DYA Board

Dr. Ana Somoza-Tornos

Ana is an Assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering at TU Delft Applied Sciences faculty. Her research focuses on developing Process Systems Engineering tools close carbon cycles in the chemical industry via the introduction of carbon capture and utilization and chemical recycling technologies.

As she steps into her role as a DYA board member, Ana is committed to supporting the development of early career academics at TU Delft. She plans to adopt, in her efforts, a comprehensive approach of overseeing the needs of young researchers, ensuring resource accessibility, and orchestrating activities tailored for career advancement.

Dr. Euiyoung Kim

Euiyoung Kim is an Assistant Professor in the Design, Organisation, and Strategy (DOS) department at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. He previously held roles as a lecturer and postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley, where he earned his PhD, alongside MS from Northwestern University in the U.S. and BS from Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea. With academic and personal experiences spanning three continents—the Netherlands, the US, and South Korea—Euiyoung has continually aimed to develop a well-rounded perspective, integrating diverse knowledge and expertise across academia.

Passionate about fostering an inclusive and diverse TU Delft community, Euiyoung is dedicated to empowering early career academics in their academic and professional journeys. As a new board member, he aims to be a bridge between the IDE faculty and the Design Your Academic (DYA) community, helping individuals thrive in their career development, making our working condition welcoming and secure, ensuring they feel/are supported in their career growth and success.

Dr. Junzi Sun

Junzi is an assistant professor at the Aerospace Engineering faculty, specializing in air traffic control and air transport operations. He is passionate about making aviation more sustainable and promoting open science.

Junzi enjoys community building. Previously, he has been involved in several other communities within and beyond TU Delft, such as AE Faculty OdC, Open-Science Community Delft, and the OpenSky Network. Within DYA, his objective is to promote a democratic environment that supports the development of early career researchers at TU Delft and helps young researchers voice their opinions within the university. He enjoys the spontaneity within the communities and is allergic to bureaucracy.

Dr. Manon Kok

Manon is an Associate Professor at the Delft Center for Systems and Control, in the TU Delft Mechanical Engineering faculty. Her research focuses on probabilistic sensor fusion, with a specific focus on position and orientation estimation using inertial sensors and magnetometers.

Manon is passionate about contributing to a friendly, welcoming and stimulating environment for young academics at the TU Delft. She is excited to start as a new board member to contribute to important discussions, e.g. about social safety and inclusion, and to organizing community-building events

Dr. Martin Sand

Martin is an Assistant Professor of Ethics and Philosophy of Technology at TU Delft Technology, Policy and Management faculty. He has worked at TU Delft since 2018, first as a Marie-Curie Fellow and then as a full-time teacher. He finds it important to talk about failures in academia and not only successes. His addition to the DYA board brings a unique perspective – one that recognizes the value of both achievements and setbacks as sources for learning and improvement.

Martin’s willingness to discuss and learn from challenges has helped him develop a deep understanding of the uncertainties scholars encounter at the outset of their careers and he aims to use his insights to support TU Delft young academics. As a DYA Board member, he aims to increase the recognition of teaching responsibilities as a fundamental dimension of academia.

Dr.Nikolina Šoštarić

Nikolina is an assistant professor with emphasis on education (Van Rijn position) at Bionanoscience department of the Faculty of Applied Sciences. Her research is in the field of bioinformatics, specifically modelling dynamics of biomolecules. Besides research, she enjoys spreading the love towards science though teaching and science popularization.

As a new member of the DYA board, Nikolina will be dedicated to enhancing community engagement and supporting the development of young academics. She will also aim to increase the recognition of different responsibilities within the academia, such as teaching ones.

Dr. Ranjith Soman

Dr Ranjith Soman is an assistant professor in Digital Construction within the Integral Design and Management Section of the Materials, Mechanics, Management & Design (3MD) department at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and GeoSciences. His research and education focuses on leveraging information technology to transition to sustainable and regenerative infrastructure by co-creating a future in construction that synergises human creativity with computational intelligence. To realise this vision, his research is centred around four key areas: Knowledge Modelling, Neuro Symbolic Machine Learning, Human-Computer Interaction, and Digitally Augmented Processes.

As a DYA board member, Ranjith is committed to creating an inclusive, safe, and collaborative environment for early career researchers at TU Delft. Drawing from his experience at multiple institutions during his PhD and postdoctoral studies, he will work towards developing strategies and policies that promote social safety, enhance the involvement of early career researchers in decision-making, and maintain a diverse and inclusive environment. He aims to formulate DYA's stance on these critical issues affecting early career academics to achieve this.

Dr. Selene Pirola

Dr Selene Pirola holds a MSc Degree in Biomedical Engineering obtained from Politecnico of Milano (Italy). Here, she worked on 4D flow image analysis for aortic haemodynamic assessment in bicuspid aortic valve. She then pursued a PhD in Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London (UK), where she developed image-based patient-specific models to study aortic blood flow in aortic valve and aorta disease. During her Post-Doc she further refined these models and applied them to investigate aortic haemodynamics in aneurysm disease and following surgical intervention (e.g., aortic valve surgery, left ventricular assist device implant). In 2021, she received a BHF CoRE fellowship in support of her work on cardiovascular disease modelling at the MRC London Institute of Clinical Sciences. Since September 2022, Dr Pirola is Assistant Professor & Delft Technology Fellow in the BioMechanical Engineering Department where her research Lab focuses on biomechanics modelling to study neurovascular and aortic disease.

Dr. Stephanie Tan

Stephanie is an Assistant Professor in the Intelligent Systems department at the TU Delft Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science faculty. Her research focuses on automated understanding of human behaviors and decision-making for human-AI systems.

As a DYA board member, Stephanie’s vision is to support the development of early career researcher in aspects including working conditions, career prospects, and well-being. Furthermore, she hopes to engage in discussions on critical issues that shape and strengthen the TU Delft community.