News

On June 7–9, 2017 the first international conference of the Gravitation programme NETWORKS took place. Over 200 participants found their way to Science Park Amsterdam.

The conference consisted of a technical programme on June 7 and 9 (with tracks on Mathematical Physical Aspects of Complex Networks, Communication Networks, Logistics and Scheduling and Scheduling under Uncertainty), and a public event on June 8. The public event included a panel discussion with Dutch science policy leaders and an award ceremony for the winners of the Networks Challenge 2017.

Tectonic puzzles and the purpose of life. Did you know that these topics are related to Networks? Find out more through the two winning movies of the NETWORKS challenge.

Mark van der Boor has been awarded the "Best-in-Session Presentation Award" at the 2017 IIEEE International Conference on Computer Communications in Atlanta, GA, USA.

The Ministry for Education, Culture and Science has awarded a Gravitation grant for large-scale research on quantum software. This grant of 18.8 million euro unites researchers from QuSoft, CWI, Leiden University, QuTech, TU Delft, UvA and the VU in pursuing state of the art research programmes in this new field. Project leader is Harry Buhrman, who is also PI of the NETWORKS programme. 

In 2014 much effort was spent on setting up the programme’s scientific and organisational structure, whereas in the second year, attention shifted to building up the scientific activities of the programme. By now, the programme is at full speed, with a solid organisation, and we are entering a new phase. Last year's results are presented in the Annual Report of 2016.

Recently two popular scientific books appeared containing a contribution of Johan van Leeuwaarden.

In ‘Hoe zwaar is licht?’ (What is the weight of light?) van Leeuwaarden answers a question about π. In ‘Wetenschappelijke parels’ (original title: Know This: Today's Most Interesting and Important Scientific Ideas, Discoveries, and Developments) he tells about sphere packing in mathematics.

Sem Borst (TU Eindhoven and Nokia Bell Labs) received the 2017 ACM SIGMETRICS Achievement Award.

Science Park Amsterdam runs an interview series with scientists and students associated with institutes and businesses at Science Park Amsterdam. In the last edition an interview with Harry Buhrman about QuSoft, the new Dutch research centre for quantum software, and quantum computing.

PhD student Clara Stegehuis, affiliated to NETWORKS, has been chosen as one of the twelve new ‘Faces of Science’. These young talents, chosen by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), will relate about their daily ins and outs as a scientist in movies and blogs.

On Thursday 15 December, Frank den Hollander was appointed Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion. The adornments were pinned on Den Hollander by Mayor Emile Jaensch of Oegstgeest, where Den Hollander resides. The ceremony occurred during a congress at TU/e honouring the 60^th birthday of Den Hollander.