HomeNewsFive graduation prizes awarded during OAY

Five graduation prizes awarded during OAY

Martin van der Hoef is best lecturer at the UT

Today, during the Opening of the Academic Year, the graduation prizes were awarded to the best graduates of the five faculties that the UT is.

John Bergado (Geo-information Science and Earth Observation), Vincent Bloemen (Computer Science), Philip Jansen (Philosophy of Science, Technology and Society), Evert van Veldhuizen (Mechanical Engineering and Sustainable Energy Technology) and Rogier Wildeboer (Biomedical Engineering and Applied Physics) wrote the best master's theses of their respective faculties. The five recipients were presented their certificates and cheques for one thousand euros by vice-chancellor Ed Brinksma. With the prize, UT rewards excellent students for their achievements. During the OAY, the central education prize was also awarded; this award for best lecturer of the UT went to Martin van der Hoef.

John Bergado (Faculty Geo-information Science and Earth Observation)

“My MSc thesis is about urban land cover classification and automation. The classical way to perform classification is to write a bunch of rules on how an example should be classified. For example: if a certain pixel appears green it should be a tree. But simple rules for difficult problems usually don’t work and you will need to represent your data in “appropriate forms” in order to do better classification. So my model figures out schemes and rules by itself based on the data (pixels in aerial images) given to it. The model does not only automates the classification process, but further objectifies the process as well.”

Vincent Bloemen (Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, EEMCS)

“I devised a technique with which multiple processors work together to solve a difficult problem. For example, think of a large puzzle. If you work together with several people, the puzzle can be solved much faster. Of course, it is important for the work to be properly divided and that people communicate. The same is also true for a computer. With smart and effective cooperation, several processors in computers can identify errors in the system more quickly.”

Philip Jansen (Faculty of Behavioural Management and Social Sciences, BMS)

“My research involves an ethical analysis of the use of drones in the civil sector. Using various philosophical theories, I identified and evaluated the potential ethical problems using various types of drones. My final conclusion is that the civil use of drones is responsible in theory, but that the ethical issues that are identified must be taken into account.”

Evert van Veldhuizen (Faculty of Engineering Technology, ET)

“During my studies, I pursued a double master's degree and I dived into the world of trains. For the master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, I developed a test setup with which the movements between the overhead line and the current collector (that is the device on the roof of the train) can be examined. With this, we hope to one day be able to create better current collectors and overhead lines.
In the second master's, Sustainable Energy Technology, I looked at the possibility to recover braking energy in trains - for example, in storage systems or returning energy to the power grid. For this, I developed a software tool that can analyse energy flows in the track and I compared various possibilities using this tool. In future, I would like to work as an engineer to make the world a bit more fair for the people that need it most.”

Rogier Wildeboer (Faculty of Science and Technology, TNW)

"In my final project, I conducted research into magnetic nanoparticles. These particles are used when removing breast tumours to locate the closest lymph node. This is important because the doctor wants to check whether the breast cancer has metastasised.

At the UT, we have developed a new technique to track the nanoparticles very precisely with a minimum amount of disruption. I am extremely proud that I was able to contribute to developing that technique."

Central education prize

During the OAY, Martin van der Hoef (lecturer of chemical technology and ATLAS University College) received the central education prize. This prize grants him the right to call himself the best lecturer at the UT for this year. The prize comes with a monetary amount of EUR 2,500. The jury of the Central Education Committee, which consists entirely of students, reports that Van der Hoef inspires students tremendously.

Rolf Postma received the TGS award during the OAY.

drs. J.G.M. van den Elshout (Janneke)
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