Physicist Joost Frenken has been named the new dean for the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE). He’s succeeding Jasper Knoester, who left for the University of Leiden on January 1.
Right now, Frenken is director of the Advanced Research Centre for Nanolithography (ARCNL) in Amsterdam, a public-private partnership between the Dutch Research Council, the University of Amsterdam, the Vrije Universiteit, and high-tech company ASML. He also works as a professor of physics at both the University of Amsterdam and the Vrije Universiteit.
According to the UG, Frenken considers leading the Groningen science faculty an honourable challenge.
‘The Faculty of Science and Engineering is a real academic pearl and we can take pride in that’, says Frenken. ‘Together with the staff and students of the Faculty, I want to make excellent research and teaching possible, in order to fulfil the important role that the faculty plays in society.’
Building and connecting
As Frenken puts it, he is driven by building and connecting: ‘I always find pleasure in connecting people, parties, and activities – within our organization as well as with the outside world.’
His current position at ARCNL exemplifies how he has increasingly been focusing on the connection between public and private organisations over the past few years. When ARCNL was first founded in 2014, he was its first director. Since then, the organisation has grown to a research institute with around one hundred employees.