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Biography

Mark van Loosdrecht is Professor in Environmental Biotechnology at Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. He graduated (MSc/PhD) from Wageningen University. His PhD research was a combination of Microbiology and Colloid Chemistry. He was appointed at Delft in 1988 and became Full Professor in 1999. His research is characterized by the combination of scientific understanding of complex systems and development of new processes. Dr. van Loosdrecht’s scientific interests are mainly related to biofilm processes, nutrient conversion processes and the role of storage polymers in microbial ecology. In particular, he is interested in new processes related to wastewater treatment and resource recovery. His research has resulted in several processes currently applied on full scale such as the BCFS process, Sharon process, Anammox process and Nereda process. He is active member of the International Water Association (IWA) and past chairman of the Biofilm and the Nutrient removal specialist groups. He is Editor-in-Chief of Water Research. He obtained several prizes for his work, including the Lee Kuan Yew Singapore Water Prize, Stockholm Water Prize and the IWA Grand Award. He is member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the Dutch Academy of Engineering (AcTI) and the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE). He was awarded a knighthood in the order of the Dutch Lion. He has published over 700 scientific papers, has 15 patents and has supervised over 50 PhD students. Academic Degrees 1985 - MSc Environmental Engineering, Wageningen University MSc projects: Microbiology (6 months), Environmental Technology (6 months), Colloid and Surface Chemistry (5 months), Swiss Federal Inst. for Water Resources and Water Pollution Control (EAWAG), Switzerland, 4 months 1988 - PhD Topic: adhesion of bacteria and the effects of adhesion on the microbial physiology. Wageningen University (promotors: prof. A. Zehnder and prof. J. Lyklema) 2010 - Honorary Doctorate ETH-Zurich, Switzerland 2015 - Honorary Doctorate University of Ghent, Belgium Awards and Recognitions Honorary Member IWA (2020) Fellow Chinese Academy of Engineering Knight in the order of the Dutch Lion (since 2011) Fellow of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) (since 2004) Fellow of the Dutch Academy of Engineering (AcTI) (since 2007) Fellow of the International Water Association (Since 2010) Member US National Academy of Engineering (since 2015) Honorary Doctorate ETH Zurich, Switserland (2011) Honorary Doctorate Gent University, Belgium (2015) Honorary professor at University of Queensland, Australia (2010 - ) Honorary professor Harbin Institute of Technology, China (2014 - ) Honorary professor Zhejiang University of Technology, China (2017 - ) IWA Grand Award (2008) Lee Kuan Yew Prize winner (2012) Stockholm Water Prize (2018 ) AEESP distinguished lecturer (2013/2014) Simon Stevin Master Award (2013 – 500.000 Euro) Gravitation Award (2013 – 4.000.000 Euro) Spinoza Award (2014 – 2.500.000 Euro) Professional positions 1988 – 1997 Assistant Professor in the section of Prof.dr.ir. J.J. Heijnen, department of Biochemical Engineering, Delft University of Technology 1997 – 1999 Associate Professor at the same department. 1999 – 2002 Anthonie van Leeuwenhoek Professor at TU-Delft 2003 – now Chair Professor and head of the section Environmental Biotechnology at TU-Delft 2008 – now Scientific Advisor Water Cycle Research at KWR Water Cycle Research Mark van Loosdrecht Full professor, Section Leader +31 15 2781618 M.C.M.vanLoosdrecht@tudelft.nl Room: B58. C2.190 twitter linkedin youtube

