Niek de Jong

(he/him/his)

B.Sc., Chemistry, University of Groningen, 2025

B.Sc., Chemical Engineering, University of Groningen, 2025

Niek was born in 2002 in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. In 2021, he started studying Chemical Engineering at the University of Groningen, subsequently changing to a double degree to include Chemistry. In 2025, he received his B.Sc. degrees in both Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. During his bachelor thesis in Chemistry, he worked in the Pollice Research Group, focusing on Bayesian Optimization for inverse molecular design. During his bachelor thesis in Chemical Engineering, he worked with Dr. Ir. Arne Hommes, performing a kinetic analysis of the acid-catalysed pyrolysis of fructose into levulinic acid. Niek started his master studies in Chemistry at the University of Groningen in 2025. In May 2026, he returned to the Pollice Research Group to work on his master thesis, focusing on systematic computational exploration of organocatalytic reactions aided with artificial intelligence.