineering group of the University of Twente on detailed microbalance modeling of gas-fluidized beds. In 1990 he received his PhD degree and was appointed in the same year as assistant professor in the Reaction Engineering group headed by Professor van Swaaij. In 1994 he became associate professor in the same group. In 1999 he was appointed full professor in Fundamentals of Chemical Reaction Engineering at the University of Twente. He moved in 2010 to Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) as full professor Multiscale modeling of Multiphase Flows. Kuipers (co-) authored ~ 300 publications in peer-reviewed journals with an average number of citations per paper of ~ 22 and a Hirsch index of 47. Furthermore, Kuipers is the (co-) author of 180 conference proceedings publications, 2 national journal publications, 4 book chapters and 2 patents/patent applications.

The Multiscale Modeling of Multi-phase Flows group, headed by Professor Hans Kuipers, has made over the years seminal contributions on the fundamentals of chemical reaction engineering. During the last 5 years the focus has been mainly on: (a) a fundamental understanding of multiphase flows; and (b) the development of novel reactors. The key aspect of this research is the integration of fundamental research with applied engineering science. Within these two topics computational fluid dynamics and various experimental techniques play a pivotal role. His group is internationally recognized as one of the leading research groups on Dispersed Multiphase Flow and Novel Reactor Concepts.

He serves/served on the editorial boards of Particuology, International Journal of Multiphase Flow and Acta Mechanica. Kuipers obtained a prestigious TOP CW NWO (2005) grant from The Netherlands Science Foundation (NWO) and an Advanced ERC grant (2010) from the European Research Council. Kuipers has been involved in the organization of several international congresses, including the International Conferences on Multiphase Flow, the International Conferences on the Application of Computational Fluid Dynamics in the Process Industries, the 3rd Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics in Chemical Reaction Engineering, the 22nd International Symposium on Chemical Reaction Engineering and the 14th International Conference on Fluidization. Kuipers has been Scientific Director of the Institute of Mechanics, Processes and Control (IMPACT) of the University of Twente (2006-2010) and serves/served on several boards and panels for research, including the Strategic Council of the University of Twente.

Santen

Professor Rutger van Santen is Distinguished University Professor at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry at Eindhoven University of Technology (The Netherlands).

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He studied chemistry at the University of Leiden (The Netherlands) and obtained his master degree in theoretical organic chemistry cum laude (highest degree) in 1967. After receiving his PhD also cum laude (highest degree) from the same university under the supervision of Professor Oosterhoff he did a postdoc at SRI International in Menlo Park (USA). Van Santen joined Shell in 1972 and worked in different functions at Shell Research Amsterdam. In 1976 he was a visiting professor at the Free University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands). From 1982-1984 he was assigned to Shell Research Houston (USA). He became Professor Extra-ordinarius at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in 1986 and was promoted to full professor in 1988. Professor van Santen (co-) authored ~ 810 publications in peer-reviewed journals with an average number of citations per paper of ~ 30 and a Hirsch index of 75. Furthermore, he (co-) edited 17 books, authored 52 book chapters and holds 22 patents.

Professor van Santen has received many research awards and named lectureships, including the 1981 Gold Medal from the Royal Dutch Chemical Society (KNCV), the 1996 Chiapetta Lectureship from the North American Catalysis Society, the 1996 Bourke Lectureship from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), the 1997 Spinoza Award from The Netherlands Science Foundation (NWO), the 1999 Gwathmey Distinguished Lectureship from the University of Virginia (USA), the 2000 Karl Ziegler Lectureship from the Max Planck Institut für Kohlenforschung (Germany), the 2001 Alwin Mittasch Medal of DECHEMA, the 2004 Miller Professorship from the University of California at Berkeley (USA), the 2009 Holst Award from TU/e and Philips Research and the 2010 Francois Gault Lectureship from the European Federation of Catalysis Societies (EFCATS). He received also an Honorary Doctorate from the National Ukrainian Technical University (Ukraine) in 1998 and was awarded the prestigious Academy Professorship from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW).

One of the leading themes of Rutger van Santen’s research is to unravel the molecular mechanisms of heterogeneous catalytic reactions. He is considered one of the pioneers of the use of quantum-chemical methods in computational heterogeneous catalysis. His research efforts are summarized in two books: Theoretical Heterogeneous Catalysis (1991) and Molecular Heterogeneous Catalysis (2006, together with Professor Matt Neurock). The current status and past contributions of van Santen’s work have been published recently in a Festschrift (40 years of Catalysis Research, A Journey Through Chemical Complexity, 2012).

