No Images? Click here We must raise our voices!Last December I felt honoured to take over from Will de Ruijter the job of IMAU scientific director. For over a decade, Will successfully safeguarded IMAU’s interests, leaving behind an inspiring study/teaching environment and a healthy and thriving climate research institute. 1997 was ‘tipping point’ for ice caps around Greenland’s edgesIce caps have lost their capacity to contain and refreeze meltwater. Erik van Sebille joins IMAU with ERC Starting GrantOn 1 April, Oceanographer Erik van Sebille has begun to work as an Associate Professor at the IMAU, and he has brought a rich dowry with him: an ERC Starting Grant of 1.5 million Euros that he was awarded late last year. Van Sebille will use the grant to study the distribution of plastic in the ocean. Guus Velders (RIVM) joins IMAU as special professor of Air quality and climate interactionsGuus Velders is one of the most renowned researchers in his field. For his contribution to the global climate agreement of Kigali he was selected by Nature as one of the ten people in the world who mattered in 2016. ERC Advanced Grant for Maarten KrolProf. Maarten Krol has received an ERC Advanced Grant of 2.5 million euros for his research proposal on carbonyl sulphide in the atmosphere. Impact of researchThree recent events inspired me to think about how we determine the impact of our work as scientists. First: the assessment of research activities in the past six years at the Departments of Physics and Chemistry at Utrecht University (IMAU is part of the Department of Physics). How do we reach, inform and engage students?Each year, 20 to 25 students start in our master program Climate Physics. Some of these finished their bachelor in Physics here in Utrecht, but many others come from other Dutch universities or even from abroad. My first publication was like climbing Mount EverestWe are very interested in the careers of our former PhD students. In this edition Abdel Nnafie tells us about the choices he made. 'In 2009 I completed my master at IMAU and liked it so much that I knew for sure that I wanted to pursue a PhD. At that time, PhD positions were pretty scarce, so I had to wait for my chances to come.' IMAU newsEditors: Michiel van den Broeke, Anna von der Heydt, Rupert Holzinger, Marcel Portanger and Sandra Tap. Address: Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands Tel: +31 30 253 3275
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