About me
In short
- CV in pdf can be found over
here - Born on August 22nd, 1979 in Utrecht, the Netherlands
- Double Master in Physics and Meteorology and Physical Oceanography from Utrecht University, 2004. Master's thesis supervised by Harm Jonker and Han van Dop. Thesis title: Laboratory experiments on the convective boundary layer
- 2009: PhD in applied physics from Delft University of Technology. Supervisor: Harm Jonker. Thesis title: On the edge of a cloud.
- 2008 - 2009: Postdoc on the implementation of LES in the KNMI Parameterization Testbed at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) together with
Pier Siebesma and Roel Neggers - 2009 and onwards: Postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, working with Bjorn Stevens and in the Hans Ertel Center for clouds and convection with Cathy Hohenegger
Verbose
I was born on August 22nd, 1979 in the center of Utrecht, about 200 meter (as the boy bikes) from my secondary-school-to-be (Christelijk Gymnasium), and about 500 meter (as the cloud drifts) from the original home of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, the majestic Sonnenborgh Observatory. During a fine youth dominated by the river I was born next to, I commenced my education at August 22nd, 1983 at the Aeneas Mackaay primary school, finished primary education at the Jenaplan School Cleophas before secondary school graduation in June 1997.
The yearning to ask why? and to extensively discuss all the possible answers may have distressed my teachers early on, but it was actually nurtured by extra-curricular activities at the Cleophas, and further stimulated by my math teacher at the Christelijk Gymnasium. This background made physics an almost inevitable choice of study. I started to study experimental physics at the Utrecht University that August, combining it with meteorology and physical oceanography along the way. After a few years sprinkled with activities in the student swimming and cycling communities, as well as the departmental student board, in the summer of 2002 it was finally time to start a Master's graduation project, supervised by Han van Dop from the Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht. For a good representation of the experimental physics as well as of the meteorology in my project, I went to the department of Multi-Scale Physics of the Delft University of Technology to work with Harm Jonker on a water-tank Laboratory Experiment on the Atmospheric Boundary Layer. I finished in January 2004.
Having stumbled over the stimulating scientific atmosphere in Delft, I was pleased to switch from laboratory to numerics and to do a PhD project with Harm again as supervisor, and Harrie van den Akker as promotor. The work I conducted between April 2004 and May 2008 has been presented in various national and international conferences, and was granted the award for best student presentation at the 17th AMS Symposium on Boundary Layers and Turbulence in San Diego, USA. This thesis is the final result of the PhD project, and will be defended at December 9, 2008, in conclusion of my first quarter century of education.
After my PhD, I did a brief post-doc stint at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) in June 2008 for post-doctoral research, working on the KNMI parameterization test bed, and comparing LES with single column models. There we found that the cloud overlap (and its radiative effects) of shallow cumulus are significantly underestimated.
Since 2009, I work at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg with Bjorn Stevens.