On 1 May 2020, Professor van Rooij has been appointed Professor of Plasma Chemistry at the Faculty of Science. The appointment of Professor van Rooij is the first appointment from UM within Brightsite.
Brightsite will give an impulse to the development and commercial application of innovative technologies so that the process industry in general and the Chemelot site in particular can achieve its sustainability and safety objectives. From his role at UM, Professor van Rooij will participate in various program lines of Brightsite, in particular in the field of electrification. Professor van Rooij’s expertise in the field of plasma chemistry is very promising.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Cleij, Dean of the Faculty of Science is very pleased with this appointment:
“The appointment of Professor van Rooij fits within the ambition of the faculty to use engineering to improve circularity and sustainability. Professor van Rooij is an excellent expert in his field and brings along a valuable network from which our research programs can benefit. ”
About Professor van Rooij
Professor van Rooij obtained his MSc in Physics at the Eindhoven University of Technology (specialization Plasma Physics) and received his PhD degree at the University of Amsterdam for his research on macromolecular mass spectrometry that he performed at AMOLF. Following a post-doctoral work on calibration techniques for fluorescence microscopy at the UvA, he became project leader for low temperature plasma physics at DIFFER. He pioneered the scientific basis of the unique devices for plasma surface interaction studies within DIFFER and participated in the research programs of the major international facilities for fusion research to study the role of plasma chemistry therein. Since 2012, he researches plasma activation of chemical reactions to aid storage of sustainable energy in chemical potential energy for its integration in other sectors such as transport and chemical industry. He is currently head of the Non-equilibrium Fuel Conversion group at DIFFER and part-time professor in sustainable plasma chemistry at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e).