Curriculum Vitae

January 4, 2013

Personal Details: Name:

Seppo Erkki Valkealahti

Date of Birth:

22th July 1955

Citizenship:

Finnish

Current Position:

Professor in Electrical Energy Engineering Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering

Contact Information: Office Address:

Tampere University of Technology Department of Electrical Engineering P.O. Box 692 FIN-33101 Tampere Finland

Tel:

+358 (0)40 849 0915 (gsm)

Fax:

+358 3 3115 3015 (reference: Department and name)

E-mail:

[email protected]

Academic Degrees: 1983 Master of Science, in Physics, Department of Physics, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. 1986 Licentiate of Philosophy, in Solid State Physics, Department of Physics, University of Jyväskylä, Finland (Thesis: Monte Carlo Simulation of Electron and Positron Slowing Down in Solids). 1987 Doctor of Philosophy, in Solid State Physics, Department of Physics, University of Jyväskylä, Finland (Thesis: Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics Simulations of NearSurface Phenomena). 1996 Docent in Materials Science, Department of Physics, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.

Knowledge of Languages: Finnish (native). Swedish (Certificate required for a permanent position at a Finnish university). English (fluent). German (modest). Employments: 1982-85

Research Assistant in the Physics Department, University of Jyväskylä (UJ), Finland.

1985-87

Research Fellow in the Physics Department, UJ.

1986

Visiting Fellow in Risö National Laboratory, Physics Department, Denmark (2 months).

1987

Visiting Fellow in Risö National Laboratory, Physics Department, Denmark (1 month).

1988

Senior Teaching Assistant in Theoretical Physics, UJ (6 months).

1988-91

Teaching Assistantship in the Physics Department granted for 3 years, UJ.

1988-89

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York, USA (13 months).

1990

Senior Teaching Assistant in Physics, UJ (2 months).

1990

Associate Professor in Physics, UJ (3 months).

1991-96

Teaching Assistantship in the Physics Department granted for 5 years, UJ.

1991

Senior Teaching Assistant in Physics, UJ (6 months).

1992

Senior Teaching Assistant in Theoretical Physics, UJ (2 months).

1993

Senior Teaching Assistant in Physics, UJ (5 months).

1994

Senior Teaching Assistant in Theoretical Physics, UJ (7 months).

1994

Senior Teaching Assistant in Physics, UJ (5 months).

1995

Senior Teaching Assistant in Physics, UJ (12 months).

1996-1999

Teaching Assistantship in the Physics Department granted for 3 years, UJ.

1996

Senior Teaching Assistant in Physics, UJ (3 months).

1996

Special research fellow, UJ (2 months).

1997

Senior Teaching Assistant in Physics, UJ (7 months).

1997-1998

Senior Researcher, ABB Corporate Research Oy, Vaasa.

1998-2000

Department Manager and Member of the Executive Group, ABB Corporate Research Oy, Vaasa. Accountable of Corporate level research activities in ABB Finland and supervisor for more that 20 researchers.

1-6.2001

Department Manager, Research Process Owner and Member of the Executive group, ABB Corporate Research Oy, Vaasa. Accountable of Corporate level research activities in ABB Finland, as earlier, and in addition supervisor of the ABB high voltage test laboratory in Vaasa.

6-11.2001

Quality Manager in ASAP program, ABB Substation Automation Oy. Responsible for leading project planning methodology and project implementation in projects conducted in R&D units in Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and USA by around 140 employees developing embedded electronic products.

12.2001-5.2002 Overall program manager, ASAP Program, ABB Substation Automation. Accountable of leading the whole product development program. 6.2002-9.2003

Development Manager, ABB Substation Automation. Responsible for embedded electronics platform development for new ABB Substation Automation products. Supervisor of three departments including electronics, system software and communication protocols.

9.2003-12.2003 Development Manager, ABB Substation Automation. Technology and research reviews related to new long term business potential. 1.2004-12.2004 Professor in electrical energy engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Institute of Power Engineering. 1.2005-12.2007 Professor in electrical energy engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Head of the Institute of Power Engineering, Tampere University of Technology. 1.2008-12.2010 Professor in Electrical Energy Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Director of the Degree Program in Electrical Engineering, Vice Head of the Department of Electrical Energy Engineering 1.2011-12.2012 Professor in Electrical Energy Engineering, Head of the Department of Electrical Energy Engineering 1.2013

Professor in Electrical Energy Engineering, Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering

Teaching Experience: 1988-90

Assistant in Courses on Elementary Physics and Relativistic Quantum Mechanics, University of Jyväskylä (UJ).

