Curriculum Vitae - Universiteit Utrecht

Curriculum Vitae
Personal details
Title, initials, first name, surname: Dr. Maarten G. Kleinhans, associate professor
Male/female:
Male
Date and place of birth:
April 28, 1972, Rheden (the Netherlands)
Nationality:
Dutch
Status: Married since 1999, son (2005), daughter (2007)
Work address:
Universiteit Utrecht,
Faculty of Geoscience, Dept. Physical Geography
PO-box 80115
3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands
Telephone:
+31 30 2532405 (shared office) / 2749 (secr)
Fax: +31 30 2531145
E-mail:
m.g.kleinhans@uu.nl
Website:
http://www.geo.uu.nl/fg/mkleinhans
Research vision
My aim is to understand the morphodynamics and –genesis of aqueous sedimentary
systems ranging from small-scale bedforms to large-scale fluvial plains and deltas on
Earth and Mars. Based on the insights from my philosophical investigations, I combine a
physically-based approach (‘reductionism’) with (‘non-reductionistic’) historical and
geological reconstructions by employing geological descriptions and narratives, historical
maps and texts, mathematico-physical models, experiments and field measurements, in
part through cross-disciplinary cooperation. New results are presented to students in my
classes and to the general public and school children through press releases, articles,
interviews, public lectures and participation in experiments.
Specifically, I focus on
• the self-organised forming of fluvial plains, tidal basins and estuaries with channelfloodplain
interaction in varying boundary conditions (climate, sediment delivery);
• the formation of deltas in varying boundary conditions (climate, sediment delivery);
• similar phenomena on planet Mars;
• stability of river bifurcations and avulsions and their effects on channel and delta
evolution;
• the incipient motion, sediment transport and deposition of poorly sorted sediments
(sand-gravel, sand-mud) at a small scale, during river floods, in gales and storms, and
on the downstream fining scale;
• the genesis, dynamics and effects of bedforms in currents, waves and combined flow;
• connections between, and integrations of the aforementioned processes.

Education
Masters degree in Physical Geography
University/College of Higher Education:
Universiteit Utrecht
Date: November 29, 1995
Main subject:
Coastal and river dynamics (infragravity
swash on the beach, meandering in sandgravel
bed river)
Doctorate
University/College of Higher Education: Universiteit Utrecht
Date: May 29, 2002 (cum laude = top 5%)
Supervisor (‘Promotor’): Prof.Dr.Ir.L.C. van Rijn, Prof.Dr.E.A.
Koster, Dr.J.H. van den Berg
Title of thesis:
Sorting out sand and gravel; sediment
transport and deposition in sand-gravel bed
rivers, http://www.geo.uu.nl/fg/mkleinhans
Work experience since graduation
December 1995 – March 1997: junior researcher Rijkswaterstaat projects (Utrecht
University), 1fte, fixed-term.
April 1997 – April 2002: employed PhD position (Utrecht University), 1fte, fixed-term.
May 2002 – March 2005: Post-doc EU-SANDPIT research project (Utrecht University),
1fte, fixed-term. Supervisor/advisor for 3 PhD students and 2 master students.
April 2005 – present: lecturer (permanent position) and a personal scholarships (NWO
Veni and Vidi, selection of top 10-20%) (Utrecht University), 1fte. Supervisor/advisor for
10 PhD students and about 20 master students.
Summary of research activities over last decade
As a PhD student (1997-2002):
1. planning and execution of two large measurement campaigns during floods in the
river Rhine together with Rijkswaterstaat (Ministry of Public Transport and
Waterways), analysis of the data, focussing on sediment transport and deposition
of gravelly sands at the river Rhine bifurcation ‘Pannerdensche Kop’.
2. participation in planning and execution of a European large-scale laboratory
experiment (EU-TMR grant).
3. supervision of 5 MSc student research projects in the river Allier (France) and in
laboratory experiment.
4. planning and conducting two different laboratory experiments at St. Anthony
Falls Laboratory, USA.
In addition (1997-2002):
5. pilot studies: 1. Merwede river bifurcation (sediment transport distribution
measurements together with Rijkswaterstaat) and 2. downstream fining in sandgravel
bed rivers (review for a new PhD study).
6. analysis of historical data at river bifurcations.

