Interview Diletta Giuntini

What and where did you study?

I studied Aerospace Engineering at the University of Pisa, in Italy. Since the first year, I liked especially materials science, so I specialized in Structures and Materials. I then took a bit of an unconventional path, moving for a PhD at UCSD and SDSU (in San Diego, United States) while my Masters in Italy was still ongoing – the US system allows this. Moving to San Diego was in a way a jump in the blue for me, but I felt like I had nothing to lose, and I had always wanted to experience studying, working and living in different countries. My grandmother knew it all along: she always said I had chosen Aerospace Engineering because it would have given me many opportunities to travel. She was right, and I never regretted it.

What did you learn from your time in the US?

My time in the United States was a great experience from both a professional and personal viewpoint. I got to work with a wonderful diversity of people in San Diego, and I made friends from all over the world. And I quickly learnt to become more independent and self-confident. The American system pushes young people to take ownership for their actions, and the mistakes one makes are seen as part of the growth process. In Italy I had been given a solid theoretical preparation, and the US system, with its flexibility and

Interview

Diletta Giuntini

Diletta Giuntini is an Assistant Professor in the Mechanics of Materials section of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Her research focuses on advanced processing of ceramics and ceramicbased materials.

competitiveness, then gave me more handson experience, and a different kind of empowerment. I liked this combo.

What did you do after you got your PhD?

I moved to Hamburg, Germany, for a postdoc, which then became a Humboldt Fellowship and then a Project Leader position, so I stayed there almost 4 years. I was working in a Collaborative Research Center there (called SFB 986), where people with different backgrounds worked together towards the goal of developing new multiscale materials, for many different applications. I chose to join that center because it gave me the opportunity of working side by side with engineers, chemists and physicists, and I believe we all learnt a lot from each other.

What did you learn from your time in Germany?

In Germany my job gradually shifted towards the managing side of a research group. The person I was reporting to was also the leader of the entire research center and he gave me and my colleagues our own responsibilities. I learned to work in a structured and highly cooperative organization, plus to use a lot of techniques to which I didn’t have access before. Many new ideas came up.

How did you end up at the TU/e and what projects are you working on here?

The opportunity to work in the Netherlands came up from a Dutch professor, who mentioned that there was an ongoing hiring campaign for faculty members in many Dutch universities. This was of course an interesting opportunity, especially since I had always been quite attracted to the Netherlands. I find that there is a very dynamic and openminded atmosphere here. The country is very focused on innovation and internationalization, a stimulating combination. And I had also received very positive feedback from friends who have been living here for years, which was an extra drive.

What do you like about your job as an assistant professor?

I like how diverse and intellectually stimulating the job is. You never get bored. I like doing research, digging deep into a topic until I fully understand it, engineering something new. But I also really like gathering ideas with other people and then organizing them into a project. I also really like collaborating with different experts, and the teaching part of the job. All these different aspects feed into each other. When you teach about your research, you get new ideas, and you question your assumptions. While doing research makes your teaching constantly update itself with the latest innovations.

What are you working on as an assistant professor at the TU/e?

I work on advanced processing of ceramic materials. Ceramic materials are everywhere, because they feature a very unique set of properties: they are very strong and hard, they resist to chemically aggressive environments, to high temperatures, and they also have many functionalities that make them useful for optics, electronics, magnetic devices, energy conversion and storage, and more. This is why you can find them everywhere, from your smartphone to space shuttles.

They are not easy to machine, so usually ceramic components are made starting from a powder, which is heated up to get the desired bulk result. This process is called sintering. It does not work smoothly for all materials and shapes though, which is where my research comes in. I work with technologies such as ultra-fast electrically-assisted sintering, to be able to densify of very hard-to-process ceramics (and in a very efficient way), and on additive manufacturing, to implement complex shapes. Both these techniques have a lot of potential for further development.

And there is more: these days we have many techniques that allow us to manipulate materials at the smallest scales, micro or nano. By creating specific small-scale architectures inside a material, we can foster previously unimaginable properties at the macroscale. Implementing these tiny architectures in combination with additive manufacturing and material densification is the kind of engineering I like to do these days. A fascinating aspect here is that a lot of inspiration comes from biomaterials. Nature has developed amazing multiscale material designs, and with very few ingredients after all. It’s a beautiful source of ideas.

Do you have a specific goal in mind when working on ceramic materials?

Our process is application-driven. Developing fabrication techniques for ceramics (or ceramic-based composites) able to bridge scales in the way I have just described is our current goal, because it will enable a whole lot of exciting applications, ranging the fields of biomedics, energy, electronics and aerospace.

But there is one aspect on which we are focusing at the moment, and that is enhancing the mechanical behavior of ceramics. Even if they are typically very strong, stiff and hard, ceramics tend to be very brittle, which means that they fail suddenly and catastrophically. This is unacceptable for most engineering applications. But creating special nano or microstructures inside them is a very promising strategy to make them more tough and ductile. There is a lot to explore there, and I am convinced exciting discoveries of new material concepts lay ahead.

