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Aalto doctoral thesis awards
The Schools grant Aalto University Doctoral Thesis Awards according to
the following principles:
- Each school rewards doctoral theses which are among the most meritorious top ten percent of the doctoral theses of the school.
- The awards are granted annually every calendar year.
- The awards granted are 3000 euro each.
- The core criteria for the awards are academic quality, impact and originality.
- The recipients of the awards are selected among the doctoral students / graduated doctors whose doctoral thesis has been approved within the previous calendar year of the award in question.
- Award decisions take into account the statements given by the preliminary examiners and opponents.
- The decisions are made by the Dean of the School on the proposal of the School's Doctoral programme committee.
- Joint Aalto University Certificate of Honour is given to the recipients of the awards.
- The Schools present the awards in a ceremonial event.
The scheme of Aalto University Thesis Awards and the related rewarding criteria are valid from 1st January 2022 to 31st December 2025 and concern the recognition of the doctoral theses approved during the years 2021–2024. During the period the scheme is evaluated and revised for continuation if it is deemed appropriate.
The aim is to encourage doctoral students to good performance and to reward the doctoral students at different Aalto University Schools according to uniform principles. In addition to these awards, the Schools may also
reward their doctoral students otherwise in accordance with the School's objectives and strategy.
Past recipients of the thesis awards
Thesis Awards 2023
(for doctoral theses published in 2022)
School of Arts, Design and Architecture
DA Hella Hernberg: Architects as ‘Mediators’: Socio-political roles in mediating the ‘temporary use’ of vacant spaces, Thesis at aaltodoc.aalto.fi
DA Ilan Manouach: Estranging Comics – Towards a novel comics praxeology, Thesis at aaltodoc.aalto.fi
School of Business
Doctoral thesis awards at the School of Business will be awarded in the autumn 2023.
School of Chemical Engineering
D.Sc. (Tech.) Janne Naapuri: Biocatalytic and chemoenzymatic synthesis of O-heterocycles from allenols, Thesis at aaltodoc.aalto.fi
D.Sc. (Tech.) Katariina Solin: Nanocellulose Interactions with Protein and Water in Advanced Sensing Systems, Thesis at aaltodoc.aalto.fi
D.Sc. (Tech.) Anna Vanderbruggen:
Lithium-ion batteries recycling with froth flotation – A study on characterization and liberation strategies, Thesis at aaltodoc.aalto.fi
School of Electrical Engineering
D.Sc. (Tech) Juha Heinonen: High-sensitivity photodiodes using black silicon and induced junction, Thesis at aaltodoc.aalto.fi
D.Sc. (Tech) Jens Lundell: Towards Robust 6-DoF Multi-Finger Grasping in Clutter with Explicit Scene Understanding, Thesis at aaltodoc.aalto.fi
D.Sc. (Tech) Grigorii Ptitcyn: On Electromagnetics of Time-Modulated Structures, Thesis at aaltodoc.aalto.fi
D.Sc. (Tech) Elias Raninen: Contributions to the Theory and Estimation of High-dimensional Covariance Matrices, Thesis at aaltodoc.aalto.fi
School of Engineering
D.Sc. (Tech) Matias Heino: Susceptibility of global crop production to climate variability and change, Thesis at aaltodoc.aalto.fi
D.Sc. (Tech) Kaisa Jaalama: 3D geovisualizations in human-centered quality assessments of urban and green spaces — from point clouds to nonabsolute spaces, Thesis at aaltodoc.aalto.fi
D.Sc. (Tech) Antti Surma-aho: The role of empathy in design practice - Theoretical development and empirical exploration of an integrated model, Thesis at aaltodoc.aalto.fi
D.Sc. (Tech) Xiaolei Yuan: Optimization of row-and-rack level airflow management in data centers, Thesis at aaltodoc.aalto.fi
School of Science
Bayan Karimi, Department of Applied Physics
- Circuit Quantum Thermodynamics - from photonic heat transport to ultra-sensitive nanocalorimetry
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Jukka Pekola
Antonis Matakos, Department of Computer Science
- Social Media for Social Good: Models and Algorithms
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Aristides Gionis
Topi Paananen, Department of Computer Science
- Computational methods for Bayesian model assessment
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Aki Vehtari
Joosef Valli, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management
- Cognition, Complexity, and the Financial Crisis - The Federal Open Market Committee's Search for a Monetary Policy Strategy
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Henri Schildt
Julian Weigt, Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis
- Endpoint regularity of maximal functions in higher dimensions
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Juha Kinnunen
