Several Leiden Science students excel and win KHMW Young Talent awards
A true shower of awards for students from the Faculty of Science during the annual KHMW Young Talent Awards ceremony. On Monday, 25 November, no less than nine first-year students received a prize for the best academic results in their first year. In addition, there were graduation prizes for master’s students in Astronomy, Biopharmaceutical Sciences, Biology, Pharmacy, and Mathematics.
Every year, the Royal Dutch Society of Sciences (KHMW) awards several awards to young science and technology talent in academic education.
For first-year students, there is the Young Talent Encouragement Award for the best academic results in the first year. Among the winners were nine students from the Faculty of Science. They received a certificate and 500 euros in prize money.
Yayvan Schuurbiers (pictured): 'I chose Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences because it was the perfect combination of my favorite subjects: chemistry, mathematics, and biology. The first year was exactly what I had hoped for. It was very enjoyable, and most of the courses closely aligned with my interests.'
These students won a KHMW Encouragement Award
- Max van der Straaten – Encouragement Award in Physics
- Onne de Heij – Encouragement Award in Astronomy
- Farah May – Encouragement Award in Chemistry
- Myra Ottens – Encouragement Award in Chemistry
- Jayvan Schuurbier – Encouragement Award in Biopharmaceutical Sciences
- Jonas Kurka – Encouragement Award in Biology
- Lance Bakker – Encouragement Award in Mathematics
- Niels van Beijnen – Encouragement Award in Computer Science
- Aleksandra Bobrova – Encouragement Award in Artificial Intelligence
Dr. Saal van Zwanenberg Research Prizes
This prize is awarded to students in the pharmaceutical and medical sciences who have written a master's thesis on a medicine. This year, the first prize went to Leiden’s Bart van Lieshout from Biopharmaceutical Sciences. He received the award for his thesis ‘Pediatric Pharmacokinetics and Safety of Guanabenz for the Treatment of Vanishing White Matter.’ He received a certificate and 3,000 euros in prize money.
Scott Engels won the second prize of 2,000 euros. He wrote the thesis ‘Single-cell immune profiling reveals clonal expansion of age-associated B cells in murine atherosclerosis.
Graduation award in Astronomy
The graduation award for Astronomy went to Leiden's Pengpei Zhu. He received the award for his thesis titled ‘NGC 833 and NGC 835 as a Case Study of Galaxy Interaction in Compact Groups: Kinematics, Ionization, and Extinction’.
Using a self-designed method, Pengpei investigated how galaxies influence each other and reshape in densely populated areas of the universe. With data from the Very Large Telescope in Chile, he discovered that in the case of galaxy NGC 835, gas and stars are being removed by a so-called ‘tidal tail,’ while NGC 833 was disturbed by earlier activity of a black hole.
At the beginning of the project, Pengpei was unsure whether he was ‘good enough’ for research. ‘But thanks to the education, the facilities, and the great support from my supervisors, I regained my confidence and rediscovered the joy of research. It was a valuable experience.’
Pengpei received a certificate and a prize of 3,000 euros.
Graduation prize in Mathematics
Samuel Tiersma won the Graduation Prize in Mathematics for his thesis ‘Toric-analytic construction of Kuga–Sato varieties.’ The prize consists of a certificate and 3,000 euros in prize money.
Graduation Prize in Biology
In the Biology category, Leiden master’s student Livia Pietrow won the graduation prize. She wrote the thesis ‘Novel Antibiotics Sources from Plants: From Isolation to Characterization.’ She received a certificate and 3,000 euros in prize money.
Graduation Prize in Life Sciences
Jelien den Hollander from the Master’s in Pharmacy won third place in the Life Sciences category for her thesis ‘Pharmacokinetic modelling to predict the metabolic saturation of voriconazole in paediatrics with life-threatening invasive fungal infections.’ She received a certificate and 1,000 euros in prize money.