Sint-in-a-Box Copenhagen

Sint-in-a-Box Copenhagen 16 December 2021 17:30 - Location: BRUS, brewpub and restaurant It is that time of the year again! Back in the Netherlands the days are getting shorter and the temperature keeps dropping. Supermarkets have stocked up on pepernoten and chocolate letters. The discussion on which pepernoten taste best - chocolate-covered or not - has been held several times already, and this can only mean one thing… Sinterklaas will soon be visiting us, and you won't be forgotten! We would love to invite you to a Sinterklaas get-together in Copenhagen. The event will gather 4TU alumni living in the Copenhagen Capital Region and is sponsored by the Dutch Engineers Alumni Network (DEAN)*. This is a great opportunity to celebrate this truly Dutch tradition, while meeting new people and catching up with known faces from the local chapter. TU Delft alumnus Ricardo Ernesto Díaz will be hosting the event this year. See date and location below.** Sinterklaasborrel Copenhagen Thursday 16 December 2021 17:30 (local time) The Belgian Waffle Stop BRUS, brewpub and restaurant Guldbergsgade 29, 2200 Copenhagen Register The event is part of our programme ' Event in a Box ', where local alumni host their own alumni gatherings, with some help from TU Delft Alumni Relations. For this Sinterklaas edition, we will make sure there are enough pepernoten, Taai Taai's and candy, but you will have to pay for your own food and drinks. Come and join this event by registering here before Sunday 12 December. *About DEAN: The Dutch Engineers Alumni Network of TU Delft, TU/e, Twente, and Wageningen strives to connect alumni (so both Dutch and international) who graduated from one of the technical universities in the Netherlands. DEAN launched its activities in 2014 and currently has communities in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Nordics, Spain and Switzerland. ** The event may be cancelled if Covid-19 restrictions change

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Students Amos Yusuf, Mick Dam & Bas Brouwer winners of Mekel Prize 2024

Master students Amos Yusuf, from the ME faculty (Mick Dam, from the EEMCS faculty and graduate Bas Brouwer have won the Mekel Prize 2024 for the best extra scientific activity at TU Delft: the development of an initiative that brings master students into the classroom teaching sciences to the younger generations. The prize was ceremonially awarded by prof Tim van den Hagen on 13 November after the Van Hasselt Lecture at the Prinsenhof, Delft. They received a statue of Professor Jan Mekel and 1.500,- to spend on their project. Insights into climate change are being openly doubted. Funding for important educational efforts and research are being withdrawn. Short clips – so called “reels” – on Youtube and TikTok threaten to simplify complex political and social problems. AI fakes befuddle what is true and what is not. The voices of science that contribute to those discussion with modesty, careful argument and scepticism, are drowned in noise. This poses a threat for universities like TU Delft, who strive to increase student numbers, who benefit from diverse student populations and aim to pass on their knowledge and scientific virtues to the next generation. It is, therefore, alarming that student enrolments to Bachelor and Master Programs at TU Delft have declined in the past year. Students in front of the class The project is aimed to make the sciences more appealing to the next generation. They have identified the problem that students tend miss out on the opportunity of entering a higher education trajectory in the Beta sciences – because they have a wrong picture of such education. In their mind, they depict it as boring and dry. In his pilot lecture at the Stanislas VMBO in Delft, Amos Yusuf has successfully challenged this image. He shared his enthusiasm for the field of robotics and presented himself as a positive role model to the pupils. And in return the excitement of the high school students is palpable in the videos and pictures from the day. The spark of science fills their eyes. Bas Brouwer Mick Dam are the founders of NUVO – the platform that facilitates the engagement of Master Students in high school education in Delft Their efforts offer TU Delft Master Students a valuable learning moment: By sharing insights from their fields with pupils at high school in an educational setting, our students can find identify their own misunderstandings of their subject, learn to speak in front of non-scientific audiences and peak into education as a work field they themselves might not have considered. An extraordinary commitment According to the Mekel jury, the project scored well on all the criteria (risk mitigation, inclusiveness, transparency and societal relevance). However, it was the extraordinary commitment of Amos who was fully immersed during his Master Project and the efforts of Brouwer and Dam that brought together teaching and research which is integral to academic culture that made the project stand out. About the Mekel Prize The Mekel Prize will be awarded to the most socially responsible research project or extra-scientific activity (e.g. founding of an NGO or organization, an initiative or realization of an event or other impactful project) by an employee or group of employees of TU Delft – projects that showcase in an outstanding fashion that they have been committed from the beginning to relevant moral and societal values and have been aware of and tried to mitigate as much as possible in innovative ways the risks involved in their research. The award recognizes such efforts and wants to encourage the responsible development of science and technology at TU Delft in the future. For furthermore information About the project: https://www.de-nuvo.nl/video-robotica-pilot/ About the Mekel Prize: https://www.tudelft.nl/en/tpm/our-faculty/departments/values-technology-and-innovation/sections/ethics-philosophy-of-technology/mekel-prize

