Astronomy
Hi. My name is Freeke, but it is not pronounced the way you think it is. I recently finished my PhD at Leiden Observatory in The Netherlands with
Joop Schaye, using cosmological, hydrodynamical simulations to study the growth of galaxies and haloes. In the past, I have also worked at STScI in Baltimore, at CRAL in Lyon, and at MPA in Munich.
I am currently a
CosmoComp fellow in Cordoba, Argentina working with
Mario Abadi. In October, I will start a postdoc at UC Berkeley and ASIAA (in Taipei). I will thus be living on four different continents within a year and have the opportunity to work with many different people. Exciting times.
Non-astronomy
After growing up in the neighbouring villages Hulsel and Bladel, I lived in Leiden during my undergraduate carreer and in The Hague during my PhD.
I often go scuba diving with the
Leiden Student Diving club and keep a
log in Dutch. Exploring somewhat more tropical seas than the one back home is, of course, also part of the fun.
Before moving away, I played the bassoon in the
The Hague student orchestra Valerius and I hope to find a new orchestra as soon as my bassoon and me are reunited.
I am of the oppinion that you will get the most out of living in a different country, if you speak its language, which is why I am trying to learn some Spanish each day (home schooling myself). I guess it's also somewhat of a necessity here, but I'm enjoying it. I also started taking tango classes. So far, my tango skills are worse than my Spanish skills.
I like long distance cycling and camping, which comes with having Dutch genes. I spend a good deal of my time traveling around in other countries, but not necessarily by bike.
