Programme leader David L. Groep of the Physics Data Processing group at Nikhef has been appointed as an extraordinary professor at Maastricht University. He will focus on research on the setup and optimal use and security of large-scale ICT infrastructure for science.
Physicist and computing researcher Groep (Zaandam 1973) is responsible at Nikhef for one of the core data centers of the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid, an international collection of computing centers that provide computing power for research with the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva. He also works on the national e-infrastructure with SURF, the national ICT coorperation for education and research.
Big Science like particle physics places high demands on the data and computing infrastructure that enables the underlying work processes. This involves the collection and analysis of enormous data streams and secure communication. Factors such as computing power, storage space and network availability are often decisive in large experiments. Due to the large diversity of users, robust security is crucial.
The special chair in e-intrastructure at University Maastrichts Faculty of Science and Engineering is supported by Nikhef. David Groep started at the Department of Data Science and Knowledge Engineering April 1st. One of his lines of research concerns integrated system architectures and how the new systems can be more effective through new algorithms.
Maastricht University is already one of the partners in the Nikhef collaboration. Gravitational waves and detectors such as the future Einstein Telescope and the LHCb particle experiment at CERN are the focal points of the Nikhef in Maastricht. Groep’s appointment is a further extension to data processing and computing.