About

Hi! My name is Stef Smeets, and I’m from the Netherlands.

I’m a software engineer with a passion for data-driven science and scientific instrumentation. Since 2025, I’ve been working at PalmSens as a Software Engineer, contributing to the quality and accessibility of our electrochemical instruments.

I hold a BSc and MSc in Chemistry from Utrecht University and a PhD in Materials Science from ETH Zurich, where my research focused on structure analysis of polycrystalline materials using a combination of experimental techniques (X-ray diffraction, electron diffraction, NMR, and electron microscopy) and Python-based simulations.

I spent several years developing software for automated electron diffraction data collection as a postdoc at Stockholm University and TU Delft. The I developed is called Instamatic and can be used to orchestrates the interaction between the camera and the microscope to collect diffraction data from thousands of crystals automatically.

Before joining PalmSens, I worked as a senior research software engineer at the Netherlands eScience center in Amsterdam. I contributed to pioneering open source software in a variety of fields in collaboration with academic institutes around the Netherlands. Click here for a sample of the code that I worked on!

I’m a strong advocate for data-driven science and user-focused design. I have a particular interest in scientific data visualization and open-source software. My core skills include Python software development, data analysis, and best practices for robust, maintainable code. You can find my code on Github.

My favourite programming language is Python. I use Arch (btw) with the Sway window manager. I code using a custom split mechanical keyboard using a self-designed keyboard layout. My text editor of choice is Zed.

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