Photo: Thorkild Amdi Christensen
Photo: Thorkild Amdi Christensen
Photo: Thorkild Amdi Christensen
Photo: Thorkild Amdi Christensen
Photo: Thorkild Amdi Christensen
Photo: Thorkild Amdi Christensen
Photo: Thorkild Amdi Christensen

Celebrating this year’s new PhD graduates

163 PhD graduates had registered for the PhD Reception and were showered with champagne and prices at the red carpet event on Friday, 30 October.  

Dean of Graduate Studies and International Affairs Martin P. Bendsøe bid welcomed before President Anders Bjarklev took to the podium to address the graduates and speak of the exciting careers in science and technology on which they are about to embark.

Tradition dictates that a recently appointed professor follows the President on the podium. This year's guest speaker was Professor Anja Maier from DTU Management Engineering.

Photo: Thorkild Amdi Christensen

Anja has an MSc in Political Science, Communication Science, and Philosophy from the University of Münster in 2002. In 2007, she obtained her PhD degree in Engineering Design from the University of Cambridge and continued working there as a postdoc for three years. She joined DTU Management Engineering in 2010 as associate professor, has been group leader for Engineering Systems since February 2014, and was appointed professor in July 2015.

Anja’s research expertise is engineering systems design with a particular focus on modelling human behaviour, and her Communication Grid Method to improve collaborative design is widely used in industry and is incorporated in a widely used textbook.

Award winners 2015

PhD of the year is Mickey Madsen from DTU Electrical Engineering. His thesis is entitled: ‘Very high frequency switch-mode power supplies.’

Photo: Thorkild Amdi Christensen

Comments made in connection with the award:


presents results that are simply extraordinary and extremely innovative and could lead to a small revolution within power supplies. “The thesis written by MickeyAs co-supervisor on 12 student projects, Mickey has succeeded in disseminating the new knowledge within the research area and through his tremendous work as co-supervisor he has become a significant research and innovation role model to other students. Mickey has even started his own business: Nordic Power Converters to commercialize the inventions made during his PhD studies. The business has won several prizes and been successful in attracting capital. Today there are 9 full-time employees and an ambitious growth plan to expand this number to 30 within the end of 2016.”

 

PhD supervisor of the year


Each year, the students nominate their favourite supervisors for this prestigious award. This year’s winner is Professor Hans Nørgaard Hansen from DTU Mechanical Engineering.

Photo: Thorkild Amdi Christensen

Hans Nørgaard Hansen is Deputy Head of Department and head of the ‘Manufacturing Engineering’ Section. His research focuses on micro/nano manufacturing, establishing the basis of industrial production of products and components in metal, polymers and ceramics in the micro- and nanometer regime. The core activities comprise micro product design and development, tooling technologies for micro injection moulding and micro metal forming, mass production technologies, chemical and electrochemical processes and laser technologies.

Other nominated supervisors were:

  • Anja M. Maier, DTU Management Engineering
  • Søren Molin, DTU Systems Biology
  • Klaus Braagaard Møller, DTU Chemistry
  • Anne Ladegaard Skov, DTU Chemical Engineering
  • Ulla Vogel, DTU Food
  • Peter Bauer-Gottwein, DTU Environment
  • Peter Uhd Jensen, DTU Fotonik

DTU's 'Young Researcher Award'


This award honours young researchers who have made an extraordinary effort and who have shown great potential for further development.

Photo: Thorkild Amdi Christensen 

This year, the award was presented to six young researchers, whose names and PhD theses are listed below:

Jonathan HøjbergDTU Energy
Title of PhD thesis: Fundamental mechanisms in Li-air battery electrochemistry’

Søren Raza, DTU Fotonik
Title of PhD thesis: ‘Probing plasmonic nanostructures with electron energy-loss spectroscopy’

Frederikke Bahrt Madsen, DTU Chemical Engineering
Title of PhD thesis: ’Synthetic strategies for high dielectric constant silicone elastomers’

Lene Maj PetersenDTU Systems Biology
Title of PhD thesis: ‘Linking of fungal secondary metabolites and pathways to their synthase genes’

Thomas Kjær Rasmussen, DTU Transport
Title of PhD thesis: ‘Traffic assignment models in large-scale applications'

Rolf Sommer KaasDTU Food 
Title of PhD thesis: ‘Whole genome epidemiological typing of Escherichia coli'. 

Short films on three PhD graduates and their projects:


Video one: PhD Helene Kolding, DTU Chemistry
‘Catalysis and selective gas absorption in ionic liquids’

[video:1]

 

Video two: PhD Jonathan Højbjerg, DTU Energy
Fundamental mechanisms in Li-air battery electrochemistry’

[video:2]

 

Video three: PhD Joanna Levinsen, DTU Space
Essential Climate Variables for the Ice Sheets from Space and Airborne measurements’

[video:3]