Latest Wallenberg Scholars include eleven KTH researchers

Wallenberg Scholars are appointed every four years. This year's list includes eleven KTH researchers, five of whom are receiving the award for the very first time: Dejan Kostic, Tuuli Lappalainen, Joakim Lundeberg, Petter Brändén and Ilaria Testa.

As a Wallenberg Scholar, Kostic wants to create a scalable and adaptable platform for energy-efficient, domain-specialized large-scale language models like ChatGPT, so-called LLMs, to solve the problem of high costs and unsustainable energy consumption. Kostic is Chair Professor of Internet Working.

Lappalainen wants to increase our understanding of the genetic architecture that gives rise to complex genetic diseases, diseases caused by a combination of multiple gene variants and environmental influences. Lappalainen is a professor in Genomics.

Lundeberg aims to use the latest research results to develop a new way of detecting and monitoring prostate cancer. Lundeberg is a professor of Molecular Biotechnology.

Brändén wants to develop the mathematical theory of negative dependence as a Wallenberg Scholar. Negative dependence is an umbrella term for mathematical modeling of repulsive particles in statistical physics. Brändén is a professor of Discrete Mathematics.

As a Wallenberg Scholar, Testa wants to build a microscope that can reveal and film the rapid processes that take place in the molecular machinery that controls, for example, the brain's synapses. Testa is Associate Professor in Applied Physics.

Six of the Wallenberg Scholars 2024 have received the grant in previous years: Kurt Johansson, professor in Mathematics, Hans Hertz, professor in Biomedical Physics, Josefin Larsson, professor in Astro Physics, Karl Henrik Johansson, professor in Network Control Systems, Fredrik Viklund, professor in Mathematics,and Danica Kragic Jensfelt, professor in Computer Science, Robotics.

In the evaluation of applications for Wallenberg Scholars, close to 500 international expert peer reviews were gathered. Each application was reviewed by four to five international experts.

Peter Wallenberg Jr., Chair of the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, says: "Our goal is to provide outstanding researchers in Sweden with unrestricted funds where they themselves choose what to research. We hope this enables daring and groundbreaking research."

Katarina Ahlfort ( ahlfort@kth.se )
Photo: Jann Lipka