Hanna Halme, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering
- Methods for brain–computer interfaces utilizing MEG and motor imagery
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Lauri Parkkonen
School of Arts, Design and Architecture
D.Sc. (Arch) Ashish Mohite: Speed-Based Additive Manufacturing Technique: Discovery and Exploration of Design Potential of Speed of Deposition in Additive Manufacturing (link to Aaltodoc)
DA Henrika Ylirisku: Reorienting Environmental Art Education (link to Aaltodoc)
School of Business
School of Chemical Engineering
D.Sc. Moheb Abdelaziz: Nanocomposite with Polarizonic Reflective Coloration: from Fabrication to Function
D.Sc. Pelin Altinkaya: Leaching and Recovery of Gold from Low Grade Raw Materials in Cyanide-free Media
D.Sc. Imtisal-e-Noor: Waste Heat Driven Membrane Distillation for Industrial Wastewater Treatment
D.Sc. Tao Zou: Lignin Nanoparticles: Understanding of Their Properties and Modifications for Versatile Applications
School of Electrical Engineering
D.Sc. (Tech.) Tuomas Haapala: Microwatt integrated radio transceiver circuits
for aggressively duty-cycled wireless networks
D.Sc. (Tech.) Robin Rajamäki: Sparse sensor arrays for active sensing – Array
configurations and signal processing
D.Sc. (Tech.) Sabin Karki: Beam-switching antennas for millimeter-wave
communications
D.Sc. (Tech.) Mahafugur Rahman: Weak-Grid Tolerant Control Methods for
Voltage-Source Converters
School of Engineering
D.Sc. (Tech.) Lei Du: Maritime Traffic Risk Analysis in the Northern Baltic Sea
from AIS Data
D.Sc. (Tech.) Jarkko Laine: Ductile iron modelling and optimisation for
mechanically and thermally loaded components
D.Sc. (Tech.) Pekka Koivisto: New Aerodynamic Aspects of Aircraft De/Anti-
icing fluids
D.Sc. (Tech.) Bruno Reinaldo Concalves: A nonlinear modelling approach for
corrugated sandwich beams
School of Science
Valentina Candiani, Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis
- Computational Approaches in Electrical Impedance Tomography with Applications to Head Imaging
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Nuutti Hyvönen
Antti Moilanen, Department of Applied Physics
- Bose-Einstein Condensation in Plasmonic Lattices
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Päivi Törmä
Robert van der Have, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management
- Seeking Speed: Managing the Search for Knowledge to Innovate Faster
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Markku Maula
Vikas Verma, Department of Computer Science
- Algorithms for Data-Efficient Training of Deep Neural Networks
- Supervising professor Juho Kannala, thesis advisors Yoshua Bengio, Mila - Quebec AI Institute, Tapani Raiko and Juha Karhunen
Ivan Zubarev, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering
- Developing Machine-learning Methods for the Analysis of Electromagnetic Brain Activity
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Lauri Parkkonen
School of Arts, Design and Architecture
DA David Muñoz Alcantara: Aesthetic Praxis In Translation - Introduction and Translation of Alberto Híjar Serrano's: Aesthetic Praxis. The Aesthetic Dimension of Liberation (link to Aaltodoc)
School of Science
Jori Bomanson, Department of Computer Science
- Normalization and Rewriting for Answer Set Programming and Optimization
- Supervising professor Ilkka Niemelä, thesis advisors Martin Gebser, University of Klagenfurt and Tomi Janhunen, Tampere University
Zeerim Cheung, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management
- Analytically Structured History Approach Using a Relational Database - Essays on the Historical Embeddedness of Strategy Formulation
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Robin Gustafsson
Mohamed Taoufiq Damir, Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis
- Well-Rounded Lattices and Applications to Physical Layer Security
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Camilla Hollanti
Lauri Himanen, Department of Applied Physics
- Materials Informatics - Augmenting Materials Research with Data-driven Design and Machine Learning
- Supervising professor Patrick Rinke, thesis advisor Adam Foster
Matti Karppa, Department of Computer Science
- On Bilinear Techniques for Similarity Search and Boolean Matrix Multiplication
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Petteri Kaski
Markus Kettunen, Department of Computer Science
- Gradient-Domain Methods for Realistic Image Synthesis
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Jaakko Lehtinen
Antti Mäkinen, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering
- Applications of magnetic-field modeling for hybrid MEG and MRI
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Risto Ilmoniemi
Aaro Väkeväinen, Department of Applied Physics