As a post-doctoral researcher (april 2002-2005):
7. planning, coordination and execution of a large European field measurement
campaign together with Rijkswaterstaat and partners from UK and France on the
North Sea shoreface off Noordwijk (The Netherlands), and analysis of data
focussing on hydrodynamics of combined waves and tidal currents, tidal and
wave-driven sand transport and bedform dynamics.
8. supervision of PhD-student research focussing on dowstream fining in the river
Rhine bed sediment, on sediment mixture transport in ebb-tidal delta at
Teignmouth (UK), and co-supervision of PhD-student research on avulsion
dynamics on alluvial fans and deltas in EUROTANK experiments.
9. cooperation in alluvial architecture modelling in Utrecht
10. analysing philosophy of earth sciences in comparison to other natural sciences;
organisation symposium, see website http://www.geog.uu.nl/fg/philosophy
As lecturer (april 2005-2011) and associate professor (until present):
11. 1D, 2D and 3D modelling of river bifurcations; Delft3D commercial model
software, research conducted at WL|Delft Hydraulics in Delft (4 months) in
cooperation
12. Supervision of three PhD projects on Martian fluvial systems as climate change
indicators, and of three PhD projects on experimental channel patterns.
13. development of 3D model and experimental scaling strategy for self-forming
channel-floodplain patterns
14. development of 1D model and experimental setup for Martian crater lake deltas
15. PI of EU Hydralab III Access project on experimental and model study of flow
separation in sharp river bends.
16. experimental determination of granular media properties under reduced gravity
(parabolic flights) in collaboration with Delft University
17. development of novel experimental laboratory for meandering and tidal systems
Teaching experience
• River morphology class (1999 – present): floods, sediment transport, hydraulic
geometry, morphology (1D modelling)
• Geologica class (2008 – present): basic logic and philosophy of geosciences for
the Honours BSc programme
• ~30 MSc students and ~20 BSc students supervised on all my research interests
• lectures on remote sensing in marine environments (sonar and multibeam seabed
mapping), on philosophy of geoscience (at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), on
morphology and climate on other planets
• (Co-)supervision of ~10 PhD candidates
• ad hoc committee on BSc teaching programme
• I have certificates on classroom teaching and on examination, and fulfilled the
requirements for teaching on the lecturer level in the Netherlands.

Scholarships, prizes and external funding
• 1997: 4-year PhD proposal funded (for myself, with help of supervisors),
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Earth and Life
Sciences council (NWO-ALW)
• 2002: 4-year PhD proposal funded (for Roy Frings, together with van den Berg),
Rijkswaterstaat-RIZA
• 2004: 3-year Personal research scholarship ‘Veni’ of the Innovational Research
Incentives Scheme (selection of top 10-20%), Netherlands Organisation for
Scientific Research (NWO) and the Earth and Life Sciences council (NWO-
ALW)
• 2008: 5-year Personal research scholarship ‘Vidi’ of the Innovational Research
Incentives Scheme (selection of top 10-20%), Netherlands Organisation for
Scientific Research (NWO) and the Earth and Life Sciences council (NWO-
ALW)
• 2008: elected member of the Young Academy of the Royal Netherlands Academy
of Arts and Sciences (http://www.dejongeakademie.nl), member of the board
2009-2012
• 2008-2011: three 4-year PhD proposals funded for Mars research by the
Netherlands Space Office, Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research
(NWO) and the Earth and Life Sciences council (NWO-ALW)
• a large number of small projects from Dutch, German and European
governmental institutes.
• funding for education research at elementary schools
International activities
International research projects:
• EU-funded Hydralab III access to the Total Environment Simulator facility at
Hull University
• EU-funded Hydralab III (SANDS, 2006-9) project on instrument testing and
calibration in a large laboratory facility, Hannover University
• EU-funded TMR project (1997-1998 participation in proposal and execution) for
use of large laboratory facility, Delft Hydraulics
Short stays abroad:
• August-December 2001 (three months experiments) and November 2002 (1
week): visiting scientist at St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis (USA). Contact persons: Prof. Dr. Gary Parker and Prof. Dr. Chris
Paola.
• November 2002 (1 week field measurements): visiting scientist to US Army
Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg (USA). Contact persons: Mr. David Abrahams
and Prof. Dr. David Biedenharn.
• April 2002 (2 weeks summer school): at Institute of Planetary Geology,
University of Pescara (Italy). Contact persons: Prof. Dr. Gian Ori and Prof. Dr.
Victor Baker.
• February 2004 (3 weeks visiting academic subject marine bedforms): at
Department of Engineering, University of Aberdeen (UK). Contact person: Dr.
Tom O’Donoghue.

