Marathon runnersGijs Beerens and Reinier van Dijk fondly recall the wonderful Sunday they enjoyed running across New York City. In their first full marathon, they reached the finish line in times of 3.3
8.45 and 3.35.59, respectively. The Queensborough Bridge, which connects Queens and Manhattan, has a 42-meter height difference with the land and is the breaking point for many runners. For Beerens and Van Dijk, the pain and exhaustion set in about 30 kilometres into the race, in the Bronx. “At that point it was mental agony,” says Van Dijk. As expected, both runners found the final seven kilometres to the finish line the toughest. “The thought that we’d trained for five months for this gave us the strength to keep pushing on.” Support from the people watching the race also helped.
“Without those two million people lining the roads and shouting encouragement, we’re not sure if we would’ve made it.”
,Second place
TU Delft’s Nuon Solar team finished in second place at the World Solar Challenge, a five-day race held in Australia. The race winner was the team from Tokyo University, while the University of Michigan finished in third place. For the Nuon Solar team, coming in second place was nevertheless quite an achievement, given that Nuna5 had veered off the road during a training run and was badly damaged just prior to the start of the race. During the first three days of the race, the TU Delft team also experienced numerous technical problems, allowing team Tokai to gain an insurmountable lead. Jelle Joustra, one of Nuna5’s drivers, was nevertheless proud of his team’s performance: “I’m not disappointed that we finished in second place, but I am disappointed by the fact that we didn’t get all we could have out of Nuna5.”
,Shanghai ranking
According to the Shanghai Top 100, TU Delft is the best university of technology in the Netherlands. In this ranking, which was published this week, TU Delft was included in the group ranking 152-200, well ahead of the universities of Twente (303-401) and Eindhoven (402-501). Two weeks ago the Times Higher Education (THE) also ranked TU Delft as the best TU in the Netherlands. For both the Shanghai ranking, and the THE ranking, Harvard was chosen as the best university in the world. The Shanghai list ranked Utrecht (52) as the top general university in the Netherlands, followed by Leiden (72). No other Dutch universities were ranked in the top 100. These two ranking systems differ in their various evaluation criteria. The Shanghai ranking for instance places much greater value on research results in the form of awards, citations and numbers of published articles.
,Engineer of the year
On November 3, Gerard Vroomen (38) was chosen as the ‘engineer of the year’ at the annual meeting of Kivi Niria, a Dutch association for engineers and engineering students. Vroomen studied mechanical engineering at TU Eindhoven and is the co-owner and founder of Cervélo, a company that manufactures road-racing and triathlon bicycles. The jury praised Vroomen for his personality, entrepreneurial skills and innovativeness. Two TU Delft engineers were also nominated for this award. Terence Vehmeijer (37) studied mechanical engineering at TU Delft and is now a sales manager for Huisman Equipment, a supplier of offshore equipment. Matthijs Kok (53), who studied applied physics at Twente University and received his PhD degree from TU Delft, is the managing director of research and development at HKV – Lijn in Water, an engineering consultancy firm.
,Station TU Delft
The name of the NS train station Delft-Zuid might be changed to TU Delft. A city councilwoman, Anne Koning, suggested the change on her Twitter page. Delft-Zuid station is currently used by many university students. Two weeks ago Koning opened a new bicycle stall at the station, which offers parking spaces for up to 600 bicycles. The bike stall is part of a 4-million euro investment in refurbishing the station.
“Om een plekje te krijgen moet je drie tot vier maanden wachten”, zegt Cathal Boogerd van de afdeling juridische zaken van promovendivereniging Promood. Dat is een probleem, want promovendi kunnen hun promotiedatum pas aanvragen op het moment dat het proefschrift is goedgekeurd. Gevolg? Promotoren die proefschriften snel goedkeuren zodra ze zien dat die binnen een maand wel af zullen zijn. Ook gebeurt het vaak dat promovendi al een nieuwe baan hebben en dan vrij moeten vragen voor hun promotie. Boogerd: “Dat is mosterd na de maaltijd.”
Hans Suijkerbuijk, coördinator van het promovendusbeleid aan de TU, bevestigt het probleem. “Het aantal promovendi is de laatste jaren enorm gestegen. Daardoor komt de senaatszaal flink onder druk te staan.” Er is volgens hem sprake van zogenaamde ‘piekbelasting’, waardoor vlak voor de zomer (in juni) en aan het einde van het jaar (in december) het aantal aanvragen flink kan toenemen. “We zoeken naar alternatieven”, zegt hij. Eén van de opties die Suijkerbuijk aandraagt is het auditorium. “Maar dat is te groot, dus die ruimte zouden we moeten afschermen om hem kleiner te maken.”
