AIRBUs at DTU - Danmarks Tekniske Universitet

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Visit from space
the speakers took a barrage of questions when a group of high school students met real live astronauts at DtU
„How do you feel at take-off? What’s it like
to be the only woman in space with male
colleagues? What is your best and worst
experience in space? How can I become an
astronaut?“
There was a steady stream of questions
when the two winners of DTU’s astronaut
competition and 60 high school students
from Virum Gymnasium turned up to meet
the astronauts and hear them talk about
their space mission.
And both the astronauts from NASA
and their colleague, Swedish space hero,
the astronaut Christer Fuglesang from the
European Space Agency, recounted their
experiences with great enthusiasm and
humor.
Few would have been able to suppress a
giggle when Christer Fuglesang said that
almost every minute of the journey was
one of the best experiences on the mission,
and that the worst had probably been his
occasional struggles with the space toilets.
The astronauts took it in turns to
provide a commentary on a film from the
STS 116 mission to the international space
station. They were assigned to deliver one
PHOTO carSten BroDer hanSen
astronaut to the station, and would then
naturally have to bring another one home.
The expedition took 12 days, and they landed
in Florida three days before Christmas.
They returned with 2 tons of refuse and
spent equipment.
Academic synergies between DTU and Risø National
Laboratory put BIOP-center in pole position
The fact that hospitals are now able to
diagnose skin cancer with the aid of optics
and lasers is due not least to the collaboration
started in 1999 between Risø and DTU
researchers on developing the use of optics
for medical science.
In 1999, when researchers from the two
institutions engaged in a collaborative
project on biomedical optics, which at the
time was a relatively unresearched field,
they were driven by purely scientific objectives
and the conviction that a joint effort
would produce results of benefit to society.
„It was an uphill struggle in the first few
years, but the differences were mutually reinforcing,
and the results were really worth
fighting for,“ comments Paul Michael Petersen,
OFD’s Head of Center, and Anders
Bjarklev, the Director of COM-DTU.
It wasn’t as if they didn’t have enough
to do in the first place; at that time, DTU’s
COM was heavily involved in a project on
fiberoptics for telecommunications. But
once the researchers started meeting up at
forums such as the Danish Optical Society,
new ideas were generated and these were
eventually so ”mature” that Jørgen Kjems
asked Paul Michael Petersen to draft a
proposal for a center collaboration. Other
participants came from the Department of
Informatics and Mathematical Modelling
(IMM), the Microelectronics Center (MIC)
and the Department of Physics at DTU;
from the Herlev and Marselisborg hospitals
and from four laser systems firms.
„We were quicker off the mark than
anyone else in Denmark, and there were
many who turned up their noses at this
unusual initiative in the health sector, but
we were convinced it was the right thing to
do,“ comments Paul Michael.
„Besides which, we didn’t have any
funding to speak of, in fact just a genuine
interest in applying our scientific expertise
in a new field,“ adds Anders Bjarklev.
So, project finances were not robust in
the beginning, and several years passed
before the international publications really
got underway. However, before long, the
Center had established an innovative
educational program involving the Risø
researchers with Peter E. Andersen as
anchor, along with various clinicians. The
training program also benefited from the
many facilities at DTU’s and Risø’s disposal,
and the opportunity for clinical trials
at the hospitals.
Over time, the BIOP Center has established
a number of attractive traditions
for the PhD students, such as a summer
school on the Swedish island of Ven every
other year. Meanwhile, the BIOP Graduate
School has now twice been awarded funding
by the Danish research councils.
Time has shown that the initiative was
manifestly justified.
„Today, the Center has solid finances,
and enjoys international recognition
in medical applications for optics. We
participate in many framework programs,
and receive funding from the Danish
High Technology Foundation plus several
EU grants, and generally the field enjoys
high status due to its obvious benefits for
society,“ says Paul Michael. „We were some
of the first – many have followed our lead.“