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Eira Seppälä

Principal Researcher
NRC Radio Systems Lab., Helsinki

Background

Eira Seppälä joined Nokia Research Center in September 2004 to work with computational acoustics using finite-element, boundary-element, and finite-element-type methods. Beginning of 2007 Eira Seppälä moved to Nano Systems research, where her interest areas have been dynamic properties (audio and radio frequencies) of piezo and ferroelectric as well as ferromagnetic materials (e.g. magnetic nanoparticles), and carbon-based nanomaterials (e.g. CNTs and graphene), and simulations of them at nano and multi scale. Most of the nano research above has been done with the emphasis of and aim at radio applications, currently and in future she will be focusing more on the radio systems research itself.

Eira Seppälä received her Master's degree in Engineering Physics from Helsinki University of Technology, Finland in 1997 and her D.Sc.(Tech) degree in Engineering Physics from the same institute in 2001. The topic of her doctoral thesis, which was accepted with distinction, was ground state structure, domain walls, and external field response in random magnets.

During August 2001 - August 2004 Dr. Seppälä was as a postdoctoral staff researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Metals and Alloys group. There her interest areas were dynamic fracture and plasticity in metals, using molecular dynamics simulations, and fracture surfaces of embrittled polycrystalline metals using computational mesoscale and optimization methods.

Research Interests

  • Nanomaterial research for radio applications:
    • Nano materials (CNTs, graphene, magnetic nanoparticles) at nano and mesoscale. Experiments and simulations of their properties.
    • Dynamic properties of piezoelectric, ferroelectric, and ferromagnetic materials at radio (and audio) frequencies.
  • Computational Acoustics.
  • Various computational methods:
    • Molecular dynamics and DFT methods,
    • Monte-Carlo and other mesoscale methods,
    • finite element, boundary-element, and finite-element-type methods,
    • exact optimization algorithms.
  • Parallel computing.
  • Fracture:
    • Dynamic fracture and plasticity in metals: dislocations, void growth and coalescence of voids.
    • Fracture surfaces of embrittled grain boundary networks.
  • Statistical physics of random systems:
    • ground state structure, excitations, and domain walls in random Ising magnets,
    • random elastic manifolds,
    • percolation,
    • fracture in disordered systems.

Personal Information

Education

06/2001, Doctor of Science (Tech.) in physics, minor in computational dynamics,
Helsinki University of Technology (thesis accepted with distinction).
 
02/1997, Master of Science (Tech.) in physics, minor in mathematics,
Helsinki University of Technology (thesis grade: 5/5).

Honors, Awards, etc.

The Best Dissertation of the year 2001 of the Department of Engineering Physics and Mathematics, Helsinki University of Technology.

The Best Poster of Session 1S-Statistical Mechanics of Magnetism in the International Conference on Magnetism, ICM 2000, August 6-11 2000, Recife, Brazil.

Other Information

Experience

09/2004 - present, Nokia Research Center, Helsinki, Finland.
Principal researcher, senior researcher.
 
08/2001 - 08/2004, University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, CA.
Post-doc staff researcher.
 
06/1994 - 08/2001, Laboratory of Physics, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland.
Researcher, graduate student, teaching assistant, undergraduate research student.
 
06/1993 - 07/1993, Institute of Industrial Automation, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland.
Undergraduate research student.

Publications

Publications in refereed journals

Publications in conference proceedings (most of them peer-reviewed)

