Stan Bentvelsen new director of Nikhef
Professor Stan Bentvelsen (University of Amsterdam/Nikhef) has been appointed as director of the National Institute for Subatomic Physics Nikhef with effect from 1 December 2014. He succeeds professor Frank Linde, whose second term as director will end at the end of this year. Bentvelsen (49) is currently professor at the University of Amsterdam and director of the Institute for High Energy Physics of the University of Amsterdam. He is also a member of FOM's Governing Board. In the run-up to and during the discovery of the Higgs particle he was responsible for the Dutch contribution to the ATLAS experiment in his capacity as programme leader. Bentvelsen will be employed by FOM, but will retain his professorship at the University of Amsterdam. His appointment is for a period of five years with the possibility of a single reappointment for the same period.
Stan Bentvelsen was born in Den Hoorn. He studied theoretical physics at the University of Amsterdam where he gained his PhD (cum laude) in experimental physics for research at the HERA accelerator in Hamburg. After that he worked at CERN for six years, first as a fellow and then as a staff scientist. In 2000, he came to Nikhef as a senior researcher and started with the preparations for the ATLAS experiment at CERN. Since 2005, Bentvelsen has been professor of 'Collider Physics at the LHC' at the University of Amsterdam and in 2006 he received a Vici grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Together with Frank Linde, Bentvelsen received the 2013 'Physicaprijs' from the Dutch Physical Society for their contributions to the discovery of the Higgs particle using the ATLAS detector at CERN. He is a member of the CERN contact committee, teaches students, and actively contributes to outreach activities.
FOM director Wim van Saarloos is enthusiastic about the appointment: "We warmly congratulate Stan with this fantastic and at the same time challenging job and are extremely pleased that he has immediately stated his willingness to lead Nikhef over the next few years. Both within the discipline and on a national scale there are exciting years ahead of us and I look forward to working with him and benefiting from his broad experience within CERN, Nikhef and universities."
Stan Bentvelsen: "Both particle and astroparticle physics are entering an exciting period because a number of groundbreaking experiments will be showing new results. Nikhef is a wonderful institute that coordinates the Dutch contribution and I am honoured to lead the institute in the coming years."
The Governing Board of the FOM Foundation has decided to appoint Bentvelsen supported by the Nikhef Board and following the positive advice from the Nikhef Works Council.
About Nikhef
National Institute for Subatomic Physics (Nikhef) is a collaboration between FOM, Radboud University Nijmegen, Utrecht University, University of Amsterdam and VU University Amsterdam. The University of Groningen has stated that it would like to join the Nikhef collaboration.
The mission of Nikhef is to study the interactions and structure of all elementary particles and fields at the smallest distance scale and the highest attainable energy.
Two complementary approaches are followed:
- accelerator-based particle physics; studying interactions in particle collision processes at particle accelerators, in particular at CERN;
- astroparticle physics; studying interactions of particles and radiation emanating from the Universe.
Nikhef coordinates and leads the Dutch experimental activities in these fields. The research at Nikhef relies on the development of innovative technologies. The knowledge and technology transfer to third parties, i.e., industry, civil society and general public, is an integral part of Nikhef 's mission.
Information
For further information please contact:
Stan Bentvelsen, + 31 (0)6 51 11 12 84, @stanbentvelsen, http://www.nikhef.nl/~stanb/
Vanessa Mexner, Head of Science Communication at Nikhef, +31 (0)20 59 25 075
Ans Hekkenberg, Communications Adviser FOM: +31 (0)30 60 01 222.
For more about Nikhef, please see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7bcF-GgqSo
www.nikhef.nl