• September 2005 – January 2006 (four months mathematical modelling): visiting
scientist to WL|Delft Hydraulics, Delft. Contact person: Dr. Erik Mosselman
• May, October 2006 (visits and invited lectures): visiting scientist to SediLab,
Earth Science Dep., University of Leeds (UK). Contact persons: Prof. Dr. Jim
Best and Dr. Jeff Peakall, and University of Durham (UK), Geography
Department, contact person: Prof. Dr. Stuart Lane.
• Invited lectures at DLR (Berlin), Leeds, Durham, Southampton
• Invited lectures and sessions at various conferences, e.g. AGU
Other academic activities
• Member of the board Young Academy of the KNAW: Royal Netherlands
Academy of Arts and Sciences (http://www.dejongeakademie.nl) 2010-2012
• Member of the committee on elementary and high school teaching of the KNAW
• Associate Editor for Sedimentology 2008-2010
• Session convenor at international philosophy conference
• Popularising geosciences on radio, television and the national quality newspapers
• Design and organisation of fieldwork for the Geography Olympiade finals in the
Netherlands
• Participation in Task Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers on
flow and transport over dunes (chair Dr. Lyn).
• Participation in Sediment Mixture working group of Kommision für Hydrologie
des Rheingebietes (contact Mr. E. van Velzen, Rijkswaterstaat-RIZA).
• Participation in Philosophy of Science, Technology and Normativity group (2001-
2005) (leader Prof. Dr. Hans Radder) at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam;
investigating philosophy of earth sciences together with philosophers
• Initiative and full organisation of Dutch Philosophy of Geoscience Symposium
on April 16, 2004.
• Organiser of lectures and knowledge exchange activities for PhD students of the
Netherlands Centre for River research (NCR: Dutch universities, public and
commercial research institutes for rivers) (2001-2002).
• Member of international research group lead by Prof. Gian Ori that works on
Stereo Camera data of ESA mission Mars Express to planet Mars (2002-present).
• Member of ‘Faculty advising board’ for Faculty of Geography representing PhD
students (2001-2002) (Utrecht).
• Chairman of board of Dutch Youth Association for Astronomy (1998-2001);
various popularising lectures on planetary morphology; telescope design and
building courses; popularising activities in cooperation with professional
astronomers, grants for popularising activities from European Space Observatory
and Stichting WeTeN (1992-present).
• Co-initiator of Dutch platform for Planetary Research (2004-present)
• Reviewer for Continental Shelf Research, Sedimentology, Sedimentary Geology,
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, Journal of Geophysical Research (Oceans,
Earth Surface, Planets, Water Resources Research, Geophysical Review Letters,
Coastal Engineering, Journal of Hydrological Research
• Member of the American Geophysical Union