<center>![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmYJbXLdK8fHiBc2R4t1GxktQfRE5GvmAHoaeZvCyFF1WK/image.png)</center>

Roughly coinciding with the [Utopian quality enforcement update](https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@utopian-io/utopian-rules-update-7-biggest-quality-enforcement-ever), all moderators were asked to introduce themselves to the Utopian community. Here's me!

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## My Background and Upbringing

My name is Tim, a Dutch national born and raised in a polder in the Netherlands, some 6 meters below sea level. At age 11, my family uprooted us and moved to the literal other side of the globe, settling in New Zealand. In January 2011, I moved to Christchurch, experiencing the [Christchurch Earthquake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Christchurch_earthquake) firsthand. This resulted in a brief stint with the [Student Volunteer Army](http://sva.org.nz/), until I finally started my studies at the University of Canterbury and have hardly left since.

My undergraduate studies earned me a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering, graduating with 1st Class Honours at the top of the class. While I loved the design work and programming aspects of the engineer's life, I was not as much of a petrolhead as people think mechanical engineers are... Time for a change!

I left University for a brief stint in the consulting industry. While there, I designed several products for international customers. Most notably of these was working on the [Clever Medkit](http://clevermedkits.com/), which is effectively a first aid kit controlled by an AI.

I returned to university to pursue a doctorate in biomedical engineering in a high performance computing lab. Our team builds highly sophisticated mathematical models of the brain, which are simulated on the local super clusters. Models such as this allow us to better understand how the brain functions, and more specifically what mechanisms fail as a result of neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. If all goes well, I will be a Doctor by August!

<center>![NVU.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmYDRiMarveDuEZYsUCs8azebQAorQK8zr6ct8PS7qNbJ3/NVU.png)</center>
<center>*The model I work on - I have spent 2.5 years on the tiny part labelled NE (the Neuron) at the top. In the near future we expect the work to help guide drug development.*</center>

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## My Home Team on Utopian

I began my moderating days under the supervision of @espoem, and have since transferred to @mkt's team. The team is primarily focussed on development contributions and bug hunting, but I dabble in translations when required. I love working with everyone here - they are incredibly supportive and helpful. It would not be the same without you guys! Special shout-out to @codingdefined, @wehmoen, @rebel and @stoodkev.

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## What I Bring to the Table

- I am a skilled programmer, having learnt from a young age. I am experienced with MATLAB, Python, C#, C, Ruby, HTML and Lua. I also have extensive knowledge of parallel implementation of code using OpenACC, MPI and OpenMP.

- I am fluent in English and Dutch, as well as limited German.

- Having worked on more projects than I care to count, I know how to identify and deal with bugs which are guaranteed to crop up in any project.

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## Personal Projects

- I am heavily involved with the Gridcoin community. Like Steemit rewards you for creating content, Gridcoin rewards you for donating your PC's idle time to science. For example, the idle compute power of my lab is currently [scanning for neutron stars](https://einsteinathome.org/) near the galactic core for the Einstein Institute. I also built a new front-end for the Gridcoin community at [www.gridcoin.science](https://gridcoin.science/).

- I run the Steemit witness [gridcoin.science](https://steemit.com/witness-category/@dutch/announcing-the-gridcoin-science-witness-stem-on-steem), which is joining together my Gridcoin and Steemit obsessions. It's aim is to support STEM content on Steemit, and it is also acting as an experiment to see how much the Steemit blockchain's overhead can be optimised. Currently, the witness is able to run on roughly half the RAM of a default witness install.

To support this witness, visit https://steemit.com/~witnesses and add **gridcoin.science** to the box at the bottom of the page, click vote, and authorise using your Active Key.

<center>![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmcdJwtxDGhAPeB2oGn2F8K4nQKaogVpQfd4oXoQDLn9uZ/image.png)</center>

If you do take the time to venture into the witness voting interface, please also support Utopian.io! You can support  up to 30 witnesses at the same time.

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If anyone would like to ask me any questions about my involvement with Utopian, my personal projects, or anything else, fire away! I would be happy to answer.

[![dutch.gif](https://steemitimages.com/DQmZ2WQ4aAcT7qRe5hizgmAUK4dDGh79xBD6CmXM5AwWpjv/dutch.gif)](https://steemit.com/@dutch)