News

ELEC Award Ceremony and Christmas Lunch 2024 awarded for the most exceptional achievements

Published: 18.12.2024

On Tuesday, December 17, the School of Electrical Engineering gathered to celebrate the most significant teaching, research and impact achievements of the year 2024. Read more about the awards and achievements

A group of people stand inside a lecture hall, holding certificates and bouquets of flowers, with chairs in the foreground. — In the picture (from left to right) are Vice Deans Vesa Välimäki and Anouar Bleachen, Dean Jussi Ryynänen and the School of Electrical Engineering personnel awarded at the event. Photo: Aalto University / Meeri Saltevo

Dean Jussi Ryynänen started the ELEC Award and Christmas Lunch event by thanking everyone for the past year. This year, Celebrating Excellence and the Teaching Award ceremony were combined for the first time with the School of Electrical Engineering's traditional Christmas lunch. 22 personnel members of the School of Electrical Engineering were awarded at the ceremony.

The award ceremony was crowned with a keynote speech by Joni Tammi, Director of Metsähovi Radio Observatory. Joni Tammi presented the 50-year history of the radio observatory and the development of radio astronomical research. The speech was given as part of the 50th anniversary of the Metsähovi Radio Observatory. After the keynote speech, the guests moved on to enjoy the School of Electrical Engineering's traditional Christmas lunch. The Christmas lunch gathered many participants.

Teaching Awards

The 2024 teaching awards were presented to the awardees by Anouar Belachen, vice dean of teaching at the School of Electrical Engineering. The courses below were awarded at the event.

ELEC-A4920 Sähkötekniikan historia ja innovaatiot

for providing an educational and inspiring view on electrical engineering. Responsible teacher: Ari Sihvola

ELEC-C4140 Kenttäteoria

for good work and continuous improvement, achieving a successful and inspiring teaching model on challenging content Responsible teachers: Jari Holopainen, Ari Sihvola. Teaching assistants: Johannes Karhapää, Aleksi Saajakari ja Matthias Tiemann.

ELEC-C5213 Signaalien tilastollinen mallinnus

for excellent and successful development of the course Responsible teacher: Esa Ollila. Teaching assistant: Susan Eeli

ELEC-E4420 Microwave Engineering I

for a motivating structure of the course, including pre-tasks, lecture quizzes and hands-on work. Responsible teachers: Kasuyuki Haneda and Jari Holopainen. Teaching assistant: Ali Kourani

ELEC-E8425 Energy System Modelling and Optimization

for utilizing interaction and motivating students by feedbackVastuuopettajat: Mahdi Pourakbari Kasmaei. Responsible teacher: Amin Moghimy Fam

ELEC-E8729 Biomaterial Interfaces

for utilizing interaction and expecting active roles from students. Responsible teacher: Tomi Laurila.

professor Esa Kallio,

for maintaining a supportive style in advising and counselling and successfully helping students to complete their studies and graduation.

Saavutuksista palkitut Antti Oulasvirta ja Rajuni Ahmed. Kuva: Aalto-yliopisto / Meeri Saltevo

Aalto ELEC Achievements

Professor Antti Oulasvirta was congratulated for the European Research Council Advanced funding and PhD student Rajuni Ahmed for the 2023 IEEE Finland SP/CAS dissertation award.

Aalto ELEC Awards

ELEC Awards winners have been chosen by the vice deans Anouar Belahcen, Petri Mähönen, Vesa Välimäki and Dean Jussi Ryynänen. The winners are based on nominations submitted by staff. Get to know the award criteria by the list below.

The Impact Award is given to Senior Legal Counsel Susanna Otsola for her dedication and professionalism in handling the various project contracts of the school, thereby together with researchers creating a direct impact on society.

Planner Jenni Tulensalo was awarded the Enable Award for exemplary leadership, excellent communication between our school's different services and active cooperation between the schools of Aalto University, enabling new kinds of learning opportunities between units and schools.

The Entrepreneurial Mindset Award is given to Professor Zhipei Sun in recognition of his entrepreneurial attitude, which is successfully transforming cutting-edge research into an impactful deep-tech venture.

The Supervisor Award is presented to Professor Yu Xiao for her contributions to ELEC doctoral education. She has supervised or co-supervised several dissertations in both the ELEC and ARTS, thereby advancing cross-school collaboration in doctoral education. Furthermore, she has supervised numerous M.Sc. theses.

To a researcher or a research group for a research-based innovation, or to a member of the Aalto ELEC community who has in some concrete way promoted the integration of scientific knowledge into the society.

To a member of service staff of Aalto ELEC who enables our success with one´s contribution.

To a researcher, a research group or any member of Aalto ELEC community with courage and curiosity to find new ways to create value.

To an accomplished supervising professor or thesis advisor of doctoral theses. 

Dissertation Awards

The Doctoral Programme Committee awarded seven recent doctorates for particularly excellent dissertations. The awards were presented by Vice Dean Vesa Välimäki.

Adrien Corenflos: Computationally efficient statistical inference in Markovian models. (Supervised by Professor Simo Särkkä)

Ismet Gürbüz: Material characterization, modelling, and incorporation of the models in the machine simulation of large-diameter synchronous machines. (Supervised by Professor Anouar Belahcen)

Dariush Salami: Spectrum Aware Human Centric Sensing using mmWave FMCW Radars. (Supervised by Professor Stephan Sigg)

Xiaoqi Cui: Integrated Optoelectronic Devices with van der Waals Materials. (Supervised by Professor Zhipei Sun)

Nils Meyer-Kahlen: Transfer-Plausible Acoustics for Augmented Reality. (Supervised by Professor Tapio Lokki)

Joel Lamberg: Curved boundary integral method and its application to Mie theory: electromagnetic beam synthesis and scattering analysis. (Supervised by Professor Zachary Taylor)

Lauri Vähä-Savo: Towards Smart Cities: Antenna-Embedded Walls and Antenna-User Interaction Modeling for Enhanced Urban Connectivity. (Supervised by Professor Katsuyuki Haneda)

Kuvassa presidentin palkitsemat. — Decorations awarded from left to right: Tapio Lokki, Kirsti Keltikangas, Emma Holmlund and Jari-Pekka Ruonio. Photo: Aalto University / Meeri Saltevo

Decorations awarded by the President of the Republic of Finland

On Finland's Independence Day, President Alexander Stubb awarded medals to four personnel members of the School of Electrical Engineering. Dean Jussi Ryynänen congratulated all the awardees.

Professor Tapio Lokki, Knight, First Class, of the Order of the White Rose of Finland
Educational Developer Kirsti Keltikangas, Knight of the Order of the Lion of Finland
Planning Officer, Emma Holmlund, Cross of Merit, of the Order of the White Rose of Finland
Operations Engineer Jari-Pekka Ruonio, Medal, First Class, of the Order of the White Rose of Finland