Biography:
After obtaining a MEng in 1986 at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, Frank van Veggel obtained his Ph.D. summa cum laude at the same university in 1990. He then joined the photonics research group of the Dutch chemical company Akzo (now Akzo Nobel). In 1992 he returned to the University of Twente as Universitair Docent (literally, “university teacher”) and performed research in the group of Prof. Reinhoudt. Dr. van Veggel’s 1998 promotion to Universitair Hoofddocent followed closely the launch of his first independently funded research from the Dutch Science Foundation in 1997, then two more in 1999 and 2000. He pioneered the sensitized near-infrared luminescence of Ln3+ polydentate complexes. Two paradigm-shifting articles were published in 2002 on colloidally stable Ln3+ based nanoparticles with luminescence in the near-infrared. This established him as the world’s expert in this field. In 2002 he accepted a Tier II Canada Research Chair at the University of Victoria, renewed in 2007, where he has continued to expand his research on nanoparticles, ranging from Ln3+-doped, quantum dots, to superparamagnetic nanoparticles, and his reputation as a top materials chemistry researcher. His current h-index is 54 based on 185 entries in the Thomson Reuters Web-of-Knowledge database.