prof.dr.ir. M.R. van Steen (Maarten)

Maarten van Steen works in the field of networked computer systems, with an emphasis on wireless systems as well as more traditional distributed systems. He is an alumnus of the University of Twente where he graduated in 1983 in Applied Mathematics. After completing his PhD at the Computer Science department in Leiden, Van Steen worked at TNO Delft, where he carried out research on parallel computing and gained his first experience in research management. He continued his academic career at Erasmus University Rotterdam and later at VU University Amsterdam, where he was appointed full professor in 2002.

Since January 2015 he is Scientific Director of the digitalization research institute of the University of Twente: The Digital Society Institute. He chairs the ICT Research Platform Netherlands, representing all Dutch academic departments and institutes. He is also chair of NWO Informatics advisory committee.

Expertise

• Computer Science

  • Detection
  • Real World
  • Algorithms
  • User
  • Privacy Preserving
  • Application
  • Design
  • Wireless Sensor Network

Organisations

Publications

Other contributions

BOOKS

So far, I have written the following books:

• Computer and Network Organization (with Henk Sips)
• Distributed Systems (with Andrew S. Tanenbaum)
  • Second edition (2007)
  • Third edition (2017)
• Graph Theory and Complex Networks, An Introduction

All books can be downloaded for free from www.distributed-systems.net.

Miscellaneous

• In November 2013, we attempted to write a book in five days, on adaptive collective systems. In the end, it’s more of a (long) position paper, beautifully published. Check it out.
• I made a small video on how I see the future of Computer Sciences. There’s work to do.

Former PHD students

• Claudio Martella (2017)
• Vinay Setty (main supervisor Roman Vitenberg, 2014)
• Ania Chmielowiec (with Spyros Voulgaris, 2014)
• Albana Gaba (with Spyros Voulgaris, 2014)
• Vivek Rai
• Suhail Yousaf (with Rena Bakhshi, 2013)
• Matt Dobson (with Spyros Voulgaris, 2013)
• Christian Rossow (main supervisor Herbert Bos, 2012)
• Dejun Jiang (daily supervisor Guillaume Pierre, 2012)
• Wei Zhou (daily supervisor Guillaume Pierre, 2012)
• Jan Mark Wams (2012)
• Rena Bakhshi (main supervisor: Wan Fokkink, 2011)
• Ishan Vaishnavi (main supervisor: Dick Bulterman, 2011)
• Guido Urdaneta (with Guillaume Pierre, 2011)
• Konrad Iwanicki (2010)
• Daniela Gavidia (2009)
• Pawel Garbacki (with Dick Epema, 2008)
• Swaminathan Sivasubramanian (with Guillaume Pierre, 2007)
• Michal Szymaniak (with Guillaume Pierre, 2007)
• Spyros Voulgaris (2006)
• Giovanni Russello (with Michel Chaudron, 2005)
• Elth Ogston (with Frances Brazier, 2005)
• Ihor Kuz (with Henk Sips, 2003)
• Gerco Ballintijn (with Andy Tanenbaum, 2003)
• Arno Bakker (with Andy Tanenbaum, 2002)
• Philip Homburg (with Andy Tanenbaum, 2001)
• Edwin de Jong (with Frans Peters, 1992)
• Wim Stut (with Ab Bakker, 1992)

Research profiles

Courses academic year 2025/2026

Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.

Courses academic year 2024/2025

Current projects

Crowd monitoring

Privacy-preserving WiFi scanning

We concentrate on accurately monitoring mobility of crowds based on scanning WiFi-enabled personal devices such as smartphones. Our efforts concentrate on getting accurate detections and completely preserving the privacy of the (owners of the) devices.

UT Campus app

The Campus app guides you to your meeting, the parking spot closest to your appointment or any other outdoors point of interest. This project is a joint initiative of UT service departments and researchers.

Address

University of Twente

Zilverling (building no. 11), room 3062
Hallenweg 19
7522 NH Enschede
Netherlands

Navigate to location

Organisations