News in Brief – Delta 6

De Nier envisions a future in which we use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide from the air (just like plants) to produce syngas mixtures that contain carbon monoxide and hydrogen. De Nier: “With syngas we can make every possible hydrocarbon, like plastics, but also fuels like gasoline.”

Energy education

Representatives from 160 European universities will gather at TU Delft on Thursday and Friday this week to kick-off of the European platform for energy education. Called EPUE (European Platform of Universities Engaged in Energy Research, Education and Training), the organization aims to represent energy education institutions at the European DG’s of energy, research and education. The TU has played a major role in setting up the organization under the flag of the European University Association EUA.

Dutch women

A recent report by consulting firm Mercer revealed that women in the Netherlands are lagging far behind other European countries in terms of the numbers of females holding top executive positions, compared to 44% in Lithuania, 43 percent in Bulgaria and 40 percent in Russia. Mercer’s survey is based on analysis of 5,321 companies in some 30 countries. In Europe, an average of 71 percent of all executive and upper management positions are held by men.

Student complaints

Not too much controversy has resulted from a new complaint hotline/online form set up by Leefbaar Delft, a local political party, which invites residents of Delft to submit complaints about any disturbances caused by students. Mostly students themselves submitted reactions to the website, expressing their displeasure it. Last Tuesday, Leefbaar Delft published the 21 mails it had received thus far. Under the subject line ‘nuisance’, one student complained about nagging neighbours. Another student complained about his flat mates, who had gone out drinking and then pushed him out of his bed when they returned home. And another student called Jan Peter de Wit, the leader of Leefbaar Delft, an unimaginative citizen. Student Lennart van Gameren wrote: ‘There are many students who do not cause nuisances and this form casts a shadow over them all. It is an improper generalization.’

Administrative year

According to a proposal presented in the Dutch Parliament, students who do a full-time administrative year will not have to pay tuitions fees. By agreeing to a contract with their respective institutions stating that will restart their studies after one year, the students retain the right to receive an administrative grant from the special university fund and to receive student housing. The TU is, ‘at first glance’, pleased with the proposal put forward by the D66 and VVD. According to Paul Rullmann, a member of the TU’s Executive Board, this contract will apply to “intensive administrative activities such as student councils, management of large student societies or sports clubs, and to student projects like the solar car, hydrogen car, super bike or other Dream Team-related activities.” Rullmann also included the management of large sports of cultural associations.

Salt lovers

A study conducted by the National Institute for Public Health has found that more than 85 percent of people in the Netherlands eat too much salt. The daily recommended amount of salt per person is six grammes, but in the Netherlands men consume 9.9 grammes of salt per day, and women 7.5, which, according to an institute spokesman, “puts them at an increased risk of developing serious diseases and dying prematurely.” The Dutch consume 31 percent of their daily salt intake at lunch, and 36 percent at dinner. Bread and cheese – traditional Dutch lunch favorites – contain high levels of salt.

New digs

The former Laboratory for Applied and Analytical Chemistry on the De Vries van Heijstplantsoen has been partly demolished and rebuild into a student housing complex. The majority of the 297 rooms in the six storey complex consist of private single rooms measuring 22 to 34 m2. There are also 82 shared rooms measuring 11 to 19 m2, for groups of two to eight international students, who will live in the older section of the building, named ‘De Villa’, which features a monumental staircase with stained-glass windows. The housing complex also includes a laundry room, an internal bike parking area and a communal roof terrace and inner courtyard. Although the last students won’t move in until 7 March, the complex will host an ‘integration drink’ on 24 February, which will be an occasion for new residents to get to know each other over drinks.

Hildo Bijl began his aerospace engineering studies in 2006 at the tender age of 17. During his first-year he created aerostudents.com, a website that offers summaries of courses given at the faculty Aerospace Engineering (AE). His site quickly became the home site of many AE students. In addition to his programme’s studies, Bijl took additional courses at the Applied Physics and EEMCS faculties, followed the honours track in artificial intelligence, and was a member of the National under-20 Ultimate Frisbee (UF) team, all while maintaining a GPA of 9.1/10. He also recently completed a four-month internship at Nasa’s Ames Research Center.

