Alumni event Berlin
07 februari 2023 17:30 t/m 21:00 - Locatie: Netherlands Embassy, Berlin - Door: Alumni Relations | Zet in mijn agenda
Get ready for the first DEAN* 4TU alumni event of 2023 in Berlin on Tuesday 7 February!
This special TU Delft/DEAN* gathering offers a glimpse into the future of smart farms, giga-manufacturing and CO2 capturing through mini-presentations by three local TU alumni who will talk about innovation and sustainability in their work.
We are proud to have a great line-up of speakers! Hear more from Gigi Laan (alumna TU Delft) about what it means to be a 25 Guns Taskforce Engineer at Tesla’s Berlin’s Gigafactory. Learn how Andrew Shamu (alumnus UT & TU/e) and his colleagues from startup NeoCarbon plan to reverse climate change by retrofitting working cooling towers in the industrial sector. Delve into the world of precision agriculture with Pavlos Kalaitzoglou (alumnus WUR) and discover how Infarm plans to feed our cities with thousands of cloud connected vertical farms. The evening programme also includes updates from both the Dutch Embassy as well as your alma mater.
Meet fellow alumni from not only TU Delft but also UTwente, Wageningen University & TU Eindhoven. With over 1500 TU graduates living in the Berlin region we are sure to have a great cross selection of participants from different companies, sectors and roles! And the closing reception/borrel will maximize your networking opportunities.
Programme
17:30 - 18:00
18:00 - 18:10
18:10 - 18:25
18:25 - 19:45
19:45 - 21:00
Arrival with light refreshments
Opening words on behalf of the Dutch Embassy
Updates from the TU’s
Talks by:
* Gigi Laan, 25 Guns Taskforce Engineer – Tesla Berlin Gigafactory
* Andrew Shamu, Head of Research & Development – NeoCarbon
* Pavlos Kalaitzoglou, Vice President of Science – Infarm
Networking Borrel
Location
Netherlands Embassy
Klosterstraße 50
10179 Berlin
Netherlands Embassy
Klosterstraße 50
10179 Berlin
*About DEAN
Dutch Engineers Alumni Network (DEAN)
The Dutch Engineers Alumni Network of TU Delft, TU/e, Twente, and Wageningen launched its activities in 2014 and currently has communities in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Nordics, Spain and Switzerland. By bringing together the engineers that studied in the Netherlands, we hope to create valuable communities for our alumni. We encourage members to use these communities for sharing both achievements and information as well as tapping into the expertise of each other.
Dutch engineers work across a wide range of sectors, and are affiliated not only with the most prestigious organisations of their fields but in many cases also self-funded start-ups. Some of them may have only recently completed their studies in the Netherlands while others have already lived in one of these countries for a decade or more. This network, therefore, represents a significant source of skills, contacts, and advice.
Speakers
Gigi Laan
25 Guns Taskforce Engineer at Tesla
Gigi started her Bachelor in Civil Engineering at TU Delft in 2012, after knowing for some time already that she wanted to study in Delft. In search of a more fitting study curriculum and being in awe of what SpaceX is doing in terms of reusability, she switched to the Aerospace Engineering Master. Getting more and more intrigued by transitioning to reusable and sustainable technology, she joined the Delft Hyperloop student team in the middle of her Masters, and participated in the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition in Los Angeles. To continue the high on this crazily motivated and dynamic environment, she then joined Tesla in two subsequent internships in the Netherlands. Her Tesla journey didn’t end there as she moved to Germany to join Tesla Gigafactory Berlin in early 2021 after finishing her thesis. This is the first Tesla Gigafactory in Europe and one of the company’s most advanced, sustainable and efficient facilities yet, The factory is designed to manufacture hundreds of thousands of Model Y vehicles, as well as the batteries and powertrains. Gigi is part of the 25Guns, a taskforce set up by Elon Musk to tackle and resolve the most pressing issues that are holding the factory back from ramping up production. She has been there now for almost two years and is still going strong.
Andrew Shamu
Head Of Research And Development at NeoCarbon
Andrew Shamu, who has spent most of his life near Münster, Germany, decided in 2014 to make the leap across the border to write his chemical engineering Master's thesis in the Membranes, Science and Technology group at the University of Twente. After successfully completing his thesis, he earned his PhD in the field of carbon dioxide dehydration with membranes in the Membrane Materials and Processes group at Eindhoven University of Technology. After two postdocs at the University of Twente and a stint in the CO2 capture department at Bilfinger, Andrew joined Berlin-based cleantech startup NeoCarbon in April 2022 as its first employee and Head of R&D. There, he is leading the company's research and development efforts to create a product that can capture carbon dioxide from ambient air affordably by utilizing industrial cooling towers. Having already successfully captured CO2 with their first prototype, he and his colleagues plan to build by the end of this year a pilot plant with an annual CO2 capture capacity of 100 tons.
Pavlos Kalaitzoglou
Vice President of Science at INFARM
Pavlos Kalaitzoglou, originally from Greece, earned his MSc from Wageningen University. His current doctoral research focuses on the effects of LED light spectrum and intensity on plant growth and development. Pavlos joined Infarm in 2016 as Director of Crop Science and since last year is VP of Science. Infarm, a start-up founded in Berlin in 2013, has grown to become a world leader in vertical farming of local fresh local produce with over 1000 employees and activities in 11 countries. The company from a former Siemens washing machine factory on Berlin’s Gartenfeld Island is developing its next generation of vertical farms – 18-metre-high fully-automated “growing chambers” using 95% less water, 99% less space and 75% less fertilizer than conventional land-based farming.