- Lasing and Bose-Einstein condensation in plasmonic lattices at weak and strong coupling regimes
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Päivi Törmä
School of Arts, Design and Architecture
DA Khalil Klouche: Explorable Information Spaces. Designing Entity Affordances for Fluid Information Exploration (link to Aaltodoc)
DA Taneli Luotoniemi: Hyperspatial Interlace. Grasping Four-dimensional Geometry Through Crafted Models (link to Aaltodoc)
School of Science
Alex Karrila, Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis
- Conformally invariant scaling limits of random curves and correlations
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Kalle Kytölä
Jere Mäkinen, Department of Applied Physics
- Dynamics and vortex structures in topological superfluid ³He at ultra-low temperatures and under confinement
- Supervising professor Pertti Hakonen, thesis advisor Vladimir Eltsov
Tuomas Ollikainen, Department of Applied Physics
- Creation and dynamics of topological structures in Bose–Einstein condensates
- Supervising professor Mikko Möttönen, thesis advisor David S. Hall, Amherst College, USA
Teemu Kämäräinen, Department of Computer Science
- Understanding and Optimizing Delay-Sensitive Interactive Mobile Application Systems
- Supervising professor Antti Ylä-Jääski, thesis advisor Matti Siekkinen
Juho Piironen, Department of Computer Science
- Bayesian Predictive Inference and Feature Selection for High-Dimensional Data
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Aki Vehtari
Mikael Öhman, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management
- Design science in operations management: extracting knowledge from maturing designs
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Jan Holmström
School of Arts, Design and Architecture
DA Sanna Marttila: Infrastructuring for Cultural Commons (link to Aaltodoc)
School of Science
Abdulmelik Mohammed, Department of Computer Science
- Algorithmic Design of Biomolecular Nanostructures
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Pekka Orponen
Anna Cichonska, Department of Computer Science
- Machine Learning for Systems Pharmacology
- Supervising professor Juho Rousu and thesis advisors Tero Aittokallio, FIMM (Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland) and University of Turku, and Matti Pirinen, FIMM (Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland)
Polina Rozenshtein, Department of Computer Science
- Methods for analyzing temporal networks
- Supervising professor Aristides Gionis and thesis advisor Nikolaj Tatti, F-Secure
Siavash Khajavi, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management
- Improving Additive Manufacturing Enabled Operations – A Forward Looking Empirical Study
- Supervising professor Jan Holmström and thesis advisor Jouni Partanen
Juulia Suvilehto, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering
- Maintaining social bonds via touching: A cross-cultural study
- Supervising professor Mikko Sams and thesis advisor Lauri Nummenmaa, University of Turku
Alex Westström, Department of Applied Physics
- Majorana and Weyl Modes in Designer Materials
- Supervising professor Christian Flindt and thesis advisor Teemu Ojanen, Tampere University
Tuomas Vanhala, Department of Applied Physics
- Dynamical mean-field theory studies of superfluidity and topological phases in lattice models
- Supervising professor Päivi Törmä and thesis advisor Ari Harju, Varian medical systems
Sampo Hämäläinen, Department of Applied Physics
- Spin-wave excitations in multiferroic heterostructures and CoFeB/YIG bilayers
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Sebastiaan van Dijken
Tom Gustafsson, Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis
- Finite Element Methods for Contact Problems
- Supervising professor Rolf Stenberg and thesis advisor Juha Videman, University of Lisbon
School of Arts, Design and Architecture
DA Claudia Garduño García: Freedom as Design (link to Aaltodoc)
DA Lena Séraphin: Don Quijote -komplexet och laborationer i fiktionalitet (link to Aaltodoc)
D.Sc. (Arch) Tuija Lind: Rauniot – arvoja ja tekoja. Rauniorestaurointi ja arkeologisten alueiden suunnittelu (link to Aaltodoc)
School of Science
Lari Koponen, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering
- Implementing advanced transcranial magnetic stimulation technology
- Supervising professor Risto Ilmoniemi and thesis advisors Risto Ilmoniemi, Jaakko Nieminen and Matti Stenroos
Orestis Kostakis, Department of Computer Science
- Advances in Analysing Temporal Data
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Aristides Gionis
Ville Liljeström, Department of Applied Physics
- Electrostatic Self-Assembly - From Proteins, Viruses, and Nanoparticles to Functional Materials
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Mauri Kostiainen