1990-93

Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences, lectures on a 60 hour course for first year students in physics and chemistry each autumn, UJ.

1990-91

Lectures and supervision of laboratory experiments in solid state physics (high-TC superconductivity, PIXE, and so on), UJ.

1992

Laboratory course on the use of computers in physics studies, UJ.

1993-94

Materials Science I, lectures on a 60 hour course on solid state physics (AshcroftMermin) each spring, UJ.

1994-95

Elementary Physics III, lectures on a 52 hour course for second year students in physics, chemistry and mathematics each autumn, UJ.

1995

Statistical Physics (Mandl), lectures on a 40 hour course for third year students, UJ.

1996

Computational Materials Science, lectures on a 54 hour course for postgraduate students, UJ.

1996

Electromagnetism (Grant-Phillips), lectures on a 40 hour course for third year students, UJ.

1997

Statistical Physics (Mandl), lectures on a 40 hour course for third year students, UJ.

1993

Awarded as the best lecturer in physics by students.

2004-5

Introduction to Power Engineering, a 28 hour course for second year students in electrical engineering each autumn, Tampere University of Technology.

2004

Distributed Power Production, a 21 hour course for postgraduate students in electrical energy engineering, Tampere University of Technology.

2005-9

Electrothermal Technology, a 24 hour course for advanced students in electrical energy engineering each spring, Tampere University of Technology.

2009

Exposure to low frequency electric and magnetic field, a postgraduate course for students in electrical energy engineering, Tampere University of Technology.

2006-12

Electrical Energy, a 30 hour course for first year students in electrical engineering each academic year, Tampere University of Technology.

2011

New Applications in Electrical Energy Engineering: Grid connected photovoltaic power plants, Tampere University of Technology.

2012

Post-Graduate Course in Power Engineering: Solar Photovoltaic Power System Design

2013

Introduction to renewable energy sources, a 16 hour introductory course for Master

studies in electrical engineering. 2013

Solar Power Systems, a 24 hour course for major studies on master level in electrical engineering.

*

Student supervisions: 2 PhD and co-supervision of several PhD theses. Supervised and examined 8 pro graduate theses and around 60 Master of Science Thesis. I have 3 doctoral students currently in supervision.

Past, present and future career: Modern research in physics can be divided to theoretical, experimental and computational physics according to the approach. My thesis was the first one published in Finland in the field of computational physics. I studied Solid State Physics phenomena using mainly Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulation methods. This partly pioneering work was also recognized internationally and after dissertation I was invited to work in the Risö National Laboratory in Denmark and in the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island in USA. After returning back from the States to the University of Jyväskylä I continued research work and supervised Master and Doctoral Theses. Quite soon teaching of physics became a second major responsibility for the rest of my University career in the University of Jyväskylä. I started my lecturing career by teaching mathematical methods for physics and basic physics courses for first and second year students. More advanced courses in solid state physics, statistical physics, electromagnetism and post graduate courses on computational material research methods followed these. I was also responsibility on the whole student selection process in the Physics Department for several years and a member of the Department and Faculty Councils. In summer 1997 I joined ABB Corporate Research in Vaasa as a Senior Researcher. This was according to my long-term plan to work in industry after a solid period in the Academic World. In the beginning I participated in projects related to electricity distribution current and voltage measurement technology and started research activities to develop electronics for harsh medium voltage electricity distribution environment as a project manager. Autumn 1998 I was asked to take over the management of the Advanced Technologies Department in ABB Corporate Research Oy. This was the main research unit in the Finnish ABB Corporate Research Center, which was part of the International ABB Corporate Research Organization. After that I was directing corporate level research activities in ABB Finland as a member of the executive board. During two and half years we changed locally oriented research service activities of the Finnish ABB Corporate Research Center to international research projects along the technology strategy of ABB. The volume of activities was doubled in two years, the top management recognizes achievements and employer satisfaction was distinctly higher than in corresponding units. We also started new research fields in industrial wireless communication area and in utilizing simulation and modeling tools effectively in product development and in production process development. I was also accountable to coordinate and supervise research activities conducted in Universities and in the Technical Research Center of Finland. From the beginning of the year 2001 I was responsible also on the activities in our Power Technologies Department (high voltage testing laboratory) and on the overall research process in our Center. The main focus was in masterminding these activities according to the new organization. The new organization was ready by summer 2001 and concurrently I left ABB Corporate Research Oy and joined ABB Substation Automation Oy.