  • "Magnetic Nanocomposites at Microwave Frequencies",
    Jaakko V. I. Timonen, Robin H. A. Ras, Olli Ikkala, Markku Oksanen, Eira Seppälä, Khattiya Chalapat, Jian Li, and Gheorghe Sorin Paraoanu,
    in Trends in Nanophysics: Theory, Experiment and Technology, edited by Victor Barsan and Alexandru Aldea (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2010).
  • "Perceptual Evaluation of Numerically Simulated Head-Related Transfer Functions",
    Julia Turku, Miikka Vilermo, Eira Seppälä, Monika Pölönen, Ole Kirkeby, Asta Kärkkäinen, and Leo Kärkkäinen,
    convention paper 7489, in the 124th Audio Engineering Society Convention, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, May 17-20, 2008.
  • "Dynamical Nonlinearities in Piezoelectric Materials",
    Eira Seppälä, Virpi Korpelainen, Kari Ojasalo, Matti Sarjala, Mikko Alava, Antti Lassila, and Antti Manninen,
    in Ferroelectrics, Multiferroics, and Magnetoelectrics, edited by J.F. Scott, V. Gopalan, M. Okuyama, and M. Bibes
    (Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 1034E, Warrendale, PA, 2007), 1034-K04-11.
  • "Significance of Nanotechnology for Future Wireless Devices and Communications",
    V. Ermolov, M. Heino, A. Kärkkäinen, R. Lehtiniemi, N. Nefedov, P. Pasanen, Z. Radivojevic, M. Rouvala, T. Ryhänen, E. Seppälä, and M. Uusitalo,
    in the 18th Annual IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC'07), Athens, Greece, September 3-7, 2007.
  • "A Domain Decomposition Method for Coupled Equations of Acoustic Wave Motion",
    Mika Malinen, Seppo Järvenpää, Asta Kärkkäinen, Leo Kärkkäinen, Peter Råback, Eira Seppälä, and Pasi Ylä-Oijala,
    in Computational Methods for Coupled Problems in Science and Engineering, edited by E. Onate, M. Papadrakakis, and B. Schrefler, (CIMNE, Barcelona, 2007), pp. 566-569.
  • "Some Effects of the Torso on Head-Related Transfer Functions",
    Ole Kirkeby, Eira T. Seppälä, Asta Kärkkäinen, Leo Kärkkäinen, and Tomi Huttunen,
    convention paper 7030, in 122nd Audio Engineering Society Convention, Vienna, Austria, May 5-8, 2007.
  • "Analytical Solutions for Testing Finite Element, Boundary Element, and Ultra Weak Variational Formulation Method Calculations in Acoustics Simulations of Closed Cavities",
    E. T. Seppälä, A. Kärkkäinen, and L. Kärkkäinen,
    the Proceedings of International Conference on Computational & Experimental Engineering and Sciences, Chennai, India (2005),
    in Advances in Computational Engineering & Sciences, edited by S. M. Sivakumar, A. Meher Prasad, B. Dattaguru, S. Narayanan, A. M. Rajendran, and S. N. Atluri, (Tech. Science Press, Encino, CA).
  • "Roughness Scaling of Fracture Surfaces in Polycrystalline Materials",
    Eira T. Seppälä, Bryan W. Reed, Mukul Kumar, Roger W. Minich, and Robert E. Rudd,
    in Interfacial Engineering for Optimized Properties III, edited by C. A. Schuh, M. Kumar, C. B. Carter, and V. Randle
    (Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 819, Warrendale, PA, 2004), N1.4.
  • "Molecular dynamics study of void growth and dislocations in dynamic fracture of FCC and BCC metals",
    Eira T. Seppälä, James Belak, and Robert E. Rudd,
    in Dislocations, Plasticity and Metal Forming, edited by Akhtar S. Khan (NEAT Press, Maryland, 2003).
  • "The plastically deformed zone surrounding incipient voids in spallation fracture from 3D X-ray tomography, 2D microscopy and molecular dynamics simulation",
    James Belak, James U. Cazamias, David Haupt, John Kinney, Mukul Kumar, Roger Minich, Robert E. Rudd, Chris Schuh, Adam Schwartz, and Eira T. Seppälä,
    in Dislocations, Plasticity and Metal Forming , edited by Akhtar S. Khan (NEAT Press, Maryland, 2003).
  • "A Molecular Dynamics Study of the Effect of Triaxiality on Void Growth in Dynamic Fracture",
    E. T. Seppälä, J. Belak, and R. E. Rudd,
    the Proceedings of International Conference on Computational & Experimental Engineering and Sciences, Reno, NV, (2002),
    in Advances in Computational Engineering & Sciences, edited by S. N. Atluri and D. W. Pepper, (Tech. Science Press, Encino, CA).