Yu Liu, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management
- Antecedents and Outcomes of Partnering Abroad with Local Firms: Evidence from Cross-border Venture Capital
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Markku Maula
Ilya Nikolaevskiy, Department of Computer Science
- Scalability and Resiliency of Static Routing
- Supervising professor Antti Ylä-Jääski and thesis advisor Andrei Gurtov, Linköping University
Natalie Segercrantz, Department of Applied Physics
- Optoelectronic properties of III-V compounds and alloys
- Supervising professor Filip Tuomisto and thesis advisor Jonatan Slotte
Konstantin Tiurev, Department of Applied Physics
- Quantum Knots and Monopoles
- Supervising professor Päivi Törmä and thesis advisor Mikko Möttönen
Emanuele Ventura, Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis
- Geometry of Real Tensors and Phylogenetics
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Alexander Engström
School of Science
2017
Miika Aittala, Department of Computer Science
- Computational Methods for Capture and Reproduction of Photorealistic Surface Appearance
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Jaakko Lehtinen
Enrico Glerean, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering
- Dynamic similarity of brain activity in humans: from single areas to functional networks
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Mikko Sams
Jonne Koski, Department of Applied Physics
- Heat transport, fluctuations, and Maxwell's demon in electronic nanocircuits
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Jukka Pekola
2016
Emmi Ruokokoski, Department of Applied Physics
- Magnetic-Monopole Analogues and Topological Textures in Dilute Bose–Einstein Condensates
- Supervising professor Risto Nieminen, thesis advisor Mikko Möttönen
Jaakko Luttinen, Department of Computer Science
- Bayesian Latent Gaussian Spatio-Temporal Models
- Supervising professor Juha Karhunen, thesis advisor Alexander Ilin
Pekka Töytäri, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management
- Managing value-based exchange in industrial markets: An organizational capability perspective
- Supervising professor Risto Rajala, thesis advisors Jan Holmström ja Petri Parvinen
2015
Paula Savioja, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
- Evaluating systems usability in complex work – Development of a systemic usability concept to benefit control room design
- Supervising professor Marko Nieminen, thesis advisor Leena Norros, VTT
Atte Aalto, Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis
- Infinite dimensional systems: passivity and Kalman filter discretization
- Supervising professor Rolf Stenberg, thesis advisor Jarmo Malinen
Riku Ruotsalainen, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management
- The micro-to-macro problem: the generation of mobilizing frames through idea development conversations
- Supervising professor Matti Vartiainen, thesis advisor Henri Schildt
2014
Mari Ijäs, Department of Applied Physics
- Chemically modified and nanostructured graphene
- Supervising professor Risto Nieminen, thesis advisor Ari Harju
Olli-Pentti Saira, OVL Laboratory
- Electrostatic control of quasiparticle transport in superconducting hybrid
- Supervising professor Jukka Pekola, thesis advisor Mikko Möttönen
Jefrey Lijffijt, Department of Information and Computer Science
- Computational methods for comparison and exploration of event sequences
- Supervising professor Juho Rousu, thesis advisor Heikki Mannila
2013
Billy Bob Brumley, Department of Information and Computer Science
- Covert Timing Channels, Caching, and Cryptography
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Kaisa Nyberg
Allan Perämäki, Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis
- Numerical Solution of the Real-linear Equations of Electrical Impedance Tomography for Nonsmooth Conductivities
- Supervising professor Olavi Nevanlinna, thesis advisor Marko Huhtanen
Juha Uotila, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management
- Balancing Exploratory and Exploitative Adaptation: Organizational and Environmental Dynamics
- Supervising professor Markku Maula, thesis advisor Thomas Keil
2012
Antti Hyvärinen, Department of Information and Computer Science
- Grid based propositional satisfiability solving
- Supervising professor Ilkka Niemelä, thesis advisor Tommi Junttila
Joonas Järvinen, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management
- Dynamics of ecological interdependences between European paper & pulp and printing & publishing industries, 1950-2005
- Supervising professor and thesis advisor Juha-Antti Lamberg
Jirka Poropudas, Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis
- Bayesian networks, influence diagrams, and games in simula
- Supervising professor Raimo Hämäläinen, thesis advisor Kai Virtanen