Mailed on 11 March 2022.

Educational Newsletter

A collaboration between the study programme and W.S.G. Abacus

Edition February 2022

Before you lies the first Educational newsletter of the academic year 2021-2022. This academic year I am the Officer
Educational Affairs of W.S.G. Abacus and therefore I will also produce the Educational newsletter.
Students are able to go to campus again now that the university is switching back from online education. It is good to
see all these students coming by the Abacus room or sitting in the Educafé, studying hard. I hope that we can slowly
return to the way it was before the pandemic, but keep some of the things that were introduced as a consequence
of COVID regulations. For example, the mini-lectures that were recorded in the past year can be reused as extra
material.
In this newsletter you will read about the Bachelor graduation ceremony, which took place on October 15th, and
the new bachelor curriculum. The module evaluations of modules 1, 5 of this academic year can be found in this
newsletter and those of modules 4, 8 and 12 of the previous academic year are included as well. Finally, three new
teachers will be introduced. Have fun reading this new Educational newsletter!

Niels Apeldoorn, Officer Educational Affairs W.S.G. Abacus

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New Programme Director

As of September 1st, 2021, Anton Stoorvogel is the new programme director of Applied Mathematics. He has taken over the leads from Pranab Mandal. As programme director he is in charge of our beloved study programme.

 

Bachelor Graduation Ceremony

On Friday 15 October the bachelor graduation ceremony was held. After three (or more) years of hard work we
received our bachelor diploma. Luckily, the corona regulations at the time allowed us to invite three guests to the
ceremony, so that it felt like a special event. I was asked to give a pitch about my bachelor thesis on the effect of travel
restrictions on the COVID-19 pandemic during the ceremony. After one-and-a-half year of only presenting in front of
my laptop, it was completely different to do this now in front of 150 people. Still this was a really nice experience,
from which I learned a lot. All in all, I’m happy that we could have a real bachelor ceremony with our family and
friends present in the room, which lead to a fitting end for my bachelor Applied Mathematics.

by Wout Leemeijer, winner of the Brigit Geveling Award 2021

New Bachelor curriculum

This year, the study programme has started to review and redesign the curriculum of the Bachelor AM. In this new
curriculum many adjustments will be made to the current order and content of the Bachelor courses. The plan is,
among other things, to separate Applied Mathematics from Applied Physics in Module 3, to reduce the number of
subjects in Module 2 by reordering courses and to combine Analysis with Calculus. There is a committee from the
study programme working hard to design the new curriculum. On February 15 a FAMS took place which addressed
the draft for this new curriculum. The minutes of this feedback session can be found here.

 

WSV funds

Much money is still available from the WSV funds, which the faculty wants to spend on the improvement of the
quality of education for students. However, the faculty is out of ideas for ways to spend this money. It has asked the
help from students to come up with ideas for the WSV funds. To accommodate this the study associations have set up
a faculty-wide brainstorm moment on March 22 in the lunch break, During this session, involved students who want
to make an impact on the education within EEMCS can brainstorm about ideas and send proposals to the faculty
board.

 

EEMCS feedback session

The faculty EEMCS appreciates the feedback that it receives from students, such that they can work on improving the
education within the faculty. To gather this feedback the faculty is working on organising a feedback session on March
28 during the lunch break. the portfolio holder for education of the faculty, Arend Rensink, will be present to discuss
the feedback with. So, if you want to share your opinion on, for example, hybrid education or other educational
topics, make sure to attend.

 

Module evaluations

Module 4 (2020 - 2021)

Overall we are quite happy with the evaluation (by the students). Students grade this module an 8.0. Workload
seems to be okay and they are happy with the organization of this module, and the teaching.
The main change this year is the inclusion of a first course on Python (about 1EC). This is part of the 5EC "Modelling
Project" and so meant a slight reduction of the "modelling" part, but that was fine. We may have to change the Python
course a bit, however, because the students’ programming skills were not as we hoped. (This will also be picked up
by the Taskforce "Modelling".) The major change will be that we will attempt to mostly remove the algorithm-design
element from the course and instead focus on the algorithm implementation element instead (i.e., the translation
from math to computer program).
Other than that we expect no significant changes for the next year.
Also new was a "prooflab" (a single afternoon in week 1 about "combinatorics"). Students did not comment and the
teacher expects to have a clearer picture next year (post-corona).
One student says that "last 3 weeks were very relaxed". Of course "n=1" means nothing, but we are surprised nonetheless.
The idea is that students spend the final weeks almost full-time on the modelling project. We do not intend to
change this next year.
One student suggests to make "study groups" for the two theoretical courses. But if corona subsides (keep our fingers
crossed) this becomes obsolete.