Other articles

  • "Three-dimensional sound: from numerical simulations to audio applications",
    Ole Kirkeby, Asta Kärkkäinen, Leo Kärkkäinen, Eira Seppälä, and Jussi Virolainen,
    Nokia Reasearch Journal ADVANCE 2/2007, pp. 14-17.
  • "Mallinnuksella parempaa ääntä matkapuhelimeen",
    Mika Malinen, Asta Kärkkäinen, Leo Kärkkäinen, and Eira Seppälä,
    CSC Tietoyhteys 4/2006, pp. 20-22.
  • "Paperin pinnan karheudesta" ("Can the effect of furnish be detected in the roughness of handsheets"),
    E. Seppälä, M. Alava, and K. Niskanen,
    Paperi ja Puu (Paper and Timber) 78, 446 (1996).

Theses

Presentations

Invited talks in conferences

  • "Analytical Solutions for Testing Finite Element, Boundary Element, and Ultra Weak Variational Formulation Method Calculations in Acoustics Simulations of Closed Cavities", in International Conference on Computational & Experimental Engineering and Sciences ICCES´05, December 1-6, 2005, Chennai, India.
  • "Void Growth and Coalescence in Dynamic Fracture of FCC and BCC Metals - Molecular Dynamics Study" in the March Meeting 2004 of the American Physical Society, March 22-26, 2004, Montreal, Canada.
  • "Molecular dynamics study of void growth and dislocations in dynamic fracture of FCC and BCC metals" in the Plasticity 2003, July 7-11, 2003, Québec City, Québec, Canada.
  • "Three-Dimensional Random Field Ising Magnets: Percolation and Domain Walls" in the ESF/Sphinx Workshop "Disordered systems at low temperatures and their topological properties", January 17-20, 2002, Helsinki, Finland.
  • "Interfaces in Random Field Ising Systems" in the March Meeting 2001 of the American Physical Society, March 12-16, 2001, Seattle, Washington, USA.
  • "Serial and Parallel Maximum Flow-Minimum Cut Algorithms Applied to Random Bond and Random Field Ising systems", Dagstuhl Seminar #01091, Algorithmic Techniques in Physics, February 25 - March 2, 2001, Schloss Dagstuhl, Germany. 

Seminar talks at institutions

  • "Physicist in Industry & Magnetic Nanoparticles at Radio Frequencies" at Physics Seminar of Physics Department, Tampere University of Technology, December 1, 2011.
  • "Stability of 2D Graphene - Roughness and Rippling" at Joint Graphene Journal Club of Helsinki University of Technology and Nokia Research Center, Helsinki University of Technology, September 12, 2007.
  • "Computational Acoustics" at Laboratory of Physics, Helsinki University of Technology, October 30, 2006.
  • "Physics Computing" for CERN School of Computing visit at Nokia Research Center, Helsinki, Finland, August 30, 2006.
  • "Fracture in Metals: Brittle Fracture in Polycrystalline Materials and Dynamic Fracture in Ductile Metals" at Laboratory of Physics, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland, May 21, 2004.
  • "Coalescence of Two Voids in Dynamic Fracture of Metals: A Molecular Dynamics Study" in Postdoc Symposium, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, January 8, 2004.
  • "Molecular dynamics study of void growth in dynamic fracture of metals" in the Physics Deparment, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, July 14, 2003.
  • "Stress Triaxiality in Void Growth" in Dynamics of Metals Seminar Series, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, June 23, 2003.
  • "Fracture of ductile metals using molecular dynamics simulations" in the Physics Department, University of Edinburgh, UK, May 27, 2003.
  • "Dynamic Fracture of Ductile Metals: Experiments and Modeling" at Laboratory of Physics, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland, May 22, 2003.
  • "Molecular Dynamics Study of Void Growth in Dynamic Fracture of Metals" in Physics and Advanced Technologies Post Doc Forum of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, April 15, 2003.
  • "Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Void Growth in Dynamic Fracture of Metals: Effect of Triaxiality" at Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, October 7, 2002.
  • "Percolation and Domain Walls in Random Field Ising Magnets" at Physics Department, University of California, Davis, USA, April 11, 2002.
  • "Dynamic Fracture in Metals: Plasticity at the Atomistic Scale" at Laboratory of Physics, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland, January 14, 2002.
  • "Ground State Structure and Domain Walls in Random Field Magnets" at Physics Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA, March 30, 2001.
  • "Ground State Structure and Domain Walls in Random Field Magnets" at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA, March 23, 2001.
  • "Ground State Interfaces in Random Systems" at Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, USA, September 2, 1999.
  • "Minimum Energy Surfaces in Parallel" at Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre, University of Edinburgh, UK, March 30, 1996. 

