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

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

2021–Present - Programme manager NWO Perspectief program ReCoVR
2021–Present - Editorial Advisory Board 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 physics models 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

Temperature-driven wetting transition and localized oil entrapment in stimuli-responsive Poly-octadecylmethacrylate brushes (2025)[Contribution to conference › Abstract] NWO Physics 2025. Shakhayeva, B., Reuvekamp, S., Buonaiuto, L., de Beer, S., Braunschweig, B. & Mugele, F.

2024

All-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/d4cp02128bAll-atom Molecular Dynamics Simulations Showing the Dynamics of Small Organic Molecules in Water-Solvated Polyelectrolyte Brush Layers: Simulation Data (2024)[Dataset Types › Dataset]. 4TU.Centre for Research Data. Smook, L., Ishraaq, R., Sarkar Akash, T., de Beer, S. & Das, S.https://doi.org/10.4121/7b96bcc9-b5c1-4b47-a0b9-a970c3cb8972Data set for "Vapor sorption in binary polymer brushes: the effect of the polymer-polymer interface" (2024)[Dataset Types › Dataset]. 4TU.Centre for Research Data. Smook, L., Ritsema van Eck, G. C. & de Beer, S.https://doi.org/10.4121/14560605.v2Temperature-driven wetting transition on stimuli- responsive Poly-octadecylmethacrylate brushes (2024)[Contribution to conference › Poster] MESA+ Day 2024. Shakhayeva, B., Reuvekamp, S., Buonaiuto, L., de Beer, S., Braunschweig, B. & Mugele, F.Wetting and vapour sorption of polymer brushes (2024)[Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente. Veldscholte, L. B.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036562355A 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/s40544-023-0812-0Adaptive wetting: surface ordering induced wetting transition on thermos-responsive oleophilic polymer brushes (2024)[Contribution to conference › Abstract] SPP 2171 Summer School: Dynamic Wetting of Flexible, Adaptive, and Switchable Substrates 2024<br/>. Buonaiuto, L., Shakhayeva, B., Reuvekamp, S., de Beer, S., Braunschweig, B. & Mugele, F.Vapor 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/10.3990/1.9789036560429Millisecond-resolved infrared spectroscopy study of polymer brush swelling dynamics (2024)[Working paper › Preprint]. ArXiv.org. Jorissen, K. F. A., Veldscholte, L. B., Odijk, M. & de Beer, S.https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2404.10447

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 2024/2025

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.