New catheter technology promises safer and more efficient treatment of blood vessels

Each year, more than 200 million catheters are used worldwide to treat vascular diseases, including heart disease and artery stenosis. When navigating into blood vessels, friction between the catheter and the vessel wall can cause major complications. With a new innovative catheter technology, Mostafa Atalla and colleagues can change the friction from having grip to completely slippery with the flick of a switch. Their design improves the safety and efficiency of endovascular procedures. The findings have been published in IEEE. Catheter with variable friction The prototype of the new catheter features advanced friction control modules to precisely control the friction between the catheter and the vessel wall. The friction is modulated via ultrasonic vibrations, which overpressure the thin fluid layer. This innovative variable friction technology makes it possible to switch between low friction for smooth navigation through the vessel and high friction for optimal stability during the procedure. In a proof-of-concept, Atalla and his team show that the prototype significantly reduces friction, averaging 60% on rigid surfaces and 11% on soft surfaces. Experiments on animal aortic tissue confirm the promising results of this technology and its potential for medical applications. Fully assembled catheters The researchers tested the prototype during friction experiments on different tissue types. They are also investigating how the technology can be applied to other procedures, such as bowel interventions. More information Publicatie DOI : 10.1109/TMRB.2024.3464672 Toward Variable-Friction Catheters Using Ultrasonic Lubrication | IEEE Journals & Magazine | IEEE Xplore Mostafa Atalla: m.a.a.atalla@tudelft.nl Aimee Sakes: a.sakes@tudelft.nl Michaël Wiertlewski: m.wiertlewski@tudelft.nl Would you like to know more and/or attend a demonstration of the prototype please contact me: Fien Bosman, press officer Health TU Delft: f.j.bosman@tudelft.nl/ 0624953733

A key solution to grid congestion

On behalf of the TU Delft PowerWeb Institute, researchers Kenneth Brunninx and Simon Tindemans are handing over a Position Paper to the Dutch Parliament on 14 November 2024, with a possible solution to the major grid capacity problems that are increasingly cropping up in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is unlikely to meet the 2030 climate targets, and one of the reasons for this is that large industry cannot switch to electricity fast enough, partly because of increasingly frequent problems around grid capacity and grid congestion. In all likelihood, those problems will actually increase this decade before they can decrease, the researchers argue. The solution offered by the TU Delft PowerWeb Institute researchers is the ‘flexible backstop’. With a flexible backstop, the current capacity of the power grid can be used more efficiently without sacrificing safety or reliability. A flexible backstop is a safety mechanism that automatically and quickly reduces the amount of electricity that an electric unit can draw from the grid (an electric charging station or a heat pump) or deliver (a PV installation). It is a small device connected or built into an electrical unit, such as a charging station or heat pump, that ‘communicates’ with the distribution network operator. In case of extreme stress on the network, the network operator sends a signal to the device to limit the amount of power. Germany recently introduced a similar system with electric charging stations. The backstop would be activated only in periods of acute congestion problems and could help prevent the last resort measure, which is cutting off electricity to users. ‘Upgrading the electricity network remains essential, but in practice it will take years. So there is a need for short-term solutions that can be integrated into long-term planning. We, the members of the TU Delft PowerWeb Institute, call on the government, network operators and regulator to explore the flexible backstop as an additional grid security measure,’ they said. The entire Paper can be read here . Kenneth Brunninx Associate Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, Governance and Management, where he uses quantitative models to evaluate energy policy and market design with the aim of reducing CO2 emissions. Simon Tindemans is Associate Professor in the Intelligent Electrical Power Grids group at Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science. His research interests include uncertainty and risk management for power grids. TU Delft PowerWeb Institute is a community of researchers who are investigating how to make renewable energy systems reliable, future proof and accessible to everyone.