Van Santen is the founding and first scientific director of the Dutch Research School for Catalysis (NIOK, 1992-1999) and of the National Research School Combination Catalysis (NRSC-C, 1998-2001, 2005-2013). Van Santen is also an elected member of The Netherlands Academy of Technology and Innovation (2007-onwards), elected member of KNAW (2001-onwards), fellow of the RSC (2009-onwards) and visiting fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies of TU Munich (Germany). He is foreign member of the National Academy of Engineering (USA). Van Santen serves on several International Boards and panels for research, and has been Rector Magnificus of TU/e (2001-2005), chairman of the KNCV (2002) and the SON/CW (NWO) Board (1991-1995).

Blaaderen

Professor Alfons van Blaaderen is Full Professor at the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science of Utrecht University (The Netherlands).

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He studied Chemistry and, after his PhD, Physics at Utrecht University and obtained his Master Degree cum laude (highest degree) in 1987. He continued at the same university with a PhD study under the supervision of Prof. Vrij, and was awarded the PhD degree cum laude (highest degree) in 1992. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Utrecht University with Prof. Lekkerkerker from 1991-1993 and at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill (USA) with Dr. Wiltzius and Dr. Murray from 1994-1995. From 1995 he worked for 8 years at the FOM Institute AMOLF as group leader (for 50% of his time). He became associate professor in the group of Prof. Lekkerkerker at Utrecht University in 1997 and rose to the rank of full professor in the field of (Soft) Condensed Matter Physics at the same university in the Physics Department in 1999. Van Blaaderen (co-) authored ~ 165 publications in peer-reviewed journals with an average number of citations per paper of ~ 60 and a Hirsch index of 54; 33% of all his papers are journals with an impact factor > 7. Furthermore, van Blaaderen is the (co-) author of 5 popular publications and 5 book chapters and holds 5 patents/patent applications.

The research group of van Blaaderen makes seminal contributions to the field of (soft) condensed matter and in particular its subfield colloid science, fields that are multidisciplinary in nature encompassing Chemistry, Physics and Materials Science. However, the research work also spill over to neighboring fields like (micro-) biology and granular matter, where quantitative microscopy and use of particles are also often important tools.

Van Blaaderen obtained a prestigious TOP CW NWO (2005) grant from The Netherlands Science Foundation (NWO) and an Advanced ERC grant (2011) from the European Research Council and leads two FOM (Dutch Physics Science Foundation) programs. He also has received several research awards, including, the 1992 DSM Prize for Best Dutch/Belgian Chemistry PhD Thesis, the 2006 Rhodia Prize from the European Colloid and Interface Science Society and the 2011 Peter Debye Prize from the Edmond Hustinx foundation. The Soft Condensed Matter & Biophysics section he leads obtained twice in a row a ‘maximum’ score of 4x’5’ at the 5 year national Physics evaluation by an international jury. Van Blaaderen serves(d) on several boards and panels for research, including the TWINS council of the Royal Academy of Sciences (KNAW), the Dutch Nano Initiative, and COMOP council of (FOM, part of NWO). In 2007 he co-wrote for NWO a strategic report on Nanoscience. He was asked four times by the journals Science and Nature to comment in News and Views on new results in the field of colloid science. He was visiting Professor in 2006 at the Soft Matter Center (NYU, New York, USA) and 2012 distinguished visiting Professor at the Chemistry Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing, China). He was scientific director of the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science (2008-2012) and became in 2013 elected member of the KNAW.

Weckhuysen

Professor Bert Weckhuysen is Distinguished University Professor at Utrecht University (the Netherlands).

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Bert Weckhuysen received his master degree in chemical and agricultural engineering with greatest distinction from Leuven University (Belgium) in 1991. After obtaining his PhD degree from Leuven University with honours (highest degree) in 1995 under the supervision of Prof. Robert Schoonheydt, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Israel Wachs at Lehigh University (USA) and with Prof. Jack Lunsford at Texas A&M University (USA). From 1997 until 2000 he was a research fellow of the Belgian National Science Foundation affiliated with Leuven University. Weckhuysen is since October 1 2000 Full Professor at Utrecht University (The Netherlands). Weckhuysen has been appointed as first Distinguished Professor of the Faculty of Science at Utrecht University as of September 2012. Since January 2018 he has been promoted to Distinguished University Professor at Utrecht University. He was a visiting professor at Leuven University (2000-2005) and has done a sabbatical at Stanford University (USA) in 2012. He is currently a visiting professor at Stanford University & SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2013-to date) and at University College London (UK, 2014-to date).
 
