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Kim Keumbee
Kim Keumbee PhD
Keumbee Kim obtained her masters degree in chemical engineering from Pusan National University, South Korea. During this period she studied 3D printing of humidity-responsive liquid crystal elastomer. She is currently interested in multi-responsive liquid crystal polymer that can respond to two or more stimuli, or can be actuated in multiple manner. For the PhD she will work on the dynamic liquid secretion which can unlock the potential of liquid crystal polymer coatings for sensory applications. A fun fact of Keumbee is that she was in school dance club and gave some dance performance for several times.
Vera Buurman
Vera Buurman Master
Vera has started her master thesis at HIM at the beginning of 2023. Under the supervision of Duygu, she is studying photo responsive liquid crystal actuators which are able to perform rapid motion. During her studies at the technical university of Eindhoven, she had the opportunity to expand her knowledge about stimuli responsive materials. For her bachelors end project she studied thermochromic liquid crystal oligomers for near-infrared reflectors. Later her masters she did an international research project for three months in Florence, Italy about liquid crystal networks as a scaffold for muscle cell engineering. Did you know she has performed at the World Cup artistic roller-skating when she was 13?”
Tom Bruining
Tom Bruining PhD, 9th January 2023
Tom Bruining is a chemical engineer with a master’s degree in molecular systems and materials chemistry from the Eindhoven University of Technology. He is interested in creating liquid crystal based stimuli responsive surfaces that can change their texture to provide haptic feedback. These surfaces have applications in virtual reality and augmented reality systems to provide an improved sense of touch. A fun fact about Tom is that he often makes his own gifts out of wood.
Current Projects
Samuël A. M. (Sam) Weima
Samuël A. M. (Sam) Weima PhD, 9th of January 2023
Sam Weima obtained his masters degree in chemical engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology. He is interested in device integration and exploring new ideas with interdisciplinary cooperation. He is currently occupied with applying machine learning to the development of interactive materials. A fun fact about Sam is that he once voluntarily went 2 years without wearing a jacket, just to make a point.
Current Projects
Vincent van der Doef
Vincent van der Doef PhD, 1st October 2022
I’m Vincent van der Doef and I have started my PhD here at ECO and HIM since 17 October. I studied Molecular Life sciences at Wageningen University where I finished my master thesis working on 3D-printed micropatterned surfaces. I also did my internship in Hokkaido University in Sapporo on hierarchical Macroscale double-network composite structures. For my PhD I will work on Programmable lenses for optical wireless communications assisted by liquid crystal elastomers which will be used in the Beam-steered Reconfigurable Optical-wireless System for Energy-efficient communication project. I also used to write short fables and horror stories for my student association.
Current Projects
Programmable lenses with liquid crystal elastomers
Dugya Polat
Duygu Polat PhD,1st of August 2021
Duygu is a chemical engineer with a M.Sc. from Middle East Technical University, Turkey. She is interested in developing liquid crystal actuators which can apply force in a rapid manner. Fast responses can be accessed by designing instabilities into liquid crystal actuators Her project is a part of the STORM-BOTs initiative aiming to train next generation researchers in the field of soft robotics. A fun fact about Duygu is that her favorite artist is David Bowie.
