Im Memoriam Pim Groen
On Wednesday 6 May 2020, Pim Groen, professor and chairman of Aerospace Structures and Materials (TU Delft), passed away.
In 2009, Pim (W.A.) Groen joined the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering as a part time (0.2 fte) professor to lead the SMART materials research in the Novel Aerospace Materials (NovAM) group. Pim was already known to us as a national and international renowned scientist in the field of piezo-electric materials and an initiator of new technological research at the Holst Centre. Although restricted by the limited size of his appointment Pim rapidly established his reputation as a highly motivated and dedicated educator both for his MSc and PhD students and the students attending his course.
Pim was always very generous in spending his time with the students and even working side-by-side with them in the lab to transfer his fantastic experimental skills.Ā Pim was not only interested in students but also rapidly established personal contacts with other ASM researchers and staff of other departments.
He very quickly grew in his role as a real āprofessorā, which was one of his ambitions in life. So, over time his appointment grew to a 0.8 fte position to enable him to spend more of his time on the research and management of the department. In his TU Delft position he supervised 15 MSc students, 8 PhD students, wrote over 40 publications and, last but not least, his famous book āAn Introduction to Piezoelectric Materials and Applicationsā.Ā We are sure he will be remembered not only in Delft but also in the national and international research communities working in the field of smart materials.
Our thoughts are with his wife Nelleke, his family and his numerous friends.Ā Ā
Sybrand van der Zwaag,
on behalf of all past and present members of NovAM
May 2020
Department of Aerospace Structures and Materials
Novel Aerospace Materials
Delft University of Technology
Source:
Message by the Management Team of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, TU Delft