A view of 2023 and cheers for its highlights at ENG Awards Gala

Dean Kari Tammi of the School of Engineering hosted the school's annual awards event on 29 February 2024. 

With roughly 120 people in attendance at Aalto Design Factory's Stage venue at Puumiehenkuja 5, the programme followed the dean's look back at the year 2023 in terms of both statistical data and individual highlights. Tammi began his first five-year term as dean in July 2023.

The year-in-review presentation paused at moments for the school to applaud those in its community whose efforts were recognised with annual Dean's Awards or official decorations from the Finnish state. Award recipients included students, teachers, researchers and service personnel of the school.

Awards for 2023

The dean's presentation on the results of the past year included the recognition of many members of the school's community for noteworthy efforts in the spheres of research, education, impact, and service. As per custom, the dean also presented recipients of Independence Day decorations in the school with their awards.

Doctoral Dissertation Awards

In total, five recent doctoral graduates were recognised for their dissertations, published in 2023:

• Juho Uzkurt Kaljunen for the dissertation Waste nutrients harvested: Design and evaluation of nitrogen and phosphorus recovery processes utilizing membrane contactor and adsorption techniques
• Joonas Lehtovaara, for the dissertation Takt production and decentralized decision-making: improving construction production flow with novel planning & control approaches
• Zhenkun Li, for the dissertation Bridge health condition assessment using instrumented moving vehicles
• Milad Omidi, for the dissertation Material Properties of Planar Lattices
• Malith Prasanna Rupasingha Arachchige, for the dissertation Combined experimental and numerical study on ice block breakage

Publication Awards

In recognition of outstanding research articles published during 2023, the dean presented three Publication Awards to the following recipients:

• Yifu Lan, for the article Bridge frequency identification in city bus monitoring: a coherence-PPI algorithm (with Zhenkun Li, Keijo Koski, Ludovic Fülöp, Timo Tirkkonen and Weiwei Lin)
• Jussi Juola, for the article Practical recommendations and limitations for pushbroom hyperspectral imaging of tree stems (with Aarne Hovi and Miina Rautiainen)
• Maria Inês Silva, for the article Review of conventional and advanced non-destructive testing techniques for detection and characterization of small-scale defects (with Evgenii Malitckii, Telmo G. Santos and Pedro Vilaça)

Award for Achievements in Teaching

University Lecturer Tom Gustafsson from the Department of Mechanical Engineering received the 2023 Award for Achievements in Teaching in recognition of his contributions to bachelor's-level mechanics education, in particular for his student-centric approach to teaching and his work on the department's 350-student Statics course.

Active Student Awards

Twelve students of the School of Engineering were honoured with Active Students Awards. The freshman and master's captains from the three student guilds active in the school's fields of study were credited for their work helping new students integrate to the university, while three members of the guilds' boards were recognised for their participation in committee work and co-operation with the school's organs.

• Freshman captains
  • Anna Öörni and Lumikki Poutanen, Guild of Mechanical Engineers
  • Ninni Tähti and Sakari Mäntynen, Guild of Surveying Engineers 
  • Ella Koivisto and Miika Luhtamäki, Guild of Civil Engineers
• Master's captains
  • Varpu Soini, Guild of Mechanical Engineers
  • Daniel Guzman Monet, Guild of Surveying Engineers
  • Aino Juvakka, Guild of Civil Engineers
• Board members
  • Ollimatti Särkelä, Minister of Studies, Guild of Mechanical Engineers
  • Vilma Puusaari, Master of Studies, Guild of Surveying Engineers
  • Sofia Ahola, Responsible of Studies, Guild of Civil Engineers