6 February 2017
Sjoerd van der Wal is well known for his unique and in-depth view on separation based challenges and solutions. Both during his industrial and academic career he contributed to various developments in the field of separation science.
Van der Wal is internationally recognized for his in-depth knowledge of column-based separation, including the analysis of both small and large molecules by size-exclusion chromatography, (interactive) liquid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography and combinations hereof.
Sjoerd van der Wal graduated at the Separation Science Group of the University of Amsterdam headed by professor J.F.K. Huber. After obtaining his PhD (1977) he started his industrial career at Perkin Elmer but moved quickly to the US to work at the Technicon (New York) and Varian (California) companies. In 1986 Van der Wal returned to Europe to start at DSM Research (Geleen, The Netherlands), first as group leader HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography – Special Projects) and then as research fellow Chromatography. From 2003 up to his retirement in 2013 Van der Wal was principal scientist Chromatography at DSM Resolve. In 2006 he was named professor by special appointment of Bioterials Analysis at the Faculty of Science (Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences) at the University of Amsterdam.