What made you decide to apply at Brightlands Materials Center?
Since I started working in the field of thermoplastics I made the choice to focus on sustainable approaches with the investigation of bio-based and/or recyclable materials. The focus of Brightlands Materials Center on the development of circular technologies was completely in line with my personal motivations. Moreover, I’m particularly interested by material science for that reason after university I wanted to work in closer collaboration with industries in an applied environment, which is what I found in the opportunity to work at Brightlands Materials Center.
What is your first impression of BMC?
My first impression was very positive. People working at BMC are particularly friendly, ready to help each other, young and very motivated.
In which function/company did you worked previously?
Before starting at BMC I was a Postdoctoral researcher at the Bioproducts Discovery and Development Center at University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada) for three years. There my functions were to formulate bio-based materials for automotive applications and highlighting structure-property relations, writing grant proposals for public/private partnerships, and supervising PhD and master students.
Please explain your role as Scientist at Lightweight Automotive.
My new role as a Scientist, is to support the development / tune materials used in thermoplastic composites. Beside this I work on material processing technology innovations. I guide also students who support my work.
Which interesting developments/trends in the automotive industry do you see? In which way Brightlands Materials Center can make advantage of that trend?
Sustainability is nowadays even more important than it was already in the past. Logically this also applies for thermoplastic composites. One of our goals is to support our customers in the Automotive industry with the recycling of these materials. The aim is to support them with valuable recycling, related to process and materials. This can be for parts after utilization or for post-industrial scrap. Start at the development phase and design upfront for recycling.