Contributed oral presentations in conferences

  • "Dynamical Hysteresis in Piezoelectric Materials", in the Materials Research Society Fall Meeting, November 26-30, 2007, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
  • "Dynamical Hysteresis in Ferroelectric Materials with Quenched Randomness", in Hysteresis Modeling & Micromagnetism HMM-07 conference, June 4-6, 2007, Naples, Italy.
  • "Simulations of Head-Related-Transfer-Functions in Wide Band Acoustics", in the Meeting of Acoustical Society of America, June 5-9, 2006, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
  • "Simulations of Head-Related-Transfer-Functions in Wide Band Acoustics", in Nokia Exchange for Research and Development NERD'06 conference, April 4-6, 2006, Helsinki, Finland.
  • "Scaling of Fracture Surfaces in Polycrystalline Materials" in the Materials Research Society Spring Meeting, April 12-16, 2004, San Francisco, California, USA.
  • "Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Void Growth in Dynamic Fracture of FCC and BCC metals" in the Materials Research Society Spring Meeting, April 21-24, 2003, San Francisco, California, USA.
  • "Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Void Growth in Dynamic Fracture of FCC and BCC metals" in the March Meeting 2003 of the American Physical Society, March 3-7 2003, Austin, Texas, USA.
  • "Percolation Transitions in 2D and 3D RFIM and DAFF" in the March Meeting 2003 of the American Physical Society, March 3-7, 2003, Austin, Texas, USA.
  • "A Molecular Dynamics Study of the Effect of Triaxiality on Void Growth in Dynamic Fracture" in the International Conference on Computational Engineering & Sciences, ICCES '02, July 31 - August 2, 2002, Reno, Nevada, USA.
  • "Universality in Ground State Energy Distributions of Random Elastic Manifolds" in the March Meeting 2002 of the American Physical Society, March 11-15, 2002, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
  • "Dynamic Fracture in Metals: Effect of Triaxiality on Plasticity" in the March Meeting 2002 of the American Physical Society, March 11-15, 2002, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
  • "Domain Walls in Random Magnets: Wetting and External Field Response" in the 21st IUPAP International Conference on Statistical Physics, STATPHYS21, July 15-21, 2001, Cancún, México.
  • "Extended Criticality in the 2d Random Field Ising Magnets" in the International Conference on Magnetism, ICM 2000, August 6-11, 2000, Recife, Brazil.
  • "Susceptibility of the 2d Random Field Ising Model" in the Ising Centennial Colloquium, a Satellite Meeting to ICM 2000, August 1-4, 2000, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
  • "Extended Criticality in the 2d Random Field Ising Model" in the March Meeting 2000 of the American Physical Society, March 20-24, 2000, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
  • "Extended Criticality in the 2d Random Field Ising Model" in the 34th Annual Conference of the Finnish Physical Society, March 9-11, 2000, Espoo, Finland.
  • "Behavior of an Interface in a Field" in the Centennial Meeting of the American Physical Society, March 20-26, 1999, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
  • "Behavior of an Interface in a Field" in the 33rd Annual Conference of the Finnish Physical Society, March 4-6, 1999, Turku, Finland.
  • "Order, Disorder, and Roughening in the 2d RFIM" in the Workshop on Classical and Quantum Aspects of Disorder, August 7-8, 1998, Jyväskylä, Finland.
  • "First Order Transitions in Wetting and Glassy Energy Landscapes" in the 12th Nordic Symposium on Computer Simulation, June 10-14, 1998, Jyväskylä, Finland.

Patents