Delft Outlook 2011-4

Delft Outlook 2011-4

In this edition, Delft Outlook 2011 nr.4:

In Brief

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Science

The strength of glass
For nearly a century architects have been dreaming of a material as strong as steel and as transparent as glass. We have now learned so much about glass that it is increasingly used as a sort of transparent concrete.
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Controlling the brain
People with brain disorders like Parkinson’s disease and tinnitus may one day have an ingenious, miniaturised neurosimulator implanted in their bodies. Made in Delft.
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Interview

'I wish photography had another dimension'
For four decades he captured the important news events of the day, “without fuss, in order to inform the public”. This autumn, photographer Vincent Mentzel is Cultural Professor at TU Delft.
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Column

The Regulars
Diederik Samsom studied Applied Sciences at TU Delft and since 2003 has been a PvdA Member of the Dutch House of Representatives
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Delft etc.

Graduate School: don't be too patronising
Graduate school is coming. Better supervision and instruction must ensure that fewer PhD students drop out and that they obtain their doctorates within four years. Professors are extremely sceptical about the curtailment of their authority.
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Life after Delft

Solution oriented
“It actually started long before I graduated,” says Rik Grashoff, reflecting on the way he initially got into politics. At secondary school he was already on the student council. Later, while studying at TU Delft, he served on the committee of the student union VSSD for a year, and was a member of the faculty council of Civil Engineering and one of the founders of the national student union, the LSVb.
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The view

Deep sea mining
Brilliant lights pierce the darkness of the deep sea. Sunlight no longer penetrates at depths of three to four kilometres. Robots, ponderous as tanks, heave themselves along the sandy sea floor, extending excavator arms towards the lumpy deposits, their cutting heads rotating to grind the stone that the machine then sucks up with a hose.
» entire article | » pdf

The Firm

Clean air
Earlier this year Virus Free Air stood at number 99 in the MKB Innovation Top 100. The aim of Managing Director Eliane Khoury is as clear as it is ambitious: to be the market leader.
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Since you asked

Spending money
The Dutch minister of Econonmic Affairs and Innovation, Maxime Verhagen, has presented the outline of his new research funding for top economic sectors. Most professors reacted positively.
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Alumni Symposium

'Doing more with less'
“Major global issues like sustainability and poverty reduction require radical innovations,” asserts Professor Prabhu Kandachar (Industrial Design Engineering). Emerging countries with high poverty rates are becoming centres of innovation. “It is the very limitations in these countries that lead to interesting innovations.”
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7 October 2011

'Dig deeper for fundamental insights'
“Technology is the only way to solve world problems in the fields of sustainability, energy and raw materials”, says KNAW president Robbert Dijkgraaf. “TU Delft is in a position to provide an important contribution.”
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Programme AlumniSymposium 2011

Programme on 7 October
The alumni symposium on Friday 7 October will start off with a debate between leading political, business and academic figures. Everyone present will be welcome to join in the discussion, which will be about the need for and purpose of the Rutte cabinet’s new innovation policy that involves the nine leading sectors designated by the cabinet.
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Alumni World

Hora est

The proposition
When faced with a flood warning, residents of the Randstad should not head to their cars en masse; Instead they should jump on their bicycles to flee to higher ground.
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