29.03.2010

Talented international researchers interested in the FiDiPro Programme

Tekes - the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation has chosen five new international research projects for the FiDiPro - Finland Distinguished Professor Programme. These will bring top-rated researchers from China, Chile, the USA and Canada to Finnish universities.

The new FiDiPro research projects will employ three young talented researchers in Finland as FiDiPro Fellow researchers and two internationally recognised professors as FiDiPro Professors. The researchers will work at Aalto University, the Lappeenranta University of Technology, the University of Oulu and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

“The FiDiPro Fellow programme, which targets promising young researchers, has become increasingly popular. We hope that the programme will enable close, long-term cooperation between outstanding Finnish and international research groups,” says Veli-Pekka Saarnivaara, Director General of Tekes.

The research projects will focus on the development of tissue engineering, environmental measurement and monitoring systems, ubiquitous computing for cities and energy-efficient wind turbine solutions as well as the investigation of fatigue phenomena in pieces of steel, among others.

“The new FiDiPro projects support the strategic focus areas of Tekes. It is great that they also involve cooperation with the Strategic Centres for Science, Technology and Innovation,” says Mika Aalto, Technology Director.

To date, Tekes has funded 33 FiDiPro projects which will bring a total of 26 FiDiPro Professors and 7 FiDiPro Fellows to Finland. The research projects are primarily related to ICT field as well as bio- and material technology research. Some of the strategic focus areas of Tekes, such as the development of business and service competence, could offer good opportunities for international cooperation within the framework of the FiDiPro Programme in the future.

FiDiPro – the Finland Distinguished Professor Programme – is a funding programme jointly launched by the Academy of Finland and Tekes, which provides Finnish universities and research institutes with the opportunity to recruit distinguished foreign or expatriate researchers to work for a fixed term in Finland.

Further information

Senior Technology Adviser
Hanna Rantala
Tel. +358 10 60 55797
hanna.rantala(at)tekes.fi

Technology Director
Mika Aalto
Tel. +358 10 605 5886
mika.aalto(at)tekes.fi

www.fidipro.fi/en
www.tekes.fi/en

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Descriptions of the new FiDiPro projects

FiDiPro Professor Venkatachalam Chandrasekaran, Colorado State University, USA
Prof. V. Chandrasekar is a Professor at Colorado State University where he has been conducting research on remote sensing for over 28 years. He serves as the Deputy Director and director for research of the US National Science Foundation - Engineering Research Center, Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere, which is a multi-university industry and government consortium. He has received numerous awards for his pioneering contributions in the area of “Polarimetric Radar Observations of the Atmosphere”.
Research project:  Development of novel ground and space based environmental remote sensing systems and technologies
The project is focusing on development of new ground and space based environmental monitoring methods and technologies. One of the main objectives of the appointment is to establish a world-class radar technology and application group in Finland. The appointment of Prof. Chandrasekar strengthens capabilities of University of Helsinki, Finnish Meteorological Institute and Aalto University in radar technology and weather radar related applications. It will reinforce collaboration between the institutes, universities and industry, and advance international recognition of Finnish research and industry partners. The project is closely linked to energy and environment strategic centre for science, technology and innovation CLEEN Ltd's program area. Prof. V. Chandrasekar will conduct research at Finnish Meteorological Institute and University of Helsinki, Department of Physics. The project will be carried out in a close collaboration with Aalto University School of Science and Technology, Department of Radio Science and Engineering,
Contact person and host organisation: Finnish Meteorological Institute, Professor Jarkko Koskinen, Tel. +358-9-19294174, email. jarkko.koskinen@fmi.fi

FiDiPro Professor Gregorz Glinka, University of Waterloo, Canada
Project: A universal fatigue crack growth model for high strength steel
Analytical and numerical studies necessary for the determination of required data influencing the fatigue crack growth under a variety of combinations of the maximum stress intensity factor, Kmax, and the stress intensity range, DK. The two parameter crack growth model will be used for predicting the fatigue crack growth rate induced by variable amplitude cyclic loading and welding residual stresses. The intention is to account for both the effective stress intensity range and the effective maximum stress intensity factor. Such an approach will require of elasto-plastic analysis of stresses and strains near the crack tip and calculation of stress intensity factors including the effect of highly non-linear internal stresses. The development of theoretical basis and validation of the proposed methodology will be the main theme of the project.
Contact person and host organisation: Aalto University School of Science and Technology, Department of Applied Mechanics, Professor Gary Marquis, website: http://appmech.tkk.fi/en/

