Speakers

In­vited Speak­ers in­clude:
Ole Mouritsen

Title of the plenary talk: Gastrophysics of Food and Flavour

Affiliation:

Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Scientific interests:

Statistical mechanics and thermodynamics, computer simulation techniques, phase transitions and critical phenomena, lipid physical chemistry, biomembrane physics and chemistry, surface and interface physics, materials science, gastrophysics.

Highlights of recent work:

OG Mouritsen, K Styrbæk, “Cephalopod gastronomy - a promise for the future”, Frontiers in Communications, 3, 38, 2018.

OG Mouritsen, “Tsukemono - crunchy pickled foods from Japan: a case study of food design by gastrophysics and nature”. International Journal of Food Design, 3, 103-124, 2018.

ML Cornish, AT Critchley, OG Mouritsen, “Consumption of seaweeds and the human brain”. Journal of Applied Phycology, 29, 2377-2398, 2017.

OG Mouritsen, K Styrbæk, “Mouthfeel: How Texture Makes Taste”, Columbia University Press, New York, 2017, 356pp.

More information available here.

An­dela Saric

Title of the plenary talk: Proteins gone bad: Physics of dementia

Affiliation:

Department of Physics and Astronomy, Institute for the Physics of Living Systems, University College London, London, UK

Scientific interests:

Andela’s research focuses on understanding the pathways of functional and pathological protein assembly, and the role of lipid membranes in mediating these. Her methods of choice include coarse-grained computer simulations and statistical physics, in and out of thermodynamic equilibrium.

Highlights of recent work:

T Curk, P Wirnsberger, J Dobnikar, D Frenkel, A. Šarić, "Controlling cargo trafficking in multicomponent membranes", Nano Letters 18, 5350-5356, 2018.

A. Šarić, A. K. Buell, G. Meisl, T. C T. Michaels, C. M. Dobson, S. Linse, T. P. J., Knowles, D. Frenkel, "Physical determinants of the self-replication of protein fibrils", Nature Physics 12, 874-880, 2016.

A. Šarić, Y. C. Chebaro, T. P. J. Knowles, D. Frenkel, "Crucial role of nonspecific interactions in amyloid nucleation", PNAS 111, 17869-17874, 2014.

More information available here.

David Glowacki

Title of the plenary talk: Combining virtual reality with real-time supercomputing for Molecular Design

Affiliation:

Department of Computer Science & Centre for Computational Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK

Scientific interests:

David's diverse interests include: computational simulation of classical and quantum reaction dynamics, non-equilibrium statistical mechanics & energy transfer, formulating and solving the stochastic master equation, atmospheric & environmental chemistry, high performance computing & new interfaces for molecular dynamics, and scientific imagination and artistic representation.

Highlights of recent work:

M O'Connor, H Deeks, E Dawn, O Metatla, A Roudaut, M Sutton, LMM Thomas, BR Glowacki, R Sage, P Tew, M Wonnacott, P Bates, A Mulholland, D Glowacki, “Sampling molecular conformations and dynamics in a multiuser virtual reality framework”, Science Advances, 4, 2018.

D Glowacki, R Rose, S Greaves, A Orr-Ewing, J Harvey, “Ultrafast energy flow in the wake of solution phase bimolecular reactions”, Nature Chemistry, 3, 850 – 855, 2011.

DR Glowacki, J Lockhart, MA Blitz, SJ Klippenstein, M Pilling, S Robertson, PW Seakins “Interception of excited vibrational quantum states by O2 in atmospheric association reactions”, Science, 337, 1066-1069, 2012.

More information available here.

 

Florencia Canelli

Title of the plenary talk: The Standard Model and beyond: physics from the LHC

Affiliation:

Department of Physics, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

Scientific interests:

Florencia's research consists of studying the structure of matter, energy, space and time at the highest energies possible to understand the fundamental nature of our universe. Her current research is the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

Highlights of recent work:

CMS experiment (publications from 2012-present)

ATLAS experiment (publications from 2008-2012)

CDF experiment (publications from 2003-present)

D0 experiment (publications from 1999-2003)

 

More information available here.

 

Jari Louhelainen

Title of the plenary talk: From Electrostatics to Nanostrings: Physical Sciences in Forensic Crime Scenes and Laboratories

Title of the Studia Generalia talkKaiken takana on DNA: sukujuuret, Viiltäjä-Jack, Bodom-järven murhat ja tapaus Aarnio

Affiliation:

Faculty of Science, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK

Scientific interests:

Jari's work is divided to two main lines: forensic and medical research. He focuses on next generation sequencing, Sanger DNA sequencing (genomic and mitochondrial DNA), gene expression profiling (qPCR and microarray technology), custom SNP/mutation assays using novel approaches, site-directed mutagenesis, microsatellite profiling (mainly human and animals but also plants), scientific and forensic photography (Deep UV, IR, photomicrography, microscopy), and novel fingerprinting methods.

