Meet our European Team
Evan J. Spadafora, PhD
Service Engineer evan.spadafora@protochips.com
Czechia where I did another postdoc looking
in depth background plays a vital role in an
into the atomic/molecular interactions of single
industry where so many different scientific
Born and raised in New York City, I completed my
molecules for quantum computing purposes.
disciplines interact and combine. My love
MSc in Nanoscience and technology in Albany,
My final postdoc at the Fritz Haber Institute
of experimental physics/chemistry plus my
NY, USA and started my career at IBM T. J. Watson
in Berlin, Germany was focused on atomic
passion for the scientific apparatus makes
Center. I moved to Grenoble France to do my
studies of heterogenous catalytic reactions with
me extremely enthusiastic to help you get
PhD. There I studied atomic electronic behavior of
chiral molecules, learning German along the
your system set up to do some cutting edge
organic semiconductors and learned how to speak
way. This landed me a position as a service/
research.
French. After 4 years of enjoying the landscapes,
system engineer here in Berlin focusing on the
I went on to a postdoctoral role at Imperial
commissioning of various types of UHV scientific
College London researching copper leaching
apparatus. After 5 years of doing that, I started
using ionic liquids. Afterwards, I moved to Prague,
here at Protochips. As you can see my diverse and
Nynke A. Krans, PhD
Regional Applications and Marketing Manager nynke.krans@protochips.com
I did my PhD with the group of K. P. de Jong at
situ microscopy scientists and users around the
Utrecht University in the Netherlands, where
world that do awesome research. The amount
I am still happily living at this time. My PhD
that I learn from these chats cannot be compared
was mostly focused on liquid cell transmission
to what you can learn from a textbook. To add to
research papers. The travel that comes
electron microscopy, combined with catalysis
this, I love teaching new researchers all about the
with a job like this and getting to enjoy
research. This means that my experience with in
inns and outs of in situ (S)TEM, like in one of our
the food and culture all around Europe
situ systems runs all the way back to 2015 when
In Situ Academies. The small tips and tricks that
is an additional joy for me in my job at
Protochips was still working with single o-rings
nobody even thinks of when starting off these
Protochips. I would love to come and
and Viton! On a daily basis, I love talking with in
experiments are so important to create successfull
meet you soon at any of our events!
Daniel Frank
Global Manager of Support daniel@protochips.com Before starting to work at Protochips, I worked
even our co-founders. Instead of using their time
as a Service Analyst where I observed technical
to get users started on fundamentals, they can
trends and worked as higher-level support
now offer their decades of experience to support
for unexpected behavior on robotic systems.
even more complex applications and solutions.
present for the excitement and curiosity
In 2015 I was hired at Protochips as our first
In
I
of a new implementation is still one of my
dedicated Service Engineer to support customers
traveled 90% of the time, often going to three
favorite parts of the job. I’m also regularly
and perform installations following the release of
continents in just one week. While this was
fascinated to learn about the practical
our Atmosphere system. Since then, our service
an exciting time that I remember fondly, I
implications of what our users are working
team has acquired over 15 years of combined in-
relocated
help
on. Despite traveling for work so often, I still
situ S/TEM experience. This experience enables us
regionalize
point,
we
find time to enjoy traveling on my own time.
to support many challenges unique to the industry.
also
hired
in
China
When I am not working or traveling, I enjoy
Before we had a service team, system installations
and
in
our
exploring all kinds of cuisines, reading, and
and basic support were performed by our
customers
efficiently.
especially in the long Berlin winters, doing
development team, application engineers, and
After 9 years of working at Protochips, being
my
first
three
to
Germany
support. service
the
years
USA,
faster
At
at
in
Protochips
2018 that
engineers to
support
and
more
to
all
some small programming projects.
Simon Ma
Vice President of Sales simon.ma@protochips.com
I did a Phd in Physics focusing on III-V semiconductor
with Protochips in 2016. From that time I grew
user connections to the researchers in
growth at the University of Hongkong. Before
from a regional sales director, to the general
Europe. After these years of experience,
starting at protochips I gathered experience in many
manager in Asia where I mostly connected
I see that in-situ TEM research is the
industries from IC Package, LCD display, batteries
with our distributors and users learning
technique
and even end consumer products. During this time,
more and more about TEM research. To me,
science to real world environments.
I met many different scientists all over Asia that had
it has always been fascinating to connect
My hope is to help researchers all
different interests and I needed to understand how
and learn our users’ research. In 2022 I
around the globe in connecting their
we could help them get the best restults possible.
moved to London and took the job as VP of
experiments to real application from
After my exploits in these fields, I started working
Sales in Protochips where I get to extend my
nano to bulk scale.
to
connect
fundamental
WHERE ARE WE BASED?
UTRECHT, NETHERLANDS APPLICATIONS BERLIN, GERMANY SERVICE LONDON, ENGLAND SALES
UPCOMING EVENTS GRC Liquid Phase Electron Microscopy January 27 - 28, 2024 Lucca, Italy PICO 2024 April 21 - 25, 2024 Vaalsbroek, Netherlands IAMNano June 26 - 29, 2024 Gothenburg, Sweden 18th ICC July 14 - 19, 2024 Lyon, France EMC 2024 August 25 - 30, 2024 Copenhagen, Denmark FEMMS 2024 September 29 - October 4, 2024 Catania, Italy
contact@protochips.com www.protochips.com
Protochips Headquarters:
3800 Gateway Centre Blvd #306 Morrisville, NC 27560 USA Phone: +1.919.377.0800
Protochips Creating the Connected Lab