Why did you choose to study aerospace engineering?
“I can’t say that I specifically wanted to study airplanes or space…. I love math, physics and informatics, and AE seemed like it had a bit of everything. As a child, I really loved numbers. In kindergarten, I did all of these ridiculous sums in my head as people reached for their calculators to check my answers. My family doesn’t have a scientific background, and I’m pretty much the only one in my family who is significantly above average. That might sound a bit arrogant, but it’s what everyone keeps telling me, so I guess it must be true.”

How did aerostudents.com get started?
“During the first week of university, I typed up some lecture notes and some people asked for a copy. Instead of constantly having to send stuff around, I figured it would be easier to put the notes online, so I got a domain and started building the website. At the time I was really into building websites and had experience doing it since I was 14. Gradually the number of files grew, as did the number of visitors, and pretty soon it seemed everyone knew about it. Nowadays the site gets over 1000 visits per day during exam periods.”

What was the most surprising feedback you’ve received for the site?
“I get emails from engineering students all around the world. One student from the US was very fond of the site and asked for advice on building a similar site for his university. Sometimes I have professors emailing be about help with setting up courses or writing summaries. I’ve never had such requests from TU Delft professors though….”

Have you received any negative feedback?
“In the first month I had answers to a mandatory practical on the site, so it’s understandable that I was asked to take them off. Occasionally I’ll hear that a professor doesn’t like my site because he or she thinks the answers to assignments are on it, but that’s not true. I often get emails with answers to practicals or assignments, but I don’t post them on the site.”

What will happen to aerostudents.com when you graduate?
“At the moment the site’s a bit outdated. I’m the only one who uploads files because the system is complicated and not expandable, so I’m building a new, more autonomous site. Several people volunteered to take it over once I graduate, but ideally it should be managed by the users themselves.”

What is your study strategy?
“Writing summaries for the site helps: I aim to finish and upload a summary two to three days before the exam. That way even if I’m a few days late, I’m still prepared for the exam on time. Also, I can never study more than eight hours a day; once I feel I’ve studied enough, I do something else. In the evening I always play Ultimate Frisbee. Lots of people don’t show up at trainings during exam weeks, but I find that when I just take a break and go to training, the next morning I can study more efficiently.”

How did you come to get involved in Ultimate Frisbee?
“During my first-year I tried several different sports, and UF was the one that spammed me the most, so I stuck with it [laughs]. As I got more
experienced it became more fun, and then I had the opportunity to join the National under-20 team. That’s when I really started loving it. We played practice matches with Belgium and France, and participated in many tournaments in the Netherlands. Now I’m training for the Dutch National team selection and coaching at my club, which adds up to 25 hours of UF per week.”

What was your internship experience at Nasa like?
“Ames is a very broad research centre with many departments: space, aircraft, intelligent systems, microbiology…. I worked in the intelligent systems department, on the use of adaptive control in aircraft.
Basically, if an aircraft loses part of its wing mid-flight, the adaptive control system can take over and fly the airplane normally. It was an interesting
experience, though I got the impression that they don’t work very hard at Nasa; I constantly felt like I was wasting time. The experience of being abroad and meeting new people was worth it, but I feel I could’ve learned what I did in four months’ time just by reading and experimenting on my own.”

What are your plans for after graduation?
“I’ll only be 22 when I graduate, which seems a bit too young to start working. I’d like to stay in school a while longer, study something else, do a PhD or take a break for a year and do research on my own. Lately I’ve been into
sci-fi writing, so I might publish a book. In the end I’d like to have a job in which I can solve problems in my own way; I’d like to be independent. I’ve got broad interests and I want to have fun in life, just like everyone else.”