By Gjerrit Meinsma, Module-04 coordinator

Module 8 (2020 - 2021)

Looking back on this module, let me first focus on the Evasys evaluation. The overall appreciation score for the
module as a whole was similar to that of last year, but this year only 8 students filled out the questionnaire. We hope
this was due to “Corona-fatigue”, and that next year more students will fill out the questionnaire, since it really helps
us to read your comments (next to the panel meetings which are also helpful).
Two related concerns were the amount of time to prepare for each assessment and the somewhat uneven spread of
the total study load over the quartile. This is mostly due to the structure of the module, with the first part shared
with IEM students. A few years ago we already decided that students can start working on Stochastic Simulation
during the last part of the Stochastic Models block, and this year we will even have two ‘early sessions’ (as opposed
to one during the last few years). So for those of you who will do the module this year: heed the warning and use
this opportunity! :)
About the final multidisciplinary project, we see some concerns that mostly have to do with ‘expectation management’:
some math students were not sufficiently aware of what was (and what was not) expected of them, so it is our
task to be more clear on this, both in the introductory lecture, and in the ‘project manual’. Though we expect that will
make a difference, with a project like this we are never surprised to see widely varying opinions, from ‘frustrating. . . ’
to ‘fun!’.
So much for the ‘criticism’. Fortunately we also hear and read many positive comments (interesting content, good
integration of knowledge, clear organization, etc.), and as in previous years, students mention in particular that they
learned a lot during the module.

We are looking forward to this year’s version of the module, with at least one entirely new aspect: instead of ‘Winston’
we will use another book, coauthored by two of your teachers (Richard Boucherie and Aleida Braaksma). And of
course, there will most probably be no more corona restrictions. . . so, also in the formerly online parts, we hope to
actually see you!

By Werner Scheinhardt, Module-08 coordinator

Module 12 (2020 - 2021)

Once again, this module was entirely online. Last year, the final session of the Bachelor’s Assignment (BA), the
Bachelor’s Conference, was in Canvas. This system crashed twice during the pitches. Also, we asked students to
present slides instead of a poster, but that did not work that well. Therefore, this year we organized the conference
in MS Teams, including poster sessions (instead of slides). Also, we organized online biweekly meetings to keep in
touch with students. Reflection on Mathematical Research II (RoMRII) planned to incorporate presentation sessions.
For Complex Function Theory (CFT), last year’s videos were available to students right away.
Module 12 is taught in the final quarter of the academic year, and we noticed that students were tired of online
education. This had a negative effect on their performances. Also, we noticed they were more on their own, having
little interaction with fellow students. For BA, a few students attended the biweekly meetings. Also, the grades were
a bit lower than last year. The Bachelor’s Conference went fine. Students gave pitches, which family and friends could
follow. After that, students gave poster presentations, which went well in general.
For RoMRII, most of the sessions went okay, but giving feedback could be better. The CFT students appreciated the
videos. Very few students attended the online tutorials, which is disappointing. The results of the corona resit were
not good. Most students in that resit did not seem to have studied adequately, which was frustrating to the lecturer.
The lecturers of RoMRII recognize the complaints about timely feedback and planning and presentation sessions.
The lecturer of CFT disagrees with the students’ comment about the goal of homework exercises. This goal was
mentioned several times, also in texts on Canvas. Solutions to practice exam were published late for a reason. The
lecturer wanted students to work on these and discuss them with him before publication. Only a few students did so.
Based on the comments and our experiences, we want to improve the module as follows. We aim to improve the
supervisors’ instructions, particularly on the amount of ECs and the separation of modules 11 (preparation) and 12
(research) for BA. The lecturers of RoMRII want to use a rubric for the assessment and publish this to students, and
have on-campus presentation sessions. Hopefully, more activities may be held on campus.