Highlights of recent work:

Author of Jack the Ripper (In Finnish: Viiltäjä-Jack) (Gummerus, 2015)

TS Jeong, JD Bartlett, CH Joo, J Louhelainen, GL Close, JP Morton, B Drust, “Acute simulated soccer-specific training increases PGC-1α mRNA expression in human skeletal muscle”, Journal of Sports Sciences, 33, 1493-1503, 2015.

JD Bartlett, J Louhelainen, Z Iqbal, AJ Cochran, MJ Gibala, W Gregson, GL Close, B Drust, JP Morton, “Reduced carbohydrate availability enhances exercise-induced p53 signaling in human skeletal muscle: implications for mitochondrial biogenesis” Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol, 304,R450-R458, 2013.

More information available here.

Peter Main

Title of the plenary talk: Removing Gender Barriers in Physics

Affiliation:

Department of Physics, King's College London, London, UK

Scientific interests:

Peter Main is Professor of Physics and Head of the Department of Physics in the Faculty of Natural & Mathematical Sciences in King’s College London where he chairs the Faculty Equality and Diversity Committee. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics.

He obtained his first degree from the University of Birmingham and his PhD from the University of Manchester. After a post-doc at Manchester and a NATO Fellowship at the Technical University of Helsinki in Finland, he joined the University of Nottingham as a Lecturer in Physics. He became Reader, Professor and then Head of School. His research concerned the ultra-low temperature properties of quantum fluids and the quantum transport properties of metallic and semiconducting nanostructures. In 2002, he joined the Institute of Physics  as Director, Education and Science, with policy responsibility for: science; research; education in schools and universities; and diversity issues. He joined King’s College in 2015.

Highlights of recent work:

With colleagues at the Institute of Physics, co-inventor of Project Juno, which aims to improve gender balance in university physics departments.

Leader of a group producing several reports on the participation of girls in physics in the UK:  

1) "It's different for girls",

2) "Closing Doors: Exploring gender and subject choice in schools"

3) "Opening Doors: A guide to good practice in countering gender stereotyping in schools

More information available here.

Christopher Johnson

Title of the plenary talk: Tracing the Role of Water in Atmospheric Particle Formation

Affiliation:

Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, USA

Scientific interests:

Johnson lab uses and develops techniques with broad applicability, which allows them to investigate problems across a wide range of chemical disciplines. Of particular interest currently are: atmospheric aerosol nucleation, cluster catalysis, electronic structure and energy transfer in nanoparticles, solvent effects in optical spectra, observable manifestations of complex intermolecular interactions, and Instrumentation and experiment development.

Highlights of recent work:

Y Yang, SE Waller, JJ Kreinbihl, CJ Johnson, "Direct Link between Structure and Hydration in Ammonium and Aminium Bisulfate Clusters Implicated in Atmospheric New Particle Formation", J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 9, 5647-5652, 2018.

SM Craig, CJ Johnson, DS Ranasinghe, A Perera, RJ Bartlett, MR Berman, MA Johnson, "Vibrational Characterization of Radical Ion Adducts between Imidazole and CO2", J. Phys. Chem. A, 122, 3805-3810, 2018.

SE Waller, Y Yang, E Castracane, EE Racow, JJ Kreinbihl, KA Nickson, CJ Johnson, "The Interplay between Hydrogen Bonding and Coulombic Forces in Determining the Structure of Sulfuric Acid-Amine Clusters", J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 9, 1216-1222, 2018.

More information available here.

Jaan Praks

Title of the plenary talk:  New space boom - challenges and opportunities for science and business

Affiliation:

Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, Aalto University, Finland

Tartu Observatory, Tartu University, Estonia

Finnish Centre of Excellence in Research of Sustainable Space

Scientific interests:

Space technology, space missions, CubeSat platforms, systems engineering, Earth Observation, microwave remote sensing, Synthetic Aperture Radar, remote sensing of boreal environment

Highlights of recent work:

Authors: Praks, Jaan; Niemelä, Petri; Näsilä, Antti; Leppinen, Hannu; Kestilä, Antti; Tikka, Tuomas; Riwanto, Bagus; Jovanovic, Nemanja; Vainio, Rami; Janhunen, Pekka, Title: Nanosatellite Based Spectral Imager Earth Observation Mission Results, Publication: 2018 2nd URSI Atlantic RadioScience Meeting (AT-RASC), Details: 1-jan 2018, IEEE

Authors: Jiggens, Piers; Clavie, C; Evans, H; O'Brien, TP; Witasse, O; Mishev, AL; Nieminen, P; Daly, E; Kalegaev, V; Vlasova, N; Title: In‐Situ Data and Effect Correlation During September 2017 Solar Particle Event Publication: Space Weather Details: 2018

