Dr.ir. S.J.A. de Beer | People Pages: Find employees & contact details

Sissi de Beer is an associate professor (with ius promovendi) within the Department of Molecules and Materials and the program director of the BSc Technische Natuurkunde and the MSc Applied Physics.

Bibliography

Dr. Ir. Sissi de Beer obtained her PhD degree at the University of Twente. After postdoctoral fellowships at the Forschungszentrum in Jülich and the University of Toronto, she is now an associate professor at the University of Twente. In her research, Sissi combines molecular modeling with laboratory experiments to design functional polymer surfaces for application in lubrication, sensing, and molecular separations. She leads a large national consortium in developing new materials and processes for the Recovery and Circularity of Valuable Resources (ReCoVR).

Sissi is determined in supporting her students in their success, which might be a reason her students regularly win prizes. For example, Leon Smook has won the won the KNCV Golden Master Award (1^st place) and the Unilever Award in 2022 and Esli Diepenbroek won the UT Graduation award in 2023. Sissi has supervised 12 PhD students, of which 8 have graduated now.

Sissi is also very passionate about education and teaches several courses in the bachelor and master programmes of Applied Physics and Chemical Science and Engineering. She strives to bring out the best of the students. That is also an important reason why she is the program director of Applied Physics now.

Educational background

2011 - PhD, Thesis: ‘Probing the Properties of Confined Liquids’, Physics of Complex Fluids, University of Twente, Enschede
2007 - MSc, Applied Physics, University of Twente, Enschede

Awards

Mevr de Winter award Arago (2024)
NRO Nederlandse Onderwijspremie for FlexSciLabs (2023)
NWO TTW Perspectief awarded for RECoVR: Recovery and Circularity of Valuable Resources (2021)
KIJK Top Tech Ideas for eNose for the early detection of potato rot (2019)
HiTMaT Technology Award for eNose in early detection of animal diseases (2019)
Alembic Teacher of Year award (2019)

Academic Citizenship

2025-Present - Vice-chair Dutch Physical Society
2021–Present - Programme manager NWO Perspectief program ReCoVR
2021–Present - Editorial Advisory Board and Guest editor ACS journal Langmuir
2017–Present - Mentor for BSc students
2020–2024 - Board member Young Academy Twente
2019–2022 - Program coordinator ‘Alternative Driving Forces Forces’ in ‘Industrial Fluid Processing’ cluster of ISPT (Institute for Sustainable Process Technologies)
2021–2022 - Member Programme Committee (OLC) of CSE
2020–2022 - Member Shaping 2030 Expert Team on Sustainability
2019–2022 - Track coordinator Molecules and Materials Engineering
2019 - Co-organiser ICBZM conference, Rolduc, Kerkrade
2015–2019 - Initiator and organizer of the UT Soft Matter day
2013–2019 - Initiator and organizer of the Soft Matter+ colloquium series

Organisations

In my research, I translate fundamental polymer science to technological applications. My students and I study the properties of functional polymer surfaces. These coatings can be employed in advanced sensor platforms and in separation technologies that enable the transition to a circular economy.

Publications

2025

Thermally Activated Swelling and Wetting Transition of Frozen Polymer Brushes:a New Concept for Surface Functionalization (2025)Advanced materials (E-pub ahead of print/First online). Buonaiuto, L., Reuvekamp, S., Shakhayeva, B., Liu, E., Neuhaus, F., Braunschweig, B., de Beer, S. & Mugele, F.https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202502173Polymer brushes by SI-PET-RAFT: Synthesis and applications (2025)Polymer, 323. Article 128155. Kuzmyn, A. R. & de Beer, S.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2025.128155Molecular Design Strategies to Enhance the Electroresponse of Polyelectrolyte Brushes: Effects of Charge Fraction and Chain Length Dispersity (2025)Macromolecules, 58(3), 1185-1195. Smook, L. A. & de Beer, S.https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.4c02579Anomalous enhanced swelling of charged copolymer gels (2025)Polymer, 317. Article 127934. Diepenbroek, E., Kooij, E. S. & de Beer, S.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2024.127934

2024

Millisecond-resolved infrared spectroscopy study of polymer brush swelling dynamics (2024)Measurement science and technology, 35(11). Article 115501. Jorissen, K. F. A., Veldscholte, L. B., Odijk, M. & de Beer, S.https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6501/ad66f9All-atom molecular dynamics simulations showing the dynamics of small organic molecules in water-solvated polyelectrolyte brush layers (2024)Physical chemistry chemical physics, 26(39), 25557-25566. Smook, L. A., Ishraaq, R., Akash, T. S., de Beer, S. & Das, S.https://doi.org/10.1039/d4cp02128bWetting and vapour sorption of polymer brushes (2024)[Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente. Veldscholte, L. B.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036562355Creating Anti-Biofouling Surfaces by Degradable Main-chain Polyphosphoester Polymer Brushes (2024)Advanced functional materials, 34(32). Article 2316201. Pérez, M. B., Resendiz-Lara, D. A., Matsushita, Y., Kakinoki, S., Iwasaki, Y., Hempenius, M. A., de Beer, S. & Wurm, F. R.https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202316201A tribo-chemical view on astringency of plant-based food substances (2024)Friction, 12, 1392-1407. Gamaniel, S. S., Dueñas Robles, P. S., Tromp, H., de Hoog, E. H. A., de Beer, S. & van der Heide, E.https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-023-0812-0Vapor uptake in polymer materials: Simulations and theory (2024)[Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente. Ritsema van Eck, G. C.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036560429

Research profiles

I am the program director of Applied Physics (AP). In this role, it is my aim to ensure that AP stays the top programme is currently is. Within AP we train high-quality professionals within a strong community of students, staff and teachers, in which we facilitate that everyone can bring out the best out of themselves.

Affiliated study programs

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.