Rienk Eelkema
Biography
Rienk was born in 1978 near Utrecht, the Netherlands. He completed his undergraduate degree in Chemistry at the University of Groningen in 2001, majoring in organic chemistry (supervisor Prof. Ben L. Feringa). He then obtained his PhD in Chemistry in the same group, studying supramolecular chemistry, stereochemistry and nano- and microscale motion in liquid crystalline systems. After completing postdoctoral work at the University of Oxford with Prof. Harry L. Anderson FRS in the field of nanoscale insulation of molecular wires, he joined the TU Delft Faculty in 2008 and obtained tenure in 2013. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2017.
Career & Education
2017 - present Associate professor
2008 - 2017 Assistant professor (tenured 2013), Delft University of Technology
2006 - 2008 Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Oxford
2001 - 2006 Ph.D. Chemistry, University of Groningen (cum laude, top 5%)
1996 - 2001 M.Sc. Chemistry, University of Groningen
Research Interests
application of organic synthesis in materials chemistry, small molecule and polymer self-assembly, new synthetic methodology, catalysis, optoelectronic materials, soft materials, soft robotics, and dynamic and out-of-equilibrium molecular self-assembling systems, application of organic chemistry in biomedicine, protein modification, combined radio-chemotherapy
Awards and Grants
TU Delft Education Team Award for the Pre-University Chemistry MOOC
TU Delft Bioengineering Institute MSc project grant
MC-ITN 2018
NWO-NSFC Advanced Materials grant 2017
ERC Consolidator Grant 2016
STW Open Mind grant 2016
Delft Health Initiative seed grant 2016
FOM programme grant 2016
NWO Vidi grant 2013
Early Excellence Profile in J. Phys. Org. Chem. 2013, 26, 287-288
NWO Echo grant 2011
NWO Complexity grant 2010
NWO Veni grant 2009
Marie Curie European Reintegration Grant 2009
KNCV-Backer Award for the best Ph.D. thesis in Organic Chemistry in the Netherlands 2007
Marie Curie Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Grant 2006
Rubicon Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Grant 2006
Strating Prize for the best Organic Chemistry colloquium 2000–2001 at the University of Groningen. Title: “Palladium Catalyzed Tandem Reactions”
Invited Lectures
IChF online seminar “Breaking barriers - physical chemistry in biological systems” 2022
Single Molecule Protein Sequencing conference, Delft 2022
Dynamic covalent chemistry in water conference, University of Twente 2022
NWO Chains 2022 Focus Session “Water-based dynamic covalent chemistry: molecules, techniques, materials”
GRC Systems Chemistry 2022, USA
LIBER symposium 2022, Helsinki, Finland
RSC ChemSci2020, India (virtual) 2021
Gent University 2019, Belgium
Tsinghua University 2019, Beijing
ICMSC, Lecce, Italy, June 2019
KNCV SOC Wageningen Symposium, April 2019
CHAINS, the Netherlands, December 2018
ERC conference Israel, November 2018
ArmChemFront, Yerevan, Armenia 2018
Radboud University Chemistry Colloquium, Nijmegen NL, 2017
ACS Spring Meeting, San Francisco, USA 2017
KNAW (Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences) Academy Colloquium: Functional molecular systems going out-of-equilibrium 2016
Micro- and Nanomachines: Chemical and Biological Nanomotors 2016
MESA+ / UTwente Soft Matter+ event, NL 2016
CHAINS soft matter, NL 2015
GRC Supramolecular Materials, Italy 2015
Wageningen University, NL 2015
COST School Colloids and Interfaces, London UK 2015
Delft Process Technology Institute annual symposium, NL, 2014
Leiden University Chemical Biology Lecture, NL, 2014
Prof. Ben Feringa's 100th PhD Symposium, NL, 2014
Royal Dutch Chemical Society Spring Meeting, NL, 2014
University of Geneva, Switzerland, 2014
NWO Molecules: Synthesis and Properties, NL, 2013
MRS Spring Meeting, San Francisco, USA, 2013.
International Conference on Physical Organic Chemistry, Durham, UK, 2012.
Fysica-Chemie Conference 2012, University of Twente, 2012.
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, 2012.
NERC institute Seminar, Northwestern University, Evanston, USA, 2012.
Department of BioNanoscience Seminar, TU Delft, 2012.
Institute for Systems Chemistry Seminar, University of Groningen, 2012.
WUR Department of Chemistry Colloquium, Wageningen, 2010.
EUChems Young Investigators Workshop, Regensburg, Germany, 2010.
Dutch Cancer Institute (NKI), Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2009.
KNCV-Backer award symposium, Free University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2007.