Mari Lundström appointed vice dean for research and innovation at Aalto’s school of chemical engineering

Associate professor (tenured) Mari Lundström has been appointed as the Vice Dean for Research and Innovation at the School of Chemical Engineering as of 1 September, 2022. As Vice Dean, Mari Lundström will be responsible for supporting the Dean in research and innovation related issues and driving their development. She will also be a member of the School’s Management Team and the University's Research Steering Group.

Mari Lundström is a successful researcher, and she has recently worked strongly to bridge research with the industry and the academy. Her research portfolio is exceptionally wide, with over 30 funded projects supported by different funding segments. During the last years, 13 Doctors of Science (Technology) have graduated under her supervision.

Professor Lundström has joined the faculty at Aalto University in 2015, after working several years in industry after her graduation. She held several positions in Outotec including leading projects as a senior metallurgist. Lundström is a highly qualified professional in Metallurgy, focusing specifically on hydrometallurgy i.e. metals behavior, production, and recycling via aqueous solutions. Also applied electrochemistry, corrosion and process modelling as well as related life cycle analysis are in the focus of her research group.

In the scope of her work as Vice Dean Research and Innovation, Lundström says that she wants to promote high quality research that truly can have an impact on the big challenges of today.

‘Climate crisis goes hand in hand with “molecular crisis”, as e.g. energy transition is increasingly raw material intensive. This highlights the increased importance of research in energy materials and storing, but furthermore the need for increased understanding on raw material dependency, their production, limitations, and recyclability’, says Lundström.

‘The current competences at the School of Chemical Engineering allow us to proactively address several topical challenges in hydrogen economy, power-to-X, batteries, CO2 capture, bioeconomy, textile and metals recycling, just to mention a few. High quality research that we have, combined with realistic innovations will enable us to fully realize the potential of our school,’ says Mari Lundström.

Recently, Lundström has been actively involved with innovations, which have been leading to an Aalto University based newly founded company focusing on innovative electrochemical metals recovery. She has also been actively involved in the development of Raw Materials Research infrastructure, which is on the Academy of Finland roadmap for research infrastructures 2021–2024.

“Mari Lundström’s achievements in the academy, the industry, and innovations, as well as her leadership experience provide her excellent bases for success in this position. The research focuses of our school promote sustainable development and are highly topical. We are dedicated to develop the selected areas further. I am looking forward to collaborating with Mari and I am convinced that we can jointly promote and support research excellence as well as societal impact in our school.,’ states Kristiina Kruus, Dean of the School of Chemical Engineering.

The President of Aalto University has made the appointment on the proposal of the Dean.

This article was first published on 22 August by Aalto University.