International UU Alumni Network in the Netherlands
Are you an internationally oriented Utrecht University alum and do you currently live in The Netherlands? We have started a special UU Alumni Network to represent you and organise English speaking activities. This will be a great opportunity to tighten your bond with our Alma Mater and meet colleagues with similar backgrounds.
Who are we?
We are Cha-Hsuan Liu, Roland Spuij and Melissa Lopez, international UU alumni based in the Netherlands, who have taken the initiative for the International UU Alumni Network in the Netherlands.
Cha-Hsuan Liu
Dr. Cha-Hsuan Liu is a passionate social scientist with extensive expertise in education, management, healthcare, innovation and social policy. She is an Associate Professor at Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, specializing in Strategic and Change Management, Leadership, World Economy. A multicultural wordbook “Asian Diaspora in The Hague” is on publishing in autumn 2024 to illustrate the miscellaneous facets of lives through words and images. Her works beyond academia address the global challenges related to wellbeing equality and equity in our contemporary society. Advocating the Inclusive Prosperity, including Healthcare and Quality Education for All, she is actively engaging in public speaking and cross-border training sessions, and is involved in community initiatives on an international scale.
Roland Spuij
Roland recently retired and returned to The Netherlands. In 1983 he acquired a doctoral degree in Geology from Utrecht University. During his working life in the energy industry, he spent 30 years away from The Netherlands and lived and worked in 11 different countries in 5 continents. He has always been passionate about education and was involved with universities abroad as visiting lecturer, campus ambassador, member of the education board and as alumni ambassador of Utrecht University in Australia. After retirement still heavily involved with geological organizations and societies in The Netherlands and abroad.
Melissa Lopez
Dr. Melissa Lopez, a physicist and postdoctoral researcher at Nikhef, uses advanced machine learning to study gravitational waves—cosmic ripples in space-time. Born in Buenos Aires and raised in Valencia, she earned a Master’s in Data Science from Maastricht University and a PhD from Utrecht University. As part of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration, she developed innovative methods to enhance gravitational wave detection, advancing current and future observatories.
In 2024, Dr. Lopez received the IMPACT Award in Data Science from the American Physical Society and was elected as an early career representative to the Virgo Steering Committee. A passionate mentor and advocate for scientific leadership, she has served on the Board of Studies and PhD Council at the Graduate School of Natural Sciences, inspiring collaboration and innovation across the research community.