Summer break for Delta

English only

We will be back for the OWee, the introduction week for new students, which starts on 13 August, with our student housing series among other things. Would you like to reach us in the meantime? You can do so at delta@tudelft.nl. Some of the editors will be working on long-term projects in the summer.

What is a vacation without any good reads? We have selected some of our most read, enjoyable and impactful articles from the past season.

• TU Delft plans to open a branch in Rotterdam which should become ‘a full campus with a substantial number of students’. In Delft, student numbers are to shrink from 2026.
• After several delays, Duwo is now certain that the building of the BalPol4 student flat will start this academic year. The flat is reserved for students aged 23 and older.
• By selling homemade Turkish dishes a group of TU Delft students, PhDs and lecturers has raised almost EUR 23,000 for the victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
• Joking about someone’s sexual orientation, sending dickpics or wolf-whistling on the street. Where do TU Delft students draw the line?
• After 22 years, TU Delft telephonist Hetty van Rijt retires. She looks back at a time of special conversations, angry callers, crazy questions and pushy parents.
• Twenty years after the decision to extend tram line 19 across campus, it looks like it will actually happen in 2024. Only, the rails will be replaced starting 24 April. Why?
• Vijftien jaar geleden brandde de faculteit Bouwkunde van de TU Delft af. Delta blikt in een podcast terug met mensen die tijdens de brand cruciale beslissingen moesten nemen. (Dutch only)

^{Rowing team ViciMetro&Co departs from the start at Asopos de Vliet. (Photo: Céderic van Rossum)}

• Rowing the Ringvaart Regatta without any experience: ‘In part on strength, in part on determination’. This rowing team, that only rows occasionally, grabbed the oars just six months ago.
• DWH/Outsite members were shocked when the rainbow flag was burnt this spring. Still, Delft is more progressive than other cities, says one them to Delta.
• Architect Christien Janssen was elected Lecturer of the Year 2022 on 10 November. She thinks she knows why. “I earned the title by just being myself.”
• After the withdrawal of two Majorana articles, the research field was in crisis, says Tom Dvir. He is first author of a new QuTech publication. What has changed?
• TU Delft was the only TU that did not have a RoboCup football team till now. Tim Verburg, Team Manager of the recently established Delft Mercurians tells their story.
• The Inspectorate of Education calls on TU Delft employees to report any transgressive behaviour on the workfloor. The reason for this is multiple reports received.
• Ridding Namibia of acacia bush by turning it into marine fuel fairly, cleanly and sustainably would make many people happy. TU Delft researchers study this from all angles.

^{In the basement of the reactor building, Lambert van Eijck measures the radioactivity of a Bronze Age sword. (Photo: Jos Wassink)}

• A 3,500 year old ceremonial sword was scanned with neutrons at the TU Delft reactor. The outcome of the collaboration with the Leiden museum is beautiful and puzzling.
• The nitrogen crisis is harming the Netherlands and is causing farmers to rebel. MEZT, a TU Delft start-up, hopes to reduce the nitrogen from cattle farms by a quarter by 2030.
• At least nine international TU Delft students were the victim of telephone fraud. It has caused a lot of financial and psychological damage. “I don’t trust anyone anymore.”
• It is unhealthily hot in spring and summer in the De Pauwmolen studios. “I fled to friends,” says one tenant. The owner of the flat, Plaza, responds slowly.
• Education Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf wants greater transparency in who pays professors as transparency builds trust in academia. What is the situation at TU Delft?
• Who are the people who study or work at TU Delft? We meet them in Humans of TU Delft. This time: Amir Anwar-Hameed and his team are preparing for the challenge of a lifetime.

^{Amir (left) and Marko (right) with the boat owner, Iris Noordzij, and their vessel for the challenge: The Queen of Hearts. (Photo: Stichting Out of the Blue Delft)}