The railings in the central hall of building Flux were full of curious people this afternoon who wanted to catch a glimpse of today's exceptional visit: Queen Máxima. She came to be informed about photonics and Eindhoven's exceptional position in this area. The Queen visited labs and spoke with students and scientists, all of whom could count on warm interest and well-informed questions.
(The photos were taken by Bart van Overbeeke. The text continues below the photos)
The visit began with a welcome by Executive Board president Robert-Jan Smits and Wieteke de Boer, managing director of the Eindhoven Hendrik Casimir Institute, and a presentation by Kaylee Hakkel of spin-off MantiSpectra. Afterwards, the queen visited Chigo Okonkwo's lab in Flux, where he and postdoctoral researcher Sjoerd van der Heide explained their research in the field of broadband optical data communication.
Clean room
Patty Stabilé's lab was the next part of the program, where she and Simone Cardarelli of spin-off MicroAlign told their story to a very interested queen. Afterwards, accompanied by professor Erik Bakkers, she entered the cleanroom of the Spectrum building. There, dressed in the typical dust-free cleanroom clothing, she was able to watch the manufacturing process of photonic components.
The final part of the visit was a discussion session with deans Bart Smolders and Kees Storm, Naomi Verstraeten of Brainport, scientific director Martijn Heck of the EHCI, Wieteke de Boer, Photondelta director Ewit Roos, Kaylee Hakkel, recent graduate Bram Smolenaars, researcher Marija Trajkovic, with Robert-Jan Smits leading the discussion.
Interesting day
The queen and the other participants discussed the strong position in the field of photonics and what is needed to maintain and expand that position. The Queen closed the meeting with an extended thanks "for a very informative and interesting day".
