mauritius

All of the HIM family congratulates our PhD student Duygu for her presentation at the NWO Physics conference on the 4^th of April. Her presentation regarding her research on the photothermal snap-through of liquid crystalline networks captivated an audience of 1450 physicists from all over Netherlands. Dugyu really put forward her multidisciplinary skills to put her research in the perspective of an audience with a different scientific background. This kind of communicative excellence is what really ties the team together here in the HIM research group!

Correspondence by Mert Astam

Imagine you were 10 years old again. How do you think it would have felt like to do experiments together with the researchers at the TU/e? Well, this question is best asked to the kids! Dr Danqing Liu and her PhD students Mert Astam, Pengrong Lyu, Duygu Polat and senior engineer Efstathios Barmpoutsis organized a scientific experience for kids from ages 6 to 10. This TU/e-tailored experience took the science beyond child’s play by introducing the kids to cutting-edge stimuli-responsive polymer technology through hands-on activities. It was a hit, visitors Livian, Javan, Andrew and Mykhaylo said it was “amazing to see a piece of plastic come to life!”

The experience also included some lab classics such as the universal indicator experiment, yet 3D-printing technology quickly took the spotlight. The kids unleashed their wild imaginations. According to Andrew, “If I could print anything, I would print the Universe, or at least a new Earth if the Universe would take too long to make.” Meanwhile, Javan said he would “print a hamburger, including the lettuce and tomato.” Mert remarked, “it’s refreshing to see the boundless creativity of our visitors come to life.” The 3-D printing experience engaged the children so strongly, some of our visitors spent up to 4 hours in front of the 3-D printer.

The experience attracted international participants, including North American visitors on tour in Europe. Out of all the wonders they visited in Europe, the kids said that “the science experience was the most wondrous!” Pengrong commented, “it is a great feeling to be inspiring the next generation in our research.” Indeed, all the kids that participated in the science experience made it clear that they are really excited to visit again to start the next chapter of science experiments! Duygu expressed, “organizing this experience really makes me want to re-study my university courses at the TU/e.” Duygu shares this sentiment with Javan and Mykhaylo, who said they would also like to study at a technical university such as the TU/e in the future. A resounding success for the future of the TU/e and its scientific spirit!

Correspondence by Mert Astam

Another inspiring afternoon was had at the TU/e with Dr. Danqing Liu’s presentation of her group’s recent work at the IPM colloquium. The pride of the group members in seeing their work presented to a broader audience was palpable. In fact, PhD students from Danqing’s group were seen beaming uncontrollable smiles as their work went up on the big screen in the Helix building’s presentation room. This enthusiasm and energy entails a strong generation of budding liquid crystal researchers with many more interesting projects to come!

Ranging from liquid crystal torons to liquid reconnectable circuit breakers and dynamic liquid crystal surfaces, a complete array of incredible possibilities was presented to students and professors from groups across the department of chemical engineering and chemistry (CE&C). The interest of students from other groups in our research was also clearly felt, leading to some very insightful questions about Danqing’s group’s research. In fact, Pengrong Lyu, a PhD student from Danqing’s group, was “very impressed” with the questions that were asked to Danqing. Indeed, the audience was listening intently and taking everything in, because possibilities for collaboration or further student projects are up for grabs!

Danqing hopes this presentation of our group’s new work will inspire students and professors across the CE&C. Especially as her group is now moving towards producing devices, opportunities for collaboration is set to increase! More brains to work on it, the better!

Correspondence by Mert Astam

History was made as Mert Astam, Dr. Danqing Liu’s PhD student, won both the public vote and jury’s prize for best pitch at the 3^rd ICMS PhD publication competition. Mert’s win of the public vote was announced first by the jury and was met with modest cheering from his group. Mert’s group suspected this win would mean the jury’s prize would go to another contestant, as no contestant had ever won both prizes before. This made the announcement of Mert’s win of the jury’s prize all the more unexpected. In fact, Danqing had already stopped listening to the results at that point. She suddenly become aware of Mert’s win from the loud, jubilant cheers from the rest of the audience. Danqing became so elated that she could not keep her feet on the ground! She hopped around the audience as she celebrated Mert’s great achievement.

Funnily enough, Danqing had initially advised Mert not to submit his paper to this competition. Mert is a first-year PhD student and he was planning to submit a publication based on his first year’s work. Therefore, Danqing assumed that Mert’s submission would not be able to compete with the submissions from more senior PhD students who typically participate in the ICMS PhD publication competition. Luckily, Danqing changed her mind and thought “what would we lose if we gave it a try?” She advised Mert to try his luck anyway, albeit two hours before the deadline for submission! To their great delight, Mert’s paper was select out of 23 other submissions and made it to the finals! This was an achievement in of itself, as Mert’s paper had competed with publications from 4^th year PhD students.

Upon hearing this great news, Mert got to work and began honing his pitching skills. Many hours were spent presenting to mirrors or to colleagues caught walking in the corridor by Mert. Every detail of the accompanying slides for the pitch were painstakingly studied and adjusted, aiming to get the presentation just right. Yet, all this toil paid off as Mert delivered an impactful presentation at the competition. An exceptional performance by Mert was very much needed as he had very strong competitors, the majority of which were senior year PhD students. Mert was the only first-year PhD student among the finalists and is the only first-year PhD student to win the ICMS PhD publication competition!

As a result of this great triumph, Mert will receive a cash prize of 350 euros. More excitingly though, Mert is invited to present in the ICMS symposium to be held in March 2023. Mert says he “seeks to add the same vigor” to this event as he did in the ICMS PhD publication competition. If you wish to see Mert in action, make sure to attend the symposium and witness his work yourself!

Correspondence by Mert Astam