Centres of Excellence
Aalto University School of Science is home to five Centres of Excellence in Research funded by the Academy of Finland. In two of them, the School cooperates with other universities.
The Centres of Excellence are in the forefront of their field in international terms. Besides top quality and internationality, the research groups ensure that research is ethical, unconstrained and innovative.
Centres of Excellence
- Centre of Excellence in Computational Inference (COIN)
- Centre of Excellence in Computational Nanoscience (COMP)
- Centre of Excellence in Low Temperature Quantum Phenomena and Devices
Centre of Excellence in Computational Inference (COIN) (2012-2017)
Professor Erkki Oja directs the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Computational Inference for a third term. The predecessor of the unit was first selected as a Centre of Excellence in 1995 when it was directed by Professor Teuvo Kohonen. Erkki Oja has directed the Centre of Excellence since 2000; the names and research fields of the unit have varied over the years.
In the starting term, the unit will focus on statistical inference and efficient computational methods. Its new partner is the mathematics research group of the University of Helsinki. In all, the unit consists of seven research groups which annually employ altogether around 70 people. Each group has 5–10 researchers and doctoral students. There are also foreign sub-projects involved. The research group is well-known internationally among the researchers of the field.
The unit works in close cooperation with, for instance, climate research, as well as with neurosciences and in humanities, with the field of computational history. It also cooperates actively with industry. The flagship projects of the unit are intelligent information search or how people seek information using the electronic media, and computational biology or how genes affect people’s health, for instance, in the treatment of cancer.
The unit studies complex systems in the physical, biological and social worlds. A complex system is an overall entity in which the functioning of the whole cannot be understood by studying the function of the parts. The research carried out by the Centre of Excellence is divided into four areas which develop both theoretical models and methods of studying complex systems, and applications in various fields such as systems biology and cognitive studies.
Centre of Excellence in Computational Nanoscience (COMP) (2012-2017)
The research unit of Professor Risto Nieminen was now granted a third term as a Centre of Excellence. The Centre of Excellence for Nanoscience has about 70 employees consisting of 30 doctoral students, 10 Aalto University professors and senior researchers and more than 20 young international postdoc researchers and visitors. The unit has international researchers from for instance USA, Australia, Korea, China; Europe is represented by researchers from e.g. Italy, France Sweden and Germany.
The work of the unit focuses on theoretical and computational research in the structures and components of nanomaterials. Research areas include electronic properties of materials and nanostructures, the quantum physics of multi-particulate phenomena and the nanostructures of surfaces and interfaces. The research is multidisciplinary, and research topics vary from phenomena at the atomic level to the macro-world. In addition to research, the unit also produces various applications.
The Centre of Excellence has also functioned as an important graduate school and mentoring place, educating several professors for both Finnish and foreign universities during the previous Centre of Excellence terms.
Centre of Excellence in Low Temperature Quantum Phenomena and Devices (2012-2017)
The Centre of Excellence directed by Jukka Pekola for low temperature quantum phenomena and devices has had predecessors in the O.V. Lounasmaa Laboratory (fomer Low Temperature Laboratory) ever since 1994, when it was directed by Academician Olli V. Lounasmaa and later by Professor Mikko Paalanen. The Centre of Excellence starting in 2012 will involve researchers not only from the research groups of the O.V. Lounasmaa Laboratory but also from the Aalto University Department of Applied Physics and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
The Centre of Excellence on Low Temperature Quantum Phenomena and Devices investigates quantum phenomena, both in extremely ideal continuous media, such as helium liquids and crystals, and in metallic nanostructures. The goal is to produce quantum electronic components with sensors based on superconducting structures as the important circuit elements. A successful example is the superconducting sensors used to measure brain activity.
Working in the research unit gives its researchers good opportunities to find employment in the R&D activity in industry as well as to find successful academic careers in an international environment. The unit produces young physicists with a versatile doctoral training needed for international careers.
Centre of Excellence in Algoritmic Data Analysis Research (2008–2013)
University of Helsinki, Aalto University
The unit develops innovative concepts, principles and algorithms for computational data analysis and applies them in practice. The importance of data analysis is continuously growing in science and industry: methods of measurement improve, measuring becomes cheaper, and the data collected can be stored. The greatest challenge of data analysis is to develop new methods of data processing so that we can make the most out of scientific and industrial data. The unit combines basic research in data processing with large-scale cooperation in its application in a way that is globally unique. The unit’s research results have promoted process development and led to new applications all round the world.
Molecular Systems Immunology and Physiology Research Group (2012-2014)
The overall objective of the CoE is to understand the molecular mechanisms that control the immune system as well as the interactions between the immune system and other physiological systems in health and disease. This information may help in prevention and treatment of inflammatory and immune-mediated disorders. The CoE will focus especially on type 1 diabetes. Along the way, the research will generate new knowledge of the role of metabolism in early stages of autoimmune diseases as well as reveal novel molecular mechanisms.
The Centre of Excellence (CoE) is directed by Research Professor Matej Orešič from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
Prof. Harri Lähdesmäki from Aalto University School of Science is leading the research group in the CoE.