What projects you have worked on are you most proud of?

I can think of two projects I’m most proud of. One dates back to my time in San Diego, when I was working with Eugene Olevsky, one of the fathers of the theory of sintering, a model that can predict material deformation during densification. I was in charge of expanding this theory to nanomaterials. It was rewarding, I gained a deep understanding of the topic, and at the same time we developed a tool that helped improving the production of many components: cathodes for fuel cells, multilayer capacitors, nitrides for engine components and cutting tools.

More recently, there is the field of nanoarchitected composite materials, which is very fertile right now. I’m happy to be tackling the development of these materials from the mechanical engineering point of view. There is a gap in knowledge between the synthesis of the material at the nanoscale, which relies on chemistry and physics, and then its usage into engineering devices. In our group, we provide the connection by designing nano- or microstructures that will enable the material to withstand mechanical loads while in service.

In both cases, what I find especially rewarding is to exploit the basic understanding of a phenomenon to develop a whole set of solutions for materials engineering.

How do you experience working during a global pandemic?

It’s very challenging, especially for students or someone in their early career stages. You would have all this energy to go out and explore and not being able to do this can be very frustrating. However, it is a global situation, so at least we can find solidarity from the rest of our planet. If we all play our part and are careful, we will have less and fewer restrictions. I think it’s important that we are smart about it and see the silver lining in all of this. We can reflect, we can plan, we can learn online and we can orchestrate collective efforts towards a common goal. Still, I have joined the TU/e in October, and I had very limited chances to meet students and staff members in person – so I can’t wait to meet people in 3D again.

Giuntini chaired the 2018 Gordon Research Seminar on Solid State Studies in Ceramics, where she contributed to organizing a Power Hour for the inclusion and professional development of women and underrepresented minorities in ceramic research. Therefore, I asked her a couple of questions about this topic.

What is the current situation regarding the underrepresentation of women in your field and what would you like to change?

Well, that’s a broad, and very important, topic. We are living in a time of muchneeded change towards inclusion. There is an underrepresentation of a lot of minorities (not only women), in a lot of fields. I like that there are collective international efforts to create a shift in the mindset that led to these issues, and that we are proactively fighting against our preconceptions. And I look forward to when inclusion policies won’t be needed anymore, when we will all have equal opportunities and diversity will simply be normal. We know that diversity only brings advantages too. Research shows that it makes a group more creative, productive and welcoming. I experienced this firsthand in the US, and I hope everybody gets to experience it.

Where does the imbalanced distribution in engineering studies come from?

I think it’s largely cultural. For example, when it comes to women, a lack of female role models in the technical fields (engineers, teachers) is very likely playing a role. This can lead to an unconscious bias, and I’m glad to see that the TU/e takes this topic seriously, and acts upon it. It’s important that every member of a community feels that she/he can go for whatever study or career path she/he likes.

What do you think of the positive discrimination of women policy of the TU/e?

I think that it is a brave move and that it was well motivated. I see where it comes from (this issue of unconscious bias), and I see why it’s useful. It can help accelerate the process towards a new normal of no preconceptions and equal opportunities. And in any case,

people to hire are selected by their future peers, so one’s capabilities stay the main selection criterion. I would not want to hire someone I think I cannot work with.

What sort, of course, are you going to teach?

We will be offering a new course in the next academic year about advanced and additive manufacturing, a master’s course. We will give an overview of the current technologies, for a very diverse set of materials, and we will discuss case studies. I look forward to a vibrant interaction and exchange of ideas.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?

Well, I have learnt that the plans one makes tend to change constantly – and that’s the fun part. But I have just moved here, and I like it. I can see myself at the TU/e at a more senior faculty level then, with a group of students from all sorts of backgrounds, working on a set of exciting projects on new material concepts and their testing with all sorts of advanced techniques. The ME’s Multiscale Lab is ideal for this.

What is your life/study advice to students (during these times)?

To explore your interests, without being afraid of trying things out. It’s important to be humble of course, but also to have the boldness to run ideas by people and find a way to transform them into reality. If anything fails, you will have learnt something useful. This is an especially challenging time, and it is important not to get too frustrated. Let’s avoid commuting from bed to laptop to bed, and get creative about finding new ways to work and communication channels. It’s an opportunity to learn cooperation on a truly global scale, and it’s a transient.

WRITTEN BY JULES VAES

Source: britannica.com

BACK IN TIME: THE MAYA’S

The ancient Maya civilization, a giant part of Mesoamerican culture until the Spanish conquistadors came. Nowadays, there are not many Mayans alive, but still they leave an impact on the world. With amazing architecture, they still stun the world. Their old language is still in use today and of course they predicted the end of the world with their incredible calendar. How technologically advanced was this mythic civilization?

