Jacquelien M.A. Scherpen [People in Control]

How did your education and early career lead to your initial and continuing interest in the control field? Jacquelien: During my undergraduate studies in applied mathematics at the University of Twente, my first encounter with the field was through the course Introduction to Mathematical Systems Theory. This course was very clear and appealing to me, partly because of the elegance of the mathematics behind it but also because of the clear interpretation related to the real world. Basic concepts like controllability and observability made a lot of sense to me. Afterward, the more advanced courses consolidated this. Furthermore, I was inspired by the vibrant atmosphere in the Systems and Control Group, which consisted of people like Huib Kwakernaak, Henk Nijmeijer, Arjan van der Schaft, Hans Zwart, and Jan Willem Polderman. My master's thesis advisor, Henk Nijmeijer, encouraged me to explore new subjects, and I worked on a thesis that was on the boundary of graph theory and control theory. Since I felt there was still so much more to learn and develop in the field, I decided to pursue a Ph.D. degree and postpone my decision for academia or industry.