NWO awards Veni grants each year to promising young researchers who gained their PhDs no more than three years ago. They are free to use the cash awards – each worth u to 250,000 euros – on research subjects of their own choice. This year NWO is awarding Veni grants for a total of 38 million euros to 152 researchers.

As in the past two years TU/e receives five Veni grants, which makes it the top-scoring university of technology. The University of Twente wins three awards, and two go to Delft University of Technology. The five award-winning research projects for TU/e are summarized below.

Design of smart materials to realize nano-robots functioning inside the human body
Dr. Lorenzo Albertazzi (Institute for Complex Molecular Systems)
Researchers will create smart materials that “self-assemble”: able to build themselves. This approach will be used to realize nano-robots able to function inside the human body. These devices will transport drugs into the body or attack viruses to cure a variety of diseases.

Detection methods for similarity structures in time-dependent data
Dr. Anne Driemel (Mathematics and Computer Science)
Detection methods for similarity structures are used to summarize and analyze the contents of digital data. Although in the past this research was based primarily on statistical data, those data may be time-dependent samples of dynamic parameters. In this case the development of the data over time also needs to be summarized efficiently.

Explosive transmission and community forming in networks
Dr. Julia Komjáthy (Mathematics and Computer Science)
Processes in networks describe a number of important phenomena, for example the propagation of information in a community. This research proposes the analysis of two important characteristics – extremely well connected nodes and the formation of community structures – with mathematical precision.

The secrets of ion wind
Dr.ir. Sander Nijdam (Applied Physics)
Gases can be made to move by electricity. This is called ion wind, and can be used in aircraft wings or for the cooling of electronics. The researchers intend to investigate the underlying principles of these effects to allow applications to be developed.

Nanostructures for Energetic Wisdom (NEW)
Dr. Ilaria Zardo (Technische Natuurkunde)
Nanostructures in general and nanowires more specifically are potentially superior to conventional materials for energy conversion. My research will focus on the investigation and engineering of nanostructured materials for thermoelectric applications. My novel approach is based on two main directions: nanowires composites and topological thermoelectric nanostructures.

Source: TU/e Press Team