NFI chemist named Professor by Special Appointment
Dr Arian van Asten has been named Professor by Special Appointment in Forensic Analytical Chemistry in the Faculty of Science at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) with effect from 1 June 2012.
The chair is part of the Van ‘t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences. Van Asten will combine his professorship with his work as the head of the Department of Science, Interdisciplinary Research, Statistics and Knowledge Management (WISK) at the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI).
Forensic analytical chemistry
Forensic analytical chemistry has applications in a variety of areas of forensic expertise, including Forensic Medicine, chemical identification analysis, document and printer analysis, fingerprint analysis and crime scene investigation. The new chair will initiate forensic-analytical research that leads to new methods and tools for forensic case investigations in these areas of expertise. Important cornerstones include chemical profiling, chemical characterisation of microspores, analytical chemistry at the crime scene, databases and knowledge management, and measurement uncertainty in qualitative and quantitative forensic chemical analysis.
Special chairs
The appointment of Van Asten is the fifth special forensic chair involving the NFI. NFI scientists Ate Kloosterman (Forensic Biology, UvA, 2008), Marjan Sjerps (Forensic Statistics, UvA, 2010), Charles Berger (Criminalistics, Leiden University, 2011) and David van Leeuwen (Forensic Applications of Speech and Language Technology, Radboud University Nijmegen, 2012) have previously been appointed as professors.
Through these professorships the NFI is actively working together with the Netherlands’ top universities. In the words of NFI CEO Tjark Tjin-A-Tsoi: “With these special chairs the NFI is building an extensive forensic R&D programme and network, in which the professors form a bridge between the academic knowledge at the university and the forensic expertise of the NFI. It is at this interface where new ideas and directions for forensic research are created, as has been demonstrated in many of the projects that are currently in progress.”
Curriculum vitae
Arian van Asten (44) studied chemistry at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), where he graduated cum laude in 1991 with a specialisation in analytical chemistry. He earned his doctorate at the UvA in 1995 with a doctoral thesis entitled ‘An Exploration of Thermal Field Flow Fractionation’, which was awarded the Kolthoff Award by the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society (KNCV) in 1996. Following a career spanning more than 10 years in the chemical industry, during which he worked as an analytical chemist and laboratory and project manager for Akzo Nobel and Unilever, Van Asten joined the NFI in 2006. After a brief period as Director of Chemistry, he was Director of the Department of Physical and Chemical Technology (FCT) from 2007 to 2010. Since 2011, he has headed the Department of Science, Interdisciplinary Research, Statistics and Knowledge Management (WISK). This department’s activities include the further development of forensic science and innovation, in the Netherlands and at an international level. In recent years, Van Asten has been actively involved in the forensic study programmes and research at the UvA, particularly with regard to forensic explosives analysis.