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9 Biweekly magazine of the Eindhoven University of Technology For the latest news: www.cursor.tue.nl/en and follow @TUeCursor_news on

9 January 2014 | year 56

‘High’ temperatures don’t faze ice dome builders

TU/e confers honorary doctorate to Norman Fleck Tuesday 7 January - Professor Norman Fleck of Cambridge University will receive an honorary doctorate from TU/e during the Dies Natalis on April 24. Fleck is considered an authority on micromechanics, a discipline that studies the mechanical properties of materials, including elasticity and plasticity. Fleck’s honorary promoter is Professor Mark Geers of Mechanical Engineering.

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Wednesday 18 December - TU/e did exceptionally TU/e researcher well at last year s are involved in ’s Gravitation Gr three of a total of approximatel ants. of six programs, y 40 million euro receiving a tota . The largest gran Eindhoven prog l t (20 million) wa ram concerning s awarded to an integrated nano Applied Physics photonics (Elect ). Other substant ric al Engineering an ia l grants have be (10 million, Mat d en assigned to hematics & Com a study of netw puter Science), renewable fuels or ks an d a new center fo (10 million, Chem r the production ical Engineering) of .

TU/e involved in major test with electric cars

Monday 6 January - Temperatures in the Finnish town of Juuka are barely sub-zero, but the giant igloo TU/e students plan to build will be realized anyway, says lecturer Arno Pronk (Built Environment), who’s supervising the Pykrete Dome project. The team hoped to start on the actual construction of the dome with a record diameter of thirty meters this Thursday night. According to forecasts, temperatures will drop to -12 and even -20.

TU/ecomotive to develop practical and comfortable city car Wednesday 18 December - A practical, comfortable, and energy-efficient city car, cheaper than the Renault Twizy - it’s how TU/ecomotive describes its second electric car, which will be taking part in the Shell Eco marathon in May. The students are aiming for full approval of the car by the Dutch RDW, so their EM-02 can hit the Dutch road officially.

Jan Mengelers new chairman of TU/e Executive Board

Tuesday 17 December - TU/e is part of a wide-scale innovation platform for electric cars: VIBe. Within the next year, the project wants to have a fleet of at least five hundred electric cars on the road, each equipped with devices that monitor the behavior of its drivers on several aspects. Among other things, the collected data should lead to new applications for electric driving.

Friday 13 December - The Supervisory Board of TU/e has appointed ir. Jan Mengelers as the new Chairman of the Executive Board. Mengelers is currently Chairman of the Board of Management at TNO. He will succeed dr.ir. Arno Peels. Mengelers is a TU/e alumnus: in 1979, he graduated from the Department of Mechanical Engineering. His term will start on March 1, 2014.

More news on www.cursor.tue.nl/en

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New Year ‘Special’

“Happy New Year everyone, and welcome to 2014!” The announcement was followed by the most amazing fireworks I’ve ever seen in my life. Millions of people had been standing by for four to five hours to witness this moment. As the clock struck twelve, people popped bottles of champagne, shared them with strangers, and wished everyone the best. The moment felt very special and heart-warming to me - happiness and love were in the air. The night’s celebration ended, we came home, slept, and got up again for the New Year’s Day out. My family believes that whatever you do on New Year’s Day reflects what you’ll be doing the rest of the year! And since I don’t want to be lazy for a whole year or want to spend it sitting at home, going out was the only option, despite the bad weather and being tired. We concluded the day with a temple visit and a dinner outside. I was happy; the year had started well.

Then I thought: what has started, really? Nothing in my life ended on the 31st, nor did anything start on the 1st. I knew exactly what was waiting for me a few days back. Whatever I didn’t know then, like what I’ll be doing after I’ve graduated, I still don’t. It’s safe to say the arrival of 2014 hasn’t changed my life dramatically. Yet we all love to celebrate and welcome the new, no matter how insignificant its influence. You might feel the New Year calls for resolutions and presents an opportunity to reorganize your life. If that’s what you did: wonderful. If you didn’t, why not consider today to be a Special New Year’s Day, just for you?

Bipashyee Ghosh, Innovation Graduate student Sciences


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