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Laura Hollink · Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), the national research institute for mathematics and computer science in the Netherlands · 2006
At first glance, a PhD thesis looks like one coherent piece of work.Further examination, however, reveals that many theses are a collection of a diverse range of work: work done in the author's naive first year, later work, work done with a variety of people, at a number of locations, on various domains.Combining these pieces of work into a thesis is not a well-structured process.Rather, it is like solving a jigsaw puzzle that has round, square, donut shaped, and pear shaped pieces.This final task of putting together the pieces of the puzzle was the most challenging phase of my PhD, but also the one I enjoyed most.Now it is time to thank the people that have helped me with one or more pieces of the puzzle.Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisors Guus Schreiber, Bob Wielinga and Marcel Worring.Thanks to Guus for all his time, support and feedback.Guus has the ability to transform a vaguely formulated problem into a clear and solvable question, and I always left our meetings feeling more optimistic then when I entered them.I am grateful to Bob for giving me the freedom to move to the VU.Bob's critical reading has been essential to finishing this thesis, especially in the last months.I'd like to thank Marcel, who has the rare gift of explaining his work to people outside his field in an understandable way.This helped make our collaboration to combine our two separate fields an interesting one.Also thanks to Giang Nguyen for her cooperation and for her pleasant company on SIKS courses and our presentation course.I very much enjoyed the friendly atmosphere at the former SWI department of the UvA.Thanks to Noor for making me feel welcome when I first started as a PhD student.After working at the UvA for more than a year I moved to the VU.There, the BI and KR groups provided a lively working environment with lots of presentations and discussions, but also movie nights, the 'klimlijst' and sailing trips.Special thanks to Mark, who has become a real friend and, because of his precise way of working, also a valuable colleague.In the winter of 2005 I spent a lovely summer in Brisbane, Australia with Jane Hunter and her group.Thanks to Jane and Suzanne for the pleasant and productive