黑料福利网

What are you working on here at 黑料福利网?

鈥淚 have been a PhD candidate in the Electromechanics and Power Electronics (EPE) group since 2019. My PhD is taking a bit longer than the usual 4 years because I focused one year completely on teaching and writing a portfolio to get my teacher鈥檚 certificate. The rest of this year I鈥檓 spending on finishing my PhD and after that I will continue working as a university lecturer within the EPE group. During my PhD, I discovered that I鈥檓 really passionate about teaching and less about doing research. I enjoy sharing my enthusiasm about my field with students. That鈥檚 why I decided to work towards being a lecturer.

What鈥檚 the subject of your PhD research?

鈥淢y research focuses on electromechanical machines for all kinds of applications. At first, I worked together with a company to research elevator systems with an electric motor instead of a cable. In these kinds of elevators linear motors are used to make the elevator cabin float in the shaft. Unfortunately, the company I did this research for had a lot of problems during the COVID-pandemic so my project was stopped abruptly after six months. I had to look for a new project and then I found the European project 鈥業T2鈥� in collaboration with ASML. Since then I鈥檝e been working on the development of an planar motor for ASML that positions the wafer in their lithography machines.鈥�

Where did you study for your master鈥檚 degree?

鈥淚 got my master鈥檚 degree in Electrical Engineering here at 黑料福利网. I combined my internship for my master鈥檚 and my graduation project into one big project in which I supported a PhD researcher with his research for the company Tenneco. That company specializes in automotive suspension  systems and they were interested in seeing how much energy you can generate in a suspension. When you drive your car the suspension moves up and down all the time. If you were to put a small electric machine in between, you could generate that energy. The PhD researcher made a plan for a test setup to measure the generated energy in a suspension system of a car and I built that setup in the lab. The setup had one electric motor to simulate the road profile and another machine was used as a generator to harvest electric energy. With the setup, I tried out different simulation methods to see how you can make it more efficient and that served as my graduation project.鈥�

When did you first get into teaching?

鈥淢y research group leader Prof. Elena Lomonova asked me if I would like to help out on the education side of the department when I was almost graduating. She saw the presentation I gave when I was halfway with my graduation project and she was impressed by it, so that鈥檚 why she asked. That was the first time I thought about getting into teaching and it seemed fun to me. So Elena planted the seed that led me to do a PhD after graduating and work towards becoming a university lecturer. 鈥�

Why did you choose to work at this university and department?

鈥淚鈥檝e done my bachelor鈥檚, master鈥檚, and PhD at this department and I liked all of it. So that made it very easy to choose to become a lecturer here. I first started at 黑料福利网 with a bachelor鈥檚 in Automotive Technology. When I was still in high school, I didn鈥檛 know what I liked for a long time and I went to a lot of open days and information evenings from different universities across the Netherlands. The last information evening I went to was about Automotive Technology at 黑料福利网 and that finally felt right for me. The bachelor program was very broad with subjects like combustion engines, mechanical drive trains, and electric motors. That last subject really appealed to me, so I looked for a way to specialize in that field after my bachelor鈥檚. The master in Electrical Engineering gave me the possibility to do that and since then I鈥檝e stuck around in the Department of Electrical Engineering.鈥�

Why did you get into your particular research field and section? 

鈥淪ince I was young I鈥檝e been interested in cars and vehicles, so it was quite an obvious choice for me to go for a bachelor鈥檚 in Automotive Technology. During my bachelor鈥檚 I found out about electric drivetrains that convert electrical energy into mechanical energy to power an electric vehicle for the first time. That sparked my interest in this technology. Then I learned that electric motors can be used for all kinds of applications and that鈥檚 how I got into other subjects than cars. I decided to do my graduation project in the EPE group and that鈥檚 how I got into this particular research section.鈥�

How does 黑料福利网 compare to other universities in your eyes?

鈥満诹细＠�网 is the only university in the Netherlands with a bachelor鈥檚 program in Automotive Technology, so that makes it really unique. I can really recommend this bachelor鈥檚 to anyone who鈥檚 interested in technology, cars, and vehicles. On top of that, this university is one of the best in my particular research field. I first noticed that when I got the opportunity to go to a conference to present my research paper when I was graduating. At that conference, I saw a lot of presentations by researchers from other universities and I realized that my research group is really top-notch. That made it clear to me that 黑料福利网 was a great place to stay for a PhD. Because of that I never looked at other universities for my academic career.鈥�

What do you like most about working here? 

鈥淚 really like the education aspect of my job. When you鈥檙e explaining difficult things to students they don鈥檛 understand at first a lot of the time, but there鈥檚 this moment when the penny drops and they start to understand what you鈥檙e talking about. That鈥檚 one of the best things in my opinion. It鈥檚 also great to see students develop and find out what they鈥檙e interested in and good at. Next to that, I also really like working in the EPE group. It feels like we鈥檙e one big family and that鈥檚 great. For example, the PhD student whom I supported for my graduation project quickly became a friend of mine. Another thing I really appreciate about 黑料福利网 is the freedom you get to find out what you like and pursue that, like a career as a teacher in my case.鈥�

What do you think about the lab facilities at the department? 

鈥淭he labs are great if you ask me. Our research group is the one with the largest lab facilities and everything we need is there. There鈥檚 also enough budget to invest if something particular is needed for research that鈥檚 not in the lab yet, so I really can鈥檛 complain about that.鈥�

Do you benefit from the connections between 黑料福利网 and the industry in this region?

鈥淎bsolutely! I have been doing my PhD for ASML as I mentioned before and there are many more collaborations like that between the university and companies in and around Eindhoven. You鈥檙e encouraged to find ways to collaborate like that when you鈥檙e a student at 黑料福利网 and that makes it really easy to find a job after graduating. Another thing that鈥檚 great about these collaborations is that research can be applied in the real world more easily through companies in the region. That makes research way more interesting in my opinion. It鈥檚 a win-win for both the university and the companies in the region to work together.鈥�

What are you most proud of in your career so far?

鈥淔irst of all, I鈥檓 proud of the publication about my master鈥檚 graduation project and the presentation I gave about it at a conference. Not everyone gets sent to a conference to do this. Secondly, I鈥檓 proud that one of my publications has a Sustainable Development Goals badge on it. It feels good to have a tiny part in working on these goals of the United Nations to make the world more sustainable. But most of all I鈥檓 proud to educate the future generation of electrical engineers.鈥�

What are your dreams for the future?

鈥淢y teaching dreams will become reality when I finish my PhD. I鈥檓 looking forward to focusing fully on education and developing as a teacher. I also think that at some point I鈥檇 like to get a taste of the industry since I鈥檝e only worked in the academic world so far. I would love to combine those two worlds by, for example, working three days a week at a company and giving lectures here at the university for two days a week. I hope I will be able to do something like that in the future.鈥