by Judith Timmer, Module-12 coordinator

Module 1 (2021 - 2022)

This year’s education in module 1 was online (most lectures and some lectorials) and on campus (tutorials, practicals,
self-study supervised, TBL-sessions). Compared to last year, we made some changes. Linear Structures I had a more
explicit structure with weekly diagnostic quizzes and ‘Proof of the week’. Its exam structure remained the same,
but a new requirement was added, and students did part 1 in Grasple. Students could submit answers to assigned
questions for feedback every week in the course Calculus I. Also, that course’s Canvas page had a discussion board for
students to ask questions. The programming part of the project had more TAs. We noticed that students were active
in the on-campus sessions, making the lecturers of all study units happy to work with the group. (In this period,
many activities were allowed compared to the previous periods with restrictions or lockdown due to Covid-19. This
had a positive effect on students and staff.) Students found the Grasple questions of Calculus I helpful and did well
on the programming part of the project. On the other hand, students could use more time for the Calculus’ diagnostic
test, and the LaTeX instruction could have been better. The students seemed highly stressed about the exam of Linear
Structures I. They focused on passing the exam and less on learning. Many groups hardly contacted their supervisors
for the modelling assignment, and many groups started too late. As a result, more groups failed the modelling part
compared to previous years. Looking forward, we want to improve this module. For Linear Structures I, we aim to
improve the feedback on the proofs during the course and the course’s assessment. The modelling part of the project
will get more structure and mandatory sessions. Finally, we look into the Calculus’s diagnostic test time and the
LaTeX instruction.

by Judith Timmer, Module-01 coordinator

Module 5 (2021 - 2022)

We received little feedback via the student evaluations. This makes us believe that the majority of students find
Module 5 fine the way it is. Something that worries us is the low attendance of the lectures. This has a side effect
that also the instructors feel less motivated to prepare and present the material.

by Johannes Schmidt Hieber, Module-05 coordinator

 

New lecturers

José Iglesias Martínez

I am José, assistant professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics in the University of Twente since January
2022.
I was born and raised in Madrid, where I also studied for degrees both in mathematics and electrical engineering,
trying to find my place in the pure to applied spectrum. After that I took on a more international adventure, eventually
doing a PhD in the University of Vienna, followed by some time as a postdoc in the Radon Institute for Computational
and Applied Mathematics in Linz.
Mathematically, my main focus is in variational models in infinite-dimensional spaces, particularly with a geometric
component. This is a deep, yet very flexible framework where many heterogeneous objects can interact. Smooth or
nonsmooth, of different dimensions, continuous or discrete, they can all be modelled and found as solutions. For
this reason such models are indispensable in a wide range of applications, like mathematical imaging, continuum
mechanics, and theoretical machine learning, all of which I am interested in.
Non-mathematically, outdoor activities like rock climbing or hiking are on the top of my list.

Marcello Carioni

I joined the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science as an Assistant Professor in January
2022. I am part of the group Mathematics of Imaging & AI. I obtained my Ph.D. in Leipzig at the Max-Planck Institute
for Mathematics in the Science in 2017. Then, I moved to the Karl-Franzens University in Graz as a postdoctoral
researcher, and, in March 2020, I relocated to the University of Cambridge as a Newton International fellow. My
research focuses on the theoretical aspects of inverse problems with applications to image processing and medical
imaging. I am also interested in understanding how machine learning and AI can improve the performance of classical
methods when a large amount of data is available.

Silke Glas

My name is Silke Glas and I joined the Mathematics of Systems Theory group in the Department of Applied Mathematics
in January 2022. I received my PhD in numerical analysis 2018 from the University of Ulm. Before my
appointment at the University of Twente, I was a postdoctoral associate at Cornell University within the Simons
Collaboration on Hidden Symmetries and Fusion Energy.
My research interests include the development and numerical analysis of structure-preserving model reduction methods
with applications in plasma physics. Right now, I am particularly interested to investigate how machine learning
methods can be used to build more advanced reduced models. When I am not working on mathematics, I like to go
salsa dancing and hiking or simply enjoy a good cup of coffee.