We would like to thank VDSP students
Dante Vázquez Maestre, Manpreet Kaur, and Hanieh Jafarian
for organizing the VDSP excursion 2022 to the Netherlands!
The participating students visited laboratories at academic partner institutions, as well as companies and start-ups. Among those were:
- Thermo Fisher NanoPort- Electron Microscopy Center Of Excellence
- ASML - largest supplier of photolithography systems and the sole supplier of extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) photolithography machines in the world.
- TNO - the largest fully independent Research, Development and Consultancy organisation in the Netherlands
- QPhoX - quantum tech start-up in Delft building the world's first quantum modem™ device
- QuTech - research hub, TU Delft laboratories
- Smart Photonics, a growing company producing components based on integrated photonics
- Integrated Photonics institute at TU Eindhoven
- Physics of Nanostructures at TU Eindhoven
Field Report by Hanieh Jafarian
The VDSP career prospect excursion was a great opportunity to get to know the high technology companies, organizations, and research groups in different branches of physics in the Netherlands. A three-day trip to the possible future upon us provided a good vision of what a professional life outside of academia can look like. Visiting large companies such as Thermo Fisher granted us a superb insight into their HR and R&D departments, social interactions, production lines, and clean rooms. On the other hand, visiting start-ups like QPhox and Smart Photonics provided a good intuition of how ideas can be developed for start-ups. In Smart Photonics we were given instructions on how to write a CV, and what HR departments are specifically looking for in the job applicant’s CVs. For example, it was quite beneficial to know that for R&D positions having papers is crucial.
Having a tour of the Eindhoven University of Technology and seeing different laboratories and research groups was another highlight of this trip, where we got an opportunity to talk and discuss science with some of the group leaders and researchers there.