HomeNewsMenno Veldhorst wins the Overijssel PhD Award

Menno Veldhorst wins the Overijssel PhD Award

During the University of Twente Dies Natalis celebrations, the Overijssel PhD Award for best doctoral thesis of the last year was presented to Dr Menno Veldhorst of the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology.

Dr Menno Veldhorst obtained his doctoral degree in September 2012 under the supervision of Prof Alexander Brinkman and Prof Hans Hilgenkamp. Veldhorst researched charge transport in nanostructures with superconductors as well as a new type of material, the topological insulator. Veldhorst: "One of the things that fascinate me is new physics on nanoscale. During the course of my doctoral study, we also came closer to discovering a new particle, the Majorana fermion."

Prof. dr. ir. Alexander Brinkman supervised Veldhorst during the course of his doctoral study. According to him, "Menno has great intuitive insight into physics. He knew how to combine this insight with good experimental skills. He was the first person in the world to produce superconductivity in a whole new group of materials, the topological insulators."

University of New South Wales
After obtaining his doctoral degree, Veldhorst received a Rubicon grant by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). This grant allows him to do research at the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia) for two years. There, Veldhorst is focusing on 'teleportation on a silicon chip'. How does quantum information transfer in the future quantum computer? Veldhorst wants to find out by means of the intriguing process of quantum teleportation.

Prize
The
Overijssel PhD Award is a prize for a doctoral thesis of outstanding scientific quality, which can be regarded as the start of a promising scientific career. The prize, partially facilitated by the Province of Overijssel, consists of 5,000 euros of prize money and a certificate. Every faculty and every research institute of the University of Twente can hand in one doctoral thesis which they think is worthy of winning the prize. Mr Theo Rietkerk, member of the Overijssel Provincial Executive, presented the prize on behalf of the Overijssel Commissioner of the King during the University's Dies Natalis celebrations.