Ten researchers aim for the top prizes in FameLab TU/e

A FameLab presentation is unlike most other presentations. Researchers have three minutes to pitch their topic without the support of presentation slides, but it is possible to use supporting props. More than 30 countries took part in last year’s FameLab competition, making it a truly international event. The FameLab TU/e heat is part of the national FameLab competition, which is due to take place later this year.

Unlike last year, TU/e researchers will pitch their topic via a three-minute video that will be played during the live online FameLab TU/e event. The jury will then get the chance to ask each contestant questions about their pitch for two minutes. After all contestants have presented, the jury and the live audience will pick the two winners who will represent TU/e in the national FameLab final.

You can register to attend the live Zoom event by clicking here. The webinar will start at 20.00.

Alternatively, you can go to zoom.us/join and enter the Meeting ID number: 539 818 137 to attend the live event.

So let’s meet the contestants!

Maritza Rovers (Biomedical Engineering)

Drug release within the click of a finger

Maritza is a masters student based in the Biomaterials research group, where her work is focused on the development of functional biomaterials. In her pitch, Maritza will talk about her work on special devices that can be implanted inside the body, where they can release drugs via a click-reaction.

Nazila Yaghini (Chemical Engineering and Chemistry)

Recycling plastics

Nazila is a postdoctoral researcher and her research field is polymer science. In her pitch, Nazila will be speaking about the different ways to recycle plastics.

Christian van der Krift (Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences)

Perceptual distance between parties in projects

Christian is a PhD researcher whose research concerns perceptual distance between clients and contractors in projects. In his pitch, Christian will answer the question: what do a project and an elephant have in common?

Dannie van Osch (Chemical Engineering and Chemistry)

A biobased and sustainable alternative for crude oil

Dannie is a postdoctoral researcher whose research focuses on sustainable and innovative chemistry and chemical engineering. His pitch will consider how oils that are 100% biological and CO₂ neutral could replace our dependency on crude oil in the future.

Bregje de Wildt (Biomedical Engineering)

The development of a human mini-bone in the lab

Bregje is a PhD researcher in the Orthopedic Biomechanics group, where she works on the development of three-dimensional in vitro models for bone remodeling. In her pitch, Bregje will talk about her goal of developing human mini-bones in the laboratory that could be used to reduce animal experiments.

Ellen Cardinaels (Mathematics and Computer Science)

Redundancy scheduling in waiting lines

Ellen is a PhD researcher in the Stochastics group. In her pitch, Ellen will talk about waiting lines and queues, in particular queues that build in our data servers that are invisible to us.

Aysegul Dede (Biomedical Engineering)

May the force be with your tendons!

Aysegul is a PhD researcher in the BioInterface Science group, where she’s working on engineering a biomaterial that can be used in tendon tissue regeneration. In her pitch, Aysegul will talk about the connection between tendons and Star Wars, and motivate the need for new biomaterials for tendon tissue regeneration.

Elham Fadaly (Electrical Engineering/Applied Physics)

New materials that can revolutionize our lives

Elham is a PhD researcher whose work focuses on the fabrication of nanomaterials for light applications. Elham’s pitch will look at the details of her research, in particular how the materials she is working on could affect global data traffic in the future.

Suzanne Koch (Biomedical Engineering)

Rubbing sugar in the wound

Suzanne is a PhD researcher in the Soft Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology group. In her pitch, Suzanne will talk about whether it is possible to grow healthy tissue in high blood sugar levels in the laboratory, which can have implications for how biodegradable implants are accepted by those with diabetes.

Eriola Shanko (Mechanical Engineering)

Swarming for diagnostics

Sophia is a PhD researcher at the Microsystems group. In her pitch, Sophia will discuss how her work is helping in the development of technological tools that can provide faster and more accurate disease diagnoses.

Want to meet the jury? Check out this recent news story.