Authors: Leppinen, Hannu; Niemelä, Petri; Silva, Nuno; Sanmark, Henry; Forstén, Henrik; Yanes, Adrian; Modrzewski, Rafal; Kestilä, Antti; Praks, Jaan; Title: Developing a linux-based nanosatellite on-board computer: flight results from the aalto-1 mission Publication: IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine Details: vol. 34, n. 1, 14-Apr, 2019, IEEE 

Authors: Tomppo, Erkki; Antropov, Oleg; Praks, Jaan; Title: Boreal Forest Snow Damage Mapping Using Multi-Temporal Sentinel-1 Data Publication: Remote Sensing Details: vol. 11,n. 4, p. 384, 2019,  Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute

Peter Liljeroth

Title of the plenary talk: Artificial Designer Materials

Affiliation:

Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland

Scientific interests:

Peter's group focuses on probing the atomic scale structure and electronic properties of molecules and nanostructures using low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). They have a particular interest in fabricating and characterizing atomically well-defined nanostructures to study physical phenomena at the nanoscale.

Highlights of recent work:

S Kezilebieke, M Dvorak, T Ojanen, P Liljeroth, “Coupled Yu-Shiba-Rusinov States in Molecular Dimers on NbSe2”, NANO Letters, 18, 2311-2315, 2018.

A Kumar, K Banerjee, AS Foster, P Liljeroth, “Two-Dimensional Band Structure in Honeycomb Metal-Organic Frameworks”, NANO Letters, 18, 5596-5602, 2018.

R Drost, T Ojanen, A Harju, P Liljeroth, “Topological states in engineered atomic lattices”, Nature Physics, 13, 668-671, 2017.

More information available here.

Esa Räsänen

Title of the plenary talk: The Physics of Heartbeats & Drumbeats: Fractals Behind Health & Groove

Affiliation:

Laboratory of Physics, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland

Scientific interests:

Esa's group works on various research problems in computational physics. Their main focus is on quantum phenomena in atoms, molecules, solids, and two-dimensional nanostructures. Recently, they have also extended their reseach to multidisciplinary topics in the science of complex systems, for example, time-series abalysis of physiological signals and rhythmic patterns in music.

Highlights of recent work:

I Potapov, J Latukka, J Kim, PJJ Luukko, K Aalto-Setälä, E Räsänen, “Information transfer in QT-RR dynamics: Application to QT-correction”, Scientific Reports, 8, 14992, 2018.

E Räsänen, O Pulkkinen, T Virtanen, M Zollner, H Hennig, “Fluctuations of Hi-Hat Timing and Dynamics in a Virtuoso Drum Track of a Popular Music Recording”, PloS One, 10, e0127902, 2015.

S Paavilainen, M Ropo, J Nieminen, J Akola, E Räsänen, “Coexisting Honeycomb and Kagome Characteristics in the Electronic Band Structure of Molecular Graphene”, NANO Letters, 16, 3519-3529, 2016.

More information available here.

Elina Hiltunen

Title of the PechaKucha talk: Role of Science in the Society in the Future

Affiliation:

What’s Next Consulting Oy, Helsinki, Finland

Scientific interests:

Futurist Elina Hiltunen is a Doctor of Science (Economics) at Aalto University, School of Business, faculty of Organizations and Leadership. Topic of her PhD. thesis was “Weak signals in Organizational Futures Learning”. She has also graduated from Helsinki University of Technology, 1996, and is a M.Sc in chemical engineering (major subject: polymer science, technical chemistry, environmental protection and IDBM). Hiltunen currently runs her own consultancy What’s Next Consulting Oy that is focused on future proof strategy consulting and weak signal hunting. She is also an active key note speaker, educator, columnist, and a writer. She is also a founder of Tiedettä Tytöille program.

Highlights of recent work:

Author of Technolife 2035,  a book about future of technology  (co written with Kari Hiltunen) that was published in English in 2015.

Founder of Tiedettä tytöille (Science for Girls).

Author of Foresight and Innovation: How are companies coping with Future. In Finnish: Mathaopas tulevaisuuteen (2012).

More information available here.

Janne Ignatius

Title of the PechaKucha talk: The Future Is About Scientific Computing and Data

Affiliation:

CSC - IT Center for Science Ltd., Espoo, Finland

Scientific interests:

Theoretical physicist, who changed his field around the year 2000 and started to work on challenging topics in scientific computing at CSC - IT Center for Science Ltd. Currently he is working as the program director (CSC) and also in several positions of trust, e.g., as Vice-Chair in PRACE Council.

Highlights of recent work:

J Ignatius, DJ Schwartz, "QCD phase transition in the inhomogeneous universe", Physical Review Letters, 86, 2216, 2001.

