Research News

We are pleased to announce that Joost Lötters has been appointed as a part-time professor within the Department of Precision and Microsystems Engineering (PME) of the Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (3mE).

Scientists in Delft have developed a technique for selectively separating microparticles in a liquid on the basis of their shape. The technique calculates precisely the path that a specifically shaped microparticle will follow in a flow through a narrow tube. This makes it possible to set up a sorting channel, in which the differently shaped particles each find their own way. The new technique, which was published today in the journal PNAS, can be used in a range of sectors, for example in the manufacture of medicines or removing microplastics from water.

Climate policy for future energy systems typically focus on the challenge to make them carbon neutral to avoid climate change.

As the research partner in the so-called Hollandse Kust Noord (HKN) project, TU Delft is playing a significant role. Once the wind farm has been built, researchers, led by Professor Jan-Willem van Wingerden, will be able to test their findings regarding wind energy in practice, and the amount of energy generated by the wind farm will be maximised.

Led by Professor Joris Dik, a group of TU Delft bachelor's students was able to discover the secrets of this part of the wall without damaging it. The students’ graduation thesis was published this week in academic journal Heritage Science.

As a biologist and soil scientist Julia Gebert often finds herself getting her hands dirty. With mud, that is. In the past two years she has many times boarded a small boat to cruise among the huge container ships in the port of Hamburg while collecting mud samples.

Mahinder Ramdin has been granted 50,000 euros from NWO’s ‘Idea Generator’ programme for his out-of-the-box research idea ‘Recycling of ammonia from animal manure’.

Balance aids currently used in daily life and rehabilitation clinics are helpful but far from perfect. Canes, walkers, crutches, and handrails modify posture and prevent the hands from being used during activities like opening doors, carrying shopping, or answering the telephone. Also more sophisticated tools like mobile bodyweight support systems or robotic gait trainers are bulky or can only be used in specific environments. Andrew Berry, Daniel Lemus and Saher Jabeen, researchers BioMechanical Engineering at TU Delft, led by Professor Heike Vallery, developed a backpack-like wearable robot to provide balance support during rehabilitation; the GyBAR. Fully contained within the backpack is a gyroscopic actuator – a spinning disc repositionable with electric motors – to provide hands-free balance support in multiple activities and environments. The results of the first experiments with human subjects and potential end-users have been published in Nature Scientific Reports.

Because of the special period in recent months all TU Delft Lecturers have been put in the spotlight by the students.

The Open Science Awards recognize researchers or research students who have used Open Science to make their research more accessible, transparent or reproducible.

Changing 'the Lecturer of the Year elections' to 'The year of the Lecturer' and sending a nice thank you gift. What could it be?

Parcel deliverers are faced with a challenge - partly due to the corona crisis - to deliver more and heavier parcels to people's homes. Our first-year students have a solution for this.

More outstanding female academics with a tenure track position – that is one of TU Delft’s most important pillars. The Delft Technology Fellowship (DTF) was introduced to help achieve this aim. Eline van der Kruk and Sabina Caneva are two top-level scientists who have been given positions at the 3mE faculty. This year, eleven fellowships were granted.

Coastal wetlands like salt marshes are increasingly recognized as valuable natural defenses that protect coasts against strong wave attacks.