Kumpula Physics Colloquium

Our first colloquium in the spring series is by Hanna Vehkamäki from the University of Helsinki on January 26th.

Hanna completed her PhD in theoretical physics at the University of Helsinki 1998. After that she worked two years at University College London, UK. She returned to University of Helsinki 2000, and was appointed a professor in computational aerosol physics 2009. Since 2001 she has been leading a research group focusing on computational studies of molecular cluster formation in the atmosphere. She is the director of Research Council of Finland Centre of Excellence ‘Virtual Laboratory for Molecular Level Atmospheric Transformations’ 2022-2029. 2011 Hanna founded and then chaired the INAR (Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research) equality and well-being group until 2023, and she is currently faculty of science vice dean responsible for equality and work well-being.

The event will take place on Friday 26.1.24 at 14:15, in Chemicum A110.
The event was also be streamed via Zoom, link:
https://helsinki.zoom.us/j/65796756028

The slides of the talk are available here: Vehkamaki_fys_kollokvio_no_vid_26_1_2024

The title of her talk is: Everyday tips for implementing Kumpula code of conduct

The abstract of her talk reads:

The presentation invites you to contemplate how the Kumpula Campus Code of Conduct https://www.helsinki.fi/en/faculty-science/faculty/kumpula-campus-code-conduct and more generally values it is based on should manifest themselves in the Kumpula community – especially from the point of view the work well-being and equality. The INAR equality and work well-being group has comprised a list of everyday behavior patterns that we should pay attention to when striving to make the workplace culture welcoming to people with diverse backgrounds, and some points from this list are highlighted as examples.

The next colloquium in the fall series will take place on December 8) at 14:15. Our speaker will be Teemu Siiskonen, who has been recently appointed as the Professor of Practice at Department of Physics, University of Helsinki.

Teemu did his PhD in nuclear physics at the University of Jyväskylä. After that, he worked at CERN and Finnish Meteorological Institute before coming to STUK (Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority). At STUK, he worked on the fields of radiation dosimetry, medical use of radiation, environmental surveillance, and emergency preparedness. Currently, he is a deputy director at Measurements and Environmental Monitoring department of STUK. In 2022, Teemu was appointed as the Professor of Practice at Department of Physics, University of Helsinki.

The title of his talk is: Safety and efficacy of modern radiotherapy: Techniques and development toward accurate patient-specific dosimetry.

The event will be held on Friday 08.12.23 at 14:15, in Exactum CK112.

Abstract of the talk:

Modern external beam radiotherapy techniques often rely on small, conformal dynamic beams. Many different beam qualities are used, including  photons, electrons, protons and neutrons. However, the techniques traditionally used to determine the dose may not be reliable in these beams. I will discuss recent developments to improve the accuracy of patient dose determination, with measurements in laboratory and at clinics, and using computational approaches. To avoid adverse side effects, attention must also be paid to the overall exposure of the patient, and I will discuss the methods to assess personal doses from the whole radiotherapy process, including imaging.

The next colloquium in the fall series will take place on Friday (November 3) at 14:15. Our speaker will be Matilda Backholm, who is an associate professor in Soft Matter Physics at the Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University, Finland.

Matilda Backholm is an assistant professor in Soft Matter Physics at the Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University, Finland. Her Living Matter research team studies the mechanics, dynamics, and flow of soft, living, and fluid systems. Prof. Backholm received a BSc in Physics from the University of Helsinki (2009), a MSc in Nanoscience from Aarhus University (Denmark, 2011), and a PhD in Physics from McMaster University (Canada, 2015). Matilda then worked as an Academy of Finland postdoctoral researcher in the Soft Matter and Wetting group of Prof. Ras at Aalto University. She was recently awarded an ERC StG, a Research Council of Finland Research Fellowship, as well as grants from the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation and the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters.

The title of her talk is: How to swim at the mesoscale.

The event will be held on Friday 03.11.23 at 14:15, in Exactum CK112.

Abstract of the talk:

Swimming is ubiquitous in nature and crucial for the survival of many organisms. The physics behind how to swim has been extensively studied at the viscosity-dominated microscale and inertia-dominated macroscale. Between these extreme regimes lies a mesoscale that is full of interesting living organisms, such as small larvae, shrimps, and jellyfish. However, little is known about how these meso-organisms swim. Here, both viscous and inertial forces are important, rendering complicated non-linear and time-dependent effects on the meso-swimming dynamics. In this talk, I will give a background to this field and present our work on developing new experimental tools to directly measure the tiny swimming forces of mesoscale organisms. Our goal is to resolve major open questions at the mesoscale through new experimental approaches.