Meet Daniel: Femto’s newest Simulation Engineer 

Could you tell us a bit about yourself.

I am a big nerdy giant! Also friendly and active, international, and maybe even a little creative. My claims to all those adjectives? I like (video) games and fantasy/sci-fi, I played basketball semi-professionally for over 10 years, and I have been known to pick up an instrument from time to time. Speaking of free time, I hope to play more games (my favourite medium), explore new sports, and practice the guitar. Lastly, I grew up abroad (TaiWan, UK, USA, China, and Singapore), arriving in my ‘home’ country for the first time at 16 years of age. I’ve lived in Holland since and consider myself a Dutch international.

As for my professional background – I zigged and zagged quite a bit before finding my passion in simulations and CAE:

I initially studied physics and philosophy (BSc), then taught physics and maths for 5 years (IB and VWO), before returning to the TU Delft to study Biomedical Engineering (MSc). During that MSc programme, I studied XFEM in atherosclerotic plaques here at Femto as a research intern. Prediction of atherosclerotic plaque rupture using biomechanical modelling was later my thesis research topic at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam.

After graduation, I departed from the biomedical field and followed simulations instead, starting as a Junior CFD Engineer at ONE Simulations. ONE was then bought by the architecture firm Sweco, where I continued as a CFD and FEM simulation engineer. My work was focussed around civil engineering projects and topics like fire safety, HVAC, wind microclimates, and non-linear structural analysis. In particular, I’m proud to have worked on myriad smoke ventilation projects for the HC group and structural designs for the Kade 2.020 renovation project in Amsterdam.

What led you to choose a career in engineering? 

The path was winding, but I think the common threads were a curiosity for understanding ‘how things work’ and how we develop concepts in order to do so. These drew me towards the natural sciences first, and then philosophy as my questions became more abstract. All the philosophy led to a brief crisis of meaning – which I bridged thanks to the joy of teaching – before I recovered my footing again with a more pragmatic attitude, which led me to engineering.

Furthermore, I found simulation engineering in particular to strike the perfect balance between concept and practice, for me. Also, the variation inherent to simulation-work was a perfect remedy to my unhelpful tendency to quickly get bored.

What do you hope to achieve in this role, or are there already certain ideas or changes you would like to implement?

My personal goals are to develop my CAE skills, push the boundaries of knowledge, demonstrate the value of CAE, and to promote a diverse and reliable workplace for myself and others. The first will involve developing CFD- (foremost in this role), but also FEM- and CAE-knowledge. The second goal will hopefully lead to my contributing to R&D, as well as my return to teaching through our partnership with Siemens. Through teaching and developing valuable new products, I hope my efforts will demonstrate the value of CAE to a growing audience. Last, but not least, I want to contribute to a healthy and diverse work environment: a reliable workplace where people with a variety of backgrounds and beliefs feel the room to grow, to discuss freely, and to push the boundaries of our knowledge; not only in CAE, but also on our journeys together. After all, why do all this work without having fun along the way.

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Contact: telephone+31 (0)15-285 0580  or email us at info@femto.eu