J Ignatius, P Ahonen,  J Fagerholm, "Supercomputing for the science", CSC Report on Computational Science in Finland 2006-2007, eds. A. Sillanpää et al., 2007.

J Ignatius, K Kajantie, H Kurki-Suonio, M Laine, "Growth of bubbles in cosmological phase transitions", Physical Review D, 49, 3854, 1994.

More information available here.

Patrick Rinke

Title of the PechaKucha talk: AI Physicists: What Are They Like?

Affiliation:

Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland

Scientific interests:

Patrick's group is developing advanced quantum mechanical methods and combining them with artificial intelligence (AI) research and data science. Recent highlights include the development of the Bayesian Optimization for Structure Search (BOSS) method and the AI-spectroscopist. They apply their cross-disciplinary approaches to solve pertinent problems in material science, surface science, physics, chemistry and the nano sciences.

Highlights of recent work:

L Himanen, P Rinke, AS Foster, “Materials structure genealogy and high-throughput topological classification of surfaces and 2D materials”, npj Computational Materials, 4, 52, 2018.

J Li, M Bouchard, P Reiss, D Aldakov, S Pouget, R Demadrille, C Aumaitre, B Frick, D Djurado, M Rossi, P Rinke, ”Activation Energy of Organic Cation Rotation in CH3NH3PbI3 and CD3NH3PbI3: Quasi-Elastic Neutron Scattering Measurements and First-Principles Analysis Including Nuclear Quantum Effects”, J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 9, 3969-3977, 2018.

O T Hofmann, P Rinke, "Band bending engineering at organic/inorganic interfaces using organic self-assembled monolayers", Adv. Elec. Mat. 3, 1600373, 2017.

More information available here.

Filip Tuomisto

Title of the PechaKucha talk: Materials for energy: can we do better?

Affiliation:

Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University 

Scientific interests:

Filip's scientific research work focuses on the fundamental connection between macroscopic properties and atomic-level structure of materials The  group is is one of the world’s leading teams in developing the methodology, instrumentation, applications and theory of positron annihilation spectroscopy of semiconductor materials and devices.

Highlights of recent work:

F. Tuomisto, V. Prozheeva, I. Makkonen, T. H. Myers, M. Bockowski, H. Teisseyre. Amphoteric Be in GaN: Experimental evidence for switching between substitutional and interstitial lattice sites. Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 196404 (2017). 

F. Tuomisto, I. Makkonen. Defect identification in semiconductors with positron annihilation: Experiment and theory. Rev. Mod. Phys. 85, 1583 (2013). 

F. Tuomisto, V. Ranki, K. Saarinen, D. C. Look. Evidence of the Zn vacancy acting as the dominant acceptor in n-type ZnO. Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 205502 (2003). 

More information available here.

Kimmo Tuominen

Title of the PechaKucha talk: Visions of Higher Education

Affiliation:

Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

Scientific interests:

His main area of research is theoretical particle physics with focus on weak interactions and quantum field theory. The motivation and aim of the research carried out in Kimmo's group is to understand the origin of luminous and dark mass. They study elementary particle phenomenology, in particular the Higgs physics, the possible particle nature of dark matter and the generation of matter-antimatter-asymmetry during the phase transitions in the early universe. 

Highlights of recent work:

V Leino, K Rummukainen, K Tuominen, “Slope of the beta function at the fixed point of SU(2) gauge theory with six or eight flavors”, Physical Review D, 98, 054503, 2018.

H Gertov, S Gregersen, F Sannino, K Tuominen, “High energy fate of the minimal Goldstone Higgs boson”, Physical Review D, 98, 035013, 2018.

V Leino, K Rummukainen, J Suorsa, K Tuominen, S Tahtinen, “Infrared fixed point of SU(2) gauge theory with six flavors”, Physical Review D, 97, 114501, 2018.

More information available here.

Katri Saarikivi

Title of the Pecha Kucha talk: Emotions, empathy and the future of humanness 

Affiliation:

Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

Scientific interests:

Katri Saarikivi is a cognitive neuroscientist leading the HUMEX Project at the Cognitive Brain Research Unit of the Faculty of Medicine at University of Helsinki. The project examines neural mechanisms involved in empathy and fruitful interaction, and in particular how these mechanisms could be better harnessed in online communication. The research is driven by the questions of what would the best complementarity of artificial and human intelligence, how computers could better understand human emotions, and how people could best interact via computers.

Highlights of recent work:

"Aivot työssä" (Brains at work), written together with Minna Huotilainen (Otava 2018).

V. Putkinen, K. Saarikivi, "Neural correlates of enhanced executive functions: Is less more?", Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1423, 117-125, 2018.

V. Wikström, K. Saarikivi, T. Makkonen, "Demo: Exploring universal expression of emotion with vibrotactile patterns composed using dynamic features",  Seventh International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction Workshops and Demos (ACIIW), San Antonio, TX, USA, 2017.