WRITTEN BY REMCO MARTIN LIZANDARA

History

The Maya founded their first settlements around 2600 B.C. in modern-day Belize. From there they spread through the whole of Central America; south-eastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador were all part of the Mayan culture. Even though these were never a unified country, most people lived in the same way. Unlike the Aztecs and the Inca’s, where descendants are still alive but don’t use their heritage anymore, Mayan culture is still alive. In Guatemala there are still approximately six million Mayans that speak the language and reside in nearly the same area as their ancestors.

The architectural structures that the Mayans built, are proof that this society was very specialised in various crafts and that they had a large, organized workforce. A classical city like Tikal was spread over 20 square kilometres. This is comparable to a small modern-day city. The effort for building such cities must have been immense and it is estimated that building this city cost many millions of man-days to complete. Thanks to the vast array of hieroglyphic texts, we can conclude that their masonry capabilities and their willingness to experiment were on parr with the Egyptians when building the legendary pyramids.

Writing and Mathematics

All civilizations that want to progress and organize themselves, eventually need a writing system. Otherwise, it is nearly impossible to introduce any kind of structure in your society. Developing a writing system is widely regarded as one of the key steppingstones towards a modern-day society like our own. The Mayan script was the first writing system in Mesoamerica, and we can date the earliest inscriptions back to the 3rd century B.C. in San Bartolo Guatemala. The Mayan writing was continuously used throughout the whole of Mesoamerica, until the Spanish conquistadores came in the 16th and 17th century. Mayan writing used logograms, characters that make up words and combine to form longer words, and syllabic glyphs, aiding in pronunciation. The Mayan script is most similar in function as the Japanese writing system. Nowadays, the Mayan language is still spoken, but it uses the Latin alphabet rather than the Mayan script.

The other gigantic advancement the Mayan civilization made, was the development of a sophisticated mathematical system. The Mayans made their own counting system in an elegant base 20 system, rather than the western base 10 counting system. Another huge development was the concept of zero. Due to the visualization of the value of zero, they could do simple arithmetic, and even do much more complicated maths. The calculations they did to construct the Mayan calendar, were correct for thousands of years, for example.

Mayan numbers were written from bottom to top, rather than the more traditional horizontal notation. Only 3 symbols were used for most of the numbers. This allowed uneducated people to add or subtract numbers for the purpose of trade and commerce, even though they possibly didn’t fully understand the symbols. Here you can see an example of how the symbols worked.

Mathematics was such an important discipline among the Mayans, that it appears in wall paintings, in which the mathematicians were painted and can be recognized by their numbered scrolls. The first mathematician identified on glyphs was a female figure, which leads us to believe mathematics was a unisex matter.

Astronomy

The study of the unknown is done by many different cultures and civilizations. The night sky and the celestial bodies were, and still are, fascinating parts of everyday life. The Mayans developed some of the most accurate pre-telescope astronomy in the world, partly due to the fully developed writing system and their positional numerical system. The Mayans understood many astronomical phenomena: they calculated the full length of a tropical solar year, for example. Their calculations were more accurate than those of the Spanish when they arrived in Mesoamerica.

The most famous piece of Mayan culture is probably the Mayan calendar. Many people believed that this calendar had prophesised the end of the world in the year 2012. However, now in 2021, we know this wasn’t true. But it still begs the question: why did so many people believe it?

The calendar consists of thirteen periods of 20 days. After these 260 days, the calendar repeats itself. So, the calendar did not follow the solar years, even though it was known by the Mayans how long a solar year was. The longest cycle was the baktun and this also consisted of 13 periods. The baktun was approximately 400 years long and ended on the 21st of December 2012. The Mayans did not think it would be necessary to carve the next circle, because that cycle would end on October 12th 4772. It is pretty reasonable to assume that by then a better way to store their calendar would be invented than a giant rock.

Inventions

The Mayans have invented way more then only mathematics, writing and astronomy: chocolate, for example. The cacao bean was first used around 250 A.D. The Mayans mixed the bean with peppers to make a fiery hot chocolate drink. Other uses for cacao beans were discovered, one of which is glue, which you obtain when you boil different mixtures. Chocolate wasn’t the only feel good nutrient. The Mayans have used hallucinogenic drugs throughout their whole history. These drugs were mainly used to communicate with the gods, but a number of these substances have been used as painkillers in modern medicine. The last main invention of the Mayans, that is still used to this day, is rubber. Even though the patent for the invention of rubber went to Charles Goodyear in 1844, rubber was invented way earlier. The Mayans have invented rubber around 1600 B.C. They did not have the same uses for it as we have today, but rubber was used for their favourite pastime; a rubber ballgame that is little bit like baseball. In short, the Mayans were ahead of their time!