The reason for joining ABB Substation Automation Oy was that I was asked to direct and reorganize an international product development program of some 140 employees working in Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and USA. The program had a task to develop the next generation of ABB relays. The program was reorganized together with other organizational changes in summer 2002 and I took the responsibility to direct the platform development of the next generation relays. I was also responsible on activities in three departments in the company as well as on the related subcontracting work done in different countries. Autumn 2003 I was invited to take a professor position in the Institute of Power Engineering in the Tampere University of Technology. I took the position in January 2004. The goal set by the University was to initiate new kind of research activities in the field of electrical energy technologies and power engineering. In the beginning, my main contribution was related to the development of new electrical insulating polymers by doping them with nanofillers, in the development of a methodology to define and measure exposure to magnetic field in the vicinity of power distribution systems and in developing methodology to forecast market penetration of evolving power production technologies. In the year 2009 we were able to open up a totally new research field related to grid connected photovoltaic power systems. In four years we have built a research team of over 10 persons, already achieved some significant scientific results and the research is now in full speed. However, we are still building up and upgrading the research facilities and environment. Therefore, a major growth in research volume and quality is expected, if we manage to get funding for an adequate research environment. I have 35 publications in refereed international journals, about 40 conference, workshop or corresponding contributions, the same amount of research reports (six in ABB), some patents and also some general writings in more business oriented professional journals. Quality and content of the work has always been a key issue for me, which are reflected by the number of citations (around 1100) to my journal papers. Most important scientific positions of trust and administration: 1991-95

Representative of the Physics Department (UJ) in the Student Selection Board and responsible for the student entrance examinations.

1991

Chairman of the Physics Club of Jyväskylä which is a subdivision of the Finnish Physical Society.

1991-93

Co-responsible of the Annual Physics Contents for student in senior high schools of Central Finland.

1992

Member of board for selecting the Finnish participators to the Physics Olympics.

1993-96

Member of the Council of the Department of Physics, UJ.

1996-97

Member of the Council of the Department of Physics, UJ.

1996-97

Deputy Member of the Council of the Faculty of Sciences, UJ.

1997->

Member of the Technical Club of Vaasa.

2005-07

Head of the Institute of Power Engineering, TUT.

2005-07

Member of the Council of the Department of Electrical Engineering, TUT.

2005-

Deputy Member of the delegation of the Foundation for Finnish Inventions.

2005-07

Deputy Member of the Directorate of the University Library, TUT.

2006-

Member of the Board of Fortum Foundation.

2007

Invited Session Chair: IASTED Asian Conference, April 2-4, 2007, Phuket, Thailand.

2008-10

Vice Head of the Department of Electrical Energy Engineering, TUT.

2008-10

Deputy Member of the Faculty of Computing and Electrical Engineering, TUT.

2008-10

Director of the Degree Program in Electrical Engineering, TUT.

2009

Member of the International Programme Committee: IFAC Symposium on Power Plants and Power Systems ControlPP&PS, 5-8 July 2009, Tampere, Finland

2009-

Member of the R&D Board, Cleen Ldt.

2010

Member of the reviewer committee of PowerTech 2011, Trondheim, Norway.

2011-12

Head of the Department of Electrical Energy Engineering, TUT.

2011-12

Member of the Faculty of Computing and Electrical Engineering, TUT.

2011-

Member of the Executive Board of the Faculty of Computing and Electrical Engineering, TUT.

2013-

Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering, TUT. Member of the Finnish Physical Society. Member of the European Physical Society. Member of IEEE. Referee in Physical Review, Physical Review Letters and Zeitschrift fur Physik D in the past and currently of journal and conference papers in power engineering. Current referee in several journals in the area of electrical energy engineering etc.