Wim van Saarloos new Director of FOM Foundation

25 augustus 2009
The FOM Executive Board has appointed Professor Wim van Saarloos (1955) Director of FOM Foundation, effective 1 November 2009. He succeeds Dr Hans Chang, who stepped down in early July after 24 years with FOM and who continues his career at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). Van Saarloos is currently Professor of Theoretical Physics at Leiden University and Director of the Lorentz Center, which he also established and for which he received a Royal Award in 2008. He has extensive administrative experience and a good network of contacts within and outside physics. The Director of FOM also acts as Director of the NWO Subfield of Physics.

Van Saarloos explains: "I've been committed to science and physics in the broad sense for quite some time now and I’m really looking forward to continuing my work at this level and so help set the direction of physics research in the Netherlands. I’m very pleased with the road FOM has taken the past few years, with an increased focus on valorisation and industry contacts in addition to fundamental research (under the watchword of 'Physics for Science & Physics for Society'). It’s a line that I’ll continue to pursue. Fundamental and applied research are not that far apart as people often think."

Prof.dr.ir. Wim van Saarloos, director of the FOM Foundation starting 1 November 2009
(Photo: DeWilde fotografie)

Read the press release in Dutch
http://www.fom.nl/live/nieuws/artikel.pag?objectnumber=100114