Weckhuysen authored or co-authored ~ 500 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals with an average number of citations per paper of ~ 42 and a Hirsch index of 79. Weckhuysen is the author of ~ 20 conference proceedings publications, ~ 30 other journal publications and editorial material, ~ 30 book chapters, 3 granted patents and 8 patent applications. Furthermore, he is the (co-) editor of three books. He serves/served on the editorial and/or advisory boards of Applied Catalysis A: General, Catalysis Letters, Catalysis Today, Chem, Chemical Society Reviews, ChemCatChem, ChemPhysChem, Faraday Discussions, Journal of Applied Chemistry, Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Topics in Catalysis, Vibrational Spectroscopy, Angewandte Chemie and the Journal of Catalysis.
 
He obtained prestigious VICI (2002), TOP (2006 and 2011) and Gravitation (2013) grants from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). In 2012 he has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Weckhuysen has received several research awards, including the 2006 Royal Dutch Chemical Society Gold Medal, the 2007 DECHEMA Award from The Max Buchner Research Foundation, the 2009 Netherlands Catalysis and Chemistry Award, the Eminent Visitor Award 2009 of the Catalysis Society of South Africa, the 2011 Paul H. Emmett Award in Fundamental Catalysis of the North American Catalysis Society, the International Catalysis Award 2012 of the International Association of Catalysis Societies, the 2013 Vladimir N. Ipatieff Lectureship in Catalysis from Northwestern University, the 2013 John Bourke Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry, the 2013 Spinoza Award from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, the 2017 Kozo Tanabe Prize in Acid-Base Catalysis from the International Acid-Base Group, the 2017 Xing Da Lectureship of Peking University and the 2018 Robert B. Anderson Award from the Canadian Catalysis Society. In 2015 he has been appointed Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion. In 2018 he received a Certificate for Achievements of the Christoffel Plantin fund for his contributions to the prestige and appeal of Belgium in foreign countries from the Belgian Ambassador in the Netherlands.
Weckhuysen was the scientific director of the Dutch Research School for Catalysis (NIOK) in the period 2003-2013 and of a Smartmix research program Biomass Catalysis funded by the Dutch government and chemical industries (CatchBio; 2007-2016; ~29 M€; www.catchbio.com). Currently, he directs a Gravitation research program on Multiscale Catalytic Energy Conversions (MCEC; 2013-2023; ~32 M€; www.mcec-researchcenter.nl) funded by the Dutch government as well as the Advanced Research Center Chemical Building Blocks Consortium (ARC CBBC; 2016-2026; 11 M€/year, www.arc-cbbc.nl) with a joint investment by government, businesses and universities. He was (one of) the main initiator(s) of these large research program initiatives.

Weckhuysen is an elected member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW), Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and Arts (KVAB), the Netherlands Academy of Technology and Innovation (NATI), the Royal Holland Society of Sciences (KHMW), and the European Academy of Science; an alumnus elected member of the Young Academy (DJA, 2005-2010) of the KNAW; and a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) and ChemPubSoc Europe. Weckhuysen serves on many boards and panels for national and international research.

The research group of Bert Weckhuysen has been active for many years in the design, synthesis, characterization and application of catalytic solids for the conversion of fossil (crude oil & natural gas) and renewable (biomass, waste and CO2) feedstock into transportation fuels, chemicals and materials. He is internationally renowned for the development of in-situ spectroscopy and microscopy for studying catalytic solids under realistic conditions. This approach has provided unique insights in the working and deactivation mechanisms of catalytic processes, as well as in the internal architecture of functional materials.

Hensen

The research of prof. dr. Emiel Hensen (Inorganic Materials Chemistry group at Eindhoven University of Technology) is focused on catalysis, materials and sustainable energy. The objective is a complete understanding of the reactive chemistry at catalytic surfaces, often gained through experimental and theoretical studies of model systems. Advanced catalyst characterization, increasingly obtained under in-situ or operando conditions, is employed in close coordination with theory involving electronic structure calculations to compute reaction dynamics and statistical approaches to predict macroscopic performance. The molecular-level understanding guides development of new catalytic materials that are designed at the nanoscale to function on the meso- and macroscale. A wide range of applications is studied relevant to the development of clean and sustainable processes for production of fuels and chemicals. The research is organized in the following four focus areas: (i) Porous Materials; (ii) Biomass Conversion, (iii) Structure Sensitivity in Catalysis and (iv) Solar Fuels Catalysis.

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