Arjan Houtepen appointed as full professor
The executive board has decided to appoint Arjan Houtepen (Chemical Engineering) as full professor.
‘I work in the Chemical Engineering department. I have been there since 2007, when I joined as tenure track assistant professor. With my group I work on colloidal nanomaterials. These are chemically synthesized nanocrystals (NCs), usually of semiconductor material. Their synthesis is very versatile and their properties depend strongly on size and shape. We develop these nanomaterials for use in lighting, displays, photodetectors and solar cells. We work closely with companies who are interested in these applications, but our work is quite fundamental in nature.
We have recently changed the name of our group to NCFun. It used to be called the “Houtepen group”. I did not like that name, because my group is not all about me. We are a team that does research together. As the group name says, we study the fundamental properties of functional nanocrystals. And we have fun doing it.
I am very excited about science in general, and the topics that I teach. I try to excite enthusiasm amongst the students by showing my own love for science, and by introducing active research questions into my courses. Also, even if this sounds obvious, I find it important to teach by understanding, as opposed to reproducing. The best question is always “why?”. As long as you can ask why, and don’t know the answer, you are not really done studying a topic.
In addition I think it is very important to nourish and strengthen the link between teaching and research. This is a symbiotic relationship that defines academic education. Growing student numbers, a decrease in funding per student and other external factors put pressure on this relation, so it is important to defend it.
Finally, teaching should be valued more. I am happy and proud that TU Delft is taking the lead in the “Erkennen en Waarderen” discussion and is making academic careers with a focus on teaching a real possibility.
As a professor I get to wear a toga at my next PhD defence and I can call myself professor. In most countries this is already allowed for assistant professors. I think we should also move in that direction in the Netherlands, since by-and-large assistant, associate and full professors do the same work and carry the same responsibilities. Exactly because of that, I do not think too many things will change now that I am full professor. I am still very happy with it though!
I hope that as academic society we will succeed to change our culture for the better. We should focus less on metrics and money. We should value quality over quantity and collaboration over competition. I see very positive trends in this direction so I am hopeful that, together, we can make this happen.’
