University of Groningen
Chemo-catalytic synthesis of biobased higher alcohols Xi, Xiaoying
DOI:
10.33612/diss.133328930
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Publication date: 2020
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Xi, X. (2020). Chemo-catalytic synthesis of biobased higher alcohols. University of Groningen. https://doi.org/10.33612/diss.133328930
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Acknowledgements
226
Acknowledgements
Time flies and my PhD journey will end soon. Although it has been almost five years, I still clearly remember the first day when I came to the Netherlands, just after the mid-autumn festival. It was a long day, warm and pleasant. Recalling the past years, life was full of pain and joy, ups and downs. I could not have accomplished my PhD project without the help and support from so many people, and here I would like to express my gratitude to them.
First of all, the sincerest gratitude goes to my supervisor, Prof. Hero Jan (Erik) Heeres, who offered me the PhD position in his group. Erik is a good supervisor. He helped me to facilitate the research collaborations with the Palkovits’s group in RWTH Aachen University and Barta’s group in the University of Groningen. He gave me a lot of freedom and inspiration in the research, but has high standards and strict requirements in the writing of manuscripts. I really appreciate the time he spent on correcting my manuscripts, and the numerous comments and inputs he gave taught me a lot about thinking and writing in a logic and critical way. Erik is very responsible and reliable. He is a busy man, but will never forget to respond to my requests for help about professional and personal stuff. After my four years’ study as a PhD student, he offered me a research position with other interesting projects, which not only provided me a good opportunity to broaden my research field, but also supplied me enough time to prepare my thesis. Erik is a nice person. He knows that I am rather introvert, and kindly advised me to seek interaction with others as much as possible. I am nervous and insecure while making presentations, and he asked me to just speak slowly and loudly. Although I still don’t do well in those things, these advices really helped a lot. Anyway, thanks for all the help, support and advice in the last five years. I wish all the best for him, and I hope to meet him again somewhere in the future.
I would like to express my acknowledgement to the members of assessment committee, Prof. J. Yue, Prof. P.P. Pescarmona and Prof. P.C.A. Bruijnincx, for reading my thesis and providing valuable comments and suggestions.
I am also grateful to other colleagues for their kind support. Prof. Regina Palkovits, thanks for the constructive guidance and help in the collaborated research. Feng Zeng, thanks for the catalyst characterization work and numerous discussions about experimental results, which really helped me to finalize the project smoothly. I hope you find a good position in academia.
Acknowledgements
227 P.J. (Peter) Deuss, thanks a lot for the nice discussion and valuable input for the Guerbet reaction. J.G.M. (Jos) Winkelman, thank you very much for the kind help in mass transfer calculations and kinetic analyses. Many thanks to Erwin Wilbers, Marcel de Vries, Anne Appeldoorn and R.T.T. (Rick) van der Reijd for the technical support for my set-ups, to Leon Rohrbach and Jan Henk Marsman for the analytical support, to Marya de Jong, Kim Winters, and Geraldine Gambier for the administrative support. Also thanks for organizing the yearly lab outing and Christmas dinner, which are really enjoyable.
I also want to thank all my lab mates, office mates, group mates, neighbors at three different places in Groningen and my Chinese friends here in the Netherlands as well as in China. I won’t list the names of them one by one. I cannot imagine how my life will be without you, you gave me very joyful and valuable memories. Thanks for all the help, supports, laughing and tearing time in the past years. I will always remember you.
Last but not least, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my family, which is the harbor where I feel at ease. Thanks for your endless love and support during these years. Cherish the moment and all around!
Xiaoying Xi August 2020, Groningen
