S&T students Naomi Spier (AP), Thomas Martens (BME) and Phu Minh Lu (CSE) have received a Young Talent Incentive Award of the KHMW. Jordi Weggemans (AP) was awarded the Lorentz graduation award for Theoretical Physics, with his thesis ‘Solving Correlation Clustering with the Quantum Approximate Optimisation Algorithm’.
On 29 November 2021, the graduation prizes, encouragement prizes, research prizes, and the ET Outreach Award were presented in several online sessions.
Jordi Weggemans: ‘By the end of last year, I was very happy to hear that I was awarded the Lorentz graduation prize for theoretical physics for the work that I did during my final Master's project at the UT. It is an example of how cross-pollination of different fields can help in research: I attempted to solve a fundamental problem in theoretical computer science by combining ideas from applied physics and applied mathematics - which were the two programmes that the UT allowed me to follow simultaneously through a double degree programme - and eventually the work classified as a study in theoretical physics. When I started both Master's programmes, I was worried that I would not be able to find a topic that intersected both specialisations (Materials Science and Operations Research). However, I learned that if you look hard enough, there might always be something interesting to find!’
Naomi Spier, BSc student Applied Physics, received a Physica Foundation Incentive Award for Physics and Technical Physics
Phu Minh Lu, BSc student Chemical Science and Engineering, received a VNCI Incentive prize for Chemical Technology.
Thomas Martens, BSc student Biomedical Engineering, received a Philips Incentive Award for Technology for Healthcare Solutions
The Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen) annually awards Young Talent Incentive Awards to students with the best study results in engineering and science programmes in the first academic year. Furthermore, graduation prizes are awarded.
