Kaisa Nyberg, Professor of Cryptology, is retiring from the Department of Computer Science

‘I became a cryptologist at the Finnish Defence Forces where I was offered the position of researcher as a Doctor and Docent of Mathematics in 1987. I was able to do research, publish and go to conferences’, tells Nyberg.

In 1997, the professorship of cryptology was founded, and Nyberg was asked to take on the position of professor. However, Nyberg wanted to get experience from industry at Nokia.

‘In 1998, I transferred from the Defence Forces to the Nokia Research Center to study the encryption methods of mobile phones as a part of an international group of experts. As it happens, the standardised encryption solutions that were developed then are still used in billions of mobile phone devices around the world’, tells Nyberg.

‘At Nokia, together with N. Asokan, now professor of secure systems at Aalto,  we developed an up-to-date pairing method for Bluetooth devices, and standardised it with cryptologists from Microsoft', adds Nyberg.

Nyberg transferred to Aalto University in the beginning of 2005 to take up the position of Professor of Cryptology. A total of six doctors have graduated from her group, with the latest public examination having been only two weeks ago.

‘One of the highlights of my career was to start publishing in the field of cryptology. Since then, these publications have been cited hundreds of times. Another great achievement was to get my own research group to supervise and guide.  The group has gathered lots of new, good expertise during the years, and the results achieved by the group are internationally significant. Some exchange students have said that they came to Aalto University solely for cryptography’, adds Nyberg.

An Italian PhD student will be arriving in the summer for Nyberg to supervise. Nyberg will also continue participating in the JUFO panel and the Post Doc pool. Naturally, Nyberg will have more free time after retiring, so in addition to research she will have time for other interests such as taking care of her grandchildren and tending the garden at her cottage in the outer Inkoo archipelago.

Photos: Kimmo Järvinen