Andreas Mortensen to Aalto University Board
The Aalto University Academic Affairs Committee has appointed Professor Andreas Mortensen as a new member of the university board and PhD Susanna Pettersson for a new termas of 1 January 2020.
Andreas Mortensen is currently working as a professor at the Institute of Materials and also as Vice President of Research at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Prior to joining EPFL he has been a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research focuses on the processing, physical metallurgy and mechanical behaviour of advanced metallic materials. Professor Mortensen has strong credentials in research, and he has been rewarded for his teaching.
Mortensen is also currently the Director General of the EU FET Flagship Human Brain Project. He has been involved in various European high-level expert groups, research and scientific councils, and foundations.
Susanna Pettersson, whose term of office is ending, has served as a board member for two terms since the beginning of 2014. The Academic Affairs Committee selected Pettersson, the Director General of the Swedish National Museum, for a new term as of 1 January 2020.
Pettersson has previously acted as the Director of the Ateneum Art Museum, Director of the Finnish Institute in London, Director of the Alvar Aalto Foundation and Alvar Aalto Museum, and held various positions with the Finnish National Gallery. Pettersson is a part-time visiting professor at Reinwardt Academy in Amsterdam and an adjunct professor in museology at the University of Jyväskylä. She has extensive networks in both the Finnish and international cultural sectors. She has also been a member of several working groups with the Ministry of Education and Culture, and an expert member in several EU and international working groups.
‘I am extremely pleased to note that Aalto University is of genuine interest to top level international experts like Andreas Mortensen and Susanna Pettersson. They both have the enthusiasm and motivation to advance the university’s ambitious goals’, remarks Professor Yrjö Neuvo, Chair of the Board Nomination Committee.
Stepping down from the board is Professor Colin Whitehouse, who has been a member of the Aalto University Board since the beginning of 2013 when he was nominated to replace a resigning member of the board for a one-year term. According to the Aalto University Foundation’s Constitution, he cannot thus be reappointed for a new three-year term.
‘Colin Whitehouse has served the university with distinction to raise Aalto’s reputation as an internationally recognised university. I am grateful to him for the outstanding work he has performed and the wisdom he has shown while on the board,’ remarks Chair of the Board Mikko Kosonen.
As of 1 January 2020, the Aalto University Board will comprise Sari Baldauf, Ilkka Kivimäki, Mikko Kosonen (Chair of the Board), Karel Ch. A. M. Luyben, Liqiu Meng, Andreas Mortensen and Susanna Pettersson (Vice Chair of the Board).The term of office of the members of the board is three years.
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