Newsmakers at KTH

Award for sustainable production

Xi Vincent Wang , a researcher in sustainable production systems, has received the SME 2021 Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award for his research and engagement in manufacturing industry. The award is for his exceptional contribution and performance within this research area. Wang’s research concerned connectivity in manufacturing and collaborative robots.

Mathematical observations on pendulum motion

Together with several international researchers, Håkan Hedenmalm  Professor in Mathematics, has had work on methods from the theory of modular forms, published in the prestigious scientific journal PNAS . The researchers have studied how oscillating processes, pendulum motion, are governed by hyperbolic differential equations. For example, this can concern understanding how gas behaves in a tank where you wish to measure the expansion of vibrations. The researchers have developed a method for how densely you need to measure and how often.

Thesis work within railway engineering wins prize

Mikael Glamheden, who studied electromagnetic engineering at KTH, has won the Swedtrain Prize for best degree project. The project concerns drive systems in railway vehicles and presents proposals for how train performance can be improved. Swedtrain, the sector organisation for the railway vehicle industry in Sweden, arranges the prize competition with the aim of supporting education and research activities within railway engineering at Swedish universities.

Smarter production in times of crisis

Two research projects by Magnus Wiktorsson , Professor of Production Logistics, are included in the latest Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences 100-list. This year, the theme is crisis management and Wiktorsson’s work with production logistics has solutions to enable Swedish industry to be on firmer ground in the event of external crises in the future. One project, LOVIS, is investigating how to create transparency in supply chains, which can show you where inadequacies that will affect the whole chain, lie. In the second project, C-PALS, solutions are being developed and tested for smart installation and smart production logistics. 

The list has been published this year for the third time and presents 100 research projects with the potential to create value for Swedish enterprise and society. Altogether seven of the projects  are from KTH.

Visiting professor elected to US National Academy of Sciences

Ralph Nuzzo , a visiting professor at KTH and Professor in Materials Science at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, has been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the US equivalent of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. His research has had an impact within areas such as surface chemistry, energy research, 3D manufacturing, appliances (electronic, photonic and optoelectronic) and biomaterials science and engineering.

Support for business ideas

Astrid Ahlinder , a doctoral student at KTH, and Matija Milenovic, a KTH alumnus, have both been awarded a 2021 Åforsk Scholarship. The support, worth SEK 200,000, should contribute to enabling entrepreneurs to realise their business ideas. Both Ahlinder and Milenovic have previously received support from KTH innovation in developing their respective business ideas.

Adjunct Professors receive funding

The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) has granted project funding to five adjunct professors at KTH. The quintet are Erik Fredenberg, Prismatic Sensors, Jan-Olof Selroos, SKB, Mikael Unge, NKT HV Cables, Simon Fredriksson, Pixelgen Techologies and Zhibo Pang, ABB. SFF financing is oriented to individuals within industry, the public sector and healthcare. The programme aims to increase mobility, knowledge transfer and cross fertilisation between academia and the public and private sectors.

Text: Christer Gummeson