Een tweede locatie kan wel logistieke problemen opleveren. “De toga’s van de hoogleraren en de spullen die we nodig hebben, liggen hier in onze werkkamer”, vertelt pedel Ria Kersbergen. Als de alternatieve locatie verder weg ligt, moeten de deze spullen heen en weer gebracht worden. “Dat vergt aanpassingen en misschien zelfs extra personeel.” Binnenkort wordt de aula verbouwd, waardoor men in juni al naar een andere locatie moet uitwijken. “We gaan dan naar de kroningzaal bij Technische Natuurwetenschappen”, zegt Kersbergen. Die zaal is te bereiken via de loopbrug, waar de hoogleraren gemakkelijk in vol ornaat overheen kunnen wandelen.
Marathon runners
Gijs Beerens and Reinier van Dijk fondly recall the wonderful Sunday they enjoyed running across New York City. In their first full marathon, they reached the finish line in times of 3.38.45 and 3.35.59, respectively. The Queensborough Bridge, which connects Queens and Manhattan, has a 42-meter height difference with the land and is the breaking point for many runners. For Beerens and Van Dijk, the pain and exhaustion set in about 30 kilometres into the race, in the Bronx. “At that point it was mental agony,” says Van Dijk. As expected, both runners found the final seven kilometres to the finish line the toughest. “The thought that we’d trained for five months for this gave us the strength to keep pushing on.” Support from the people watching the race also helped.
“Without those two million people lining the roads and shouting encouragement, we’re not sure if we would’ve made it.”
Second place
TU Delft’s Nuon Solar team finished in second place at the World Solar Challenge, a five-day race held in Australia. The race winner was the team from Tokyo University, while the University of Michigan finished in third place. For the Nuon Solar team, coming in second place was nevertheless quite an achievement, given that Nuna5 had veered off the road during a training run and was badly damaged just prior to the start of the race. During the first three days of the race, the TU Delft team also experienced numerous technical problems, allowing team Tokai to gain an insurmountable lead. Jelle Joustra, one of Nuna5’s drivers, was nevertheless proud of his team’s performance: “I’m not disappointed that we finished in second place, but I am disappointed by the fact that we didn’t get all we could have out of Nuna5.”
Shanghai ranking
According to the Shanghai Top 100, TU Delft is the best university of technology in the Netherlands. In this ranking, which was published this week, TU Delft was included in the group ranking 152-200, well ahead of the universities of Twente (303-401) and Eindhoven (402-501). Two weeks ago the Times Higher Education (THE) also ranked TU Delft as the best TU in the Netherlands. For both the Shanghai ranking, and the THE ranking, Harvard was chosen as the best university in the world. The Shanghai list ranked Utrecht (52) as the top general university in the Netherlands, followed by Leiden (72). No other Dutch universities were ranked in the top 100. These two ranking systems differ in their various evaluation criteria. The Shanghai ranking for instance places much greater value on research results in the form of awards, citations and numbers of published articles.
Engineer of the year
On November 3, Gerard Vroomen (38) was chosen as the ‘engineer of the year’ at the annual meeting of Kivi Niria, a Dutch association for engineers and engineering students. Vroomen studied mechanical engineering at TU Eindhoven and is the co-owner and founder of Cervélo, a company that manufactures road-racing and triathlon bicycles. The jury praised Vroomen for his personality, entrepreneurial skills and innovativeness. Two TU Delft engineers were also nominated for this award. Terence Vehmeijer (37) studied mechanical engineering at TU Delft and is now a sales manager for Huisman Equipment, a supplier of offshore equipment. Matthijs Kok (53), who studied applied physics at Twente University and received his PhD degree from TU Delft, is the managing director of research and development at HKV – Lijn in Water, an engineering consultancy firm.
Station TU Delft
The name of the NS train station Delft-Zuid might be changed to TU Delft. A city councilwoman, Anne Koning, suggested the change on her Twitter page. Delft-Zuid station is currently used by many university students. Two weeks ago Koning opened a new bicycle stall at the station, which offers parking spaces for up to 600 bicycles. The bike stall is part of a 4-million euro investment in refurbishing the station.
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