FiDiPro Fellow Vassilis Kostakos, University of Madeira, Portugal
Vassilis Kostakos is an Assistant Professor in the Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute at the University of Madeira, and holds an adjunct faculty appointment at Carnegie Mellon University. His Ubiquitous Computing research focuses on making interactive technology smarter, easier and safer to use, and developing novel sensing techniques for urban transport, and modelling of city-scale mobility.
Project: Urban Flows and Netwoks
The objective of this project is to utilize the data produced by Oulu's UPI (Urban Pervasive Infrastructure) and other sources for modeling and exploiting urban flows and networks. This data captures a rich subset of the everyday life and activities taking place in the City of Oulu.
As interactive communication technologies play an increasing role in our everyday lives, the infrastructure that supports these activities can be in important source of understanding the type, frequency and characteristics of citizen's activities. Crucially, a characteristic of these technologies is mobility, and increasingly mobility has become an important aspect of technology usage and user needs.  Hence, this project considers capturing and analysing various types of flows and networks of everyday life in the City of Oulu. By capturing and analysing these flows and networks, our project will develop services that better fulfill Oulu's stakeholders’.
Contact person and host organisation: University of Oulu, Media Team Oulu, Professor Timo Ojala, website: http://www.mediateam.oulu.fi/?lang=en

FiDiPro Fellow Dr. Juan Antonio Tapia-Ladino, University of Concepción, Chile   
Project: LUT GSEEE FiDiPro Fellowship in Permanent magnet machines
The goals of the project are to deepen the expertise of the Finnish industrial and academic sectors on electric drives and motors, especially permanent magnet machines and their new energy efficienct applications (especially, windmills, other distributed generation and mobile drives).  Research results provide essential knowledge for the electric industry for developing new products. Especially, the wind power is developing fast and there is a big need to improve the power density of permanent magnet generators. The most rugged solution is known as direct drive generator. As the power of the turbine increases the speed in rpm decreases and the torque of the electric machine must be extremely high. Such a demand leads to non-conventional solutions and totally new ideas are needed. The project is directly connected to the research are of CLEEN Ltd (Strategic centre for science, technology and innovation of the Finnish energy and environment cluster).
Contact person and host organisation: Lappeenranta University of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering, Professor Juha Pyrhönen.
website:  http://www.lut.fi/en/technology/lutenergy/electrical_engineering/Pages/Default.aspx

FiDiPro Fellow Prof. Xiaohong Wang, Tsinghua University, China
Project: Modern tissue engineering - cell culture studies on digitally designed and manufactured 3D scaffolds
The development of tissue engineering and organ manufacturing faces many challenges. Modern additive manufacturing (AM) enables 3-D biomimetic structures with specially designed patterns, material compositions, and mechanical properties. AM also offers unique opportunity to precisely control the construct architecture (pore size, shape, orientation, and interconnectivity). The goals of this project are to find optimal 3-D cell culture conditions for AM’d tissue scaffolds, and to prepare scaffolds which may eventually be applied in tissue failure substitution as artificial bone, cartilage or other tissues.  Multidisciplinary novel biomanufacturing research combines competences from microbiology, biochemistry, medical disciplines from eventual application areas, materials and additive manufacturing research, complex computational tasks and 3-D tissue modeling. Results benefit Finnish scientific community and medical device, mechanical engineering, SW- and biotech industries through new scientific knowledge in tissue engineering and its optimal conditions, and directly applicable knowledge for developing AM techniques, 3-D modeling of tissues and tissue substitute materials.  Close cooperation with leading Finnish institutes, and with Tsinghua University enables effective dissemination of the scientific results and offers an attractive research arena for researchers. Collaboration with other Aalto University School of Science and Technology research units provides synergies. The expertise at Department of Biomedical Engineering and Computational Science (BECS) and the The Laboratory of Polymer Technology (POTE) complement the work done at BIT Research Centre; this collaboration may lead to innovations and fast application by Finnish industry.
Contact person and host organisation:  Aalto University School of Science and Technology, BIT Research Centre, Professor Marja Toivonen, website: http://www.bit.tkk.fi/Home/Home

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