Subsidy for millions: Over the summer, the High Tech Factory (HTF) received a check for 7.6 million euros from Maria van der Hoeven, the Minister of Economic Affairs. The HTF is a production facility for micro- and nanotechnology companies located in the current cleanroom of MESA+. Since the province of Overijssel and the Twente Region provided a four million euro grant, the total amount of subsidies equal 11.6 million euros for the HTF.
Technical Medicine: Inge Brons and Susan van Maarseveen are the first two master’s students to finish the study Technical Medicine. The two students were among the first to begin the new degree program in September 2003 and finished their studies last July. Brons will soon be working as a researcher in the Department of Audiology at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam. Maarseveen starts next month as a project leader in the area of clinical physics at the Medical Center in Leeuwarden.
Research: Martin Schepers in the Department of Biomedical Signals and Systems (faculty EWI) defended his thesis on intelligent shoes this summer. In the shoe are four sensors that measure force and motion during walking. The sensors can assist doctors to quickly gain an accurate picture of the walking pattern of people who have difficulties to walk as in the case of patients who have suffered from a stroke. Research will help doctors to set up an appropriate treatment method. Biomedical engineering graduate student Arjen Bergsma designed an arm supporting device for people who suffer from muscular dystrophy. The device is portable and does not attract attention in comparison to the current robotic arms that are attached to a wheelchair.
Appointment: Hindrik Vondeling will be named as professor of health economics in the faculty MB on September 14. The UT strives to increase its profile in the area of health sciences. Over the past ten years, Vondeling worked at the Department of Health Economics in Odense, Denmark.
Ethnics of Technology: The Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (NOW) provides grant money of eight million to the 3TU Ethics of Technology graduate program. The program ranks in as one of nine winners in the first round of graduate programs that seeks excellence in teaching and research environments for young, talented researchers. The four PhD candidates who use the grant money for research have large control over the research being performed within the 3TU Center for Ethics of Technology.
