Annual Report

Annual Report 2001 Production Public Relations and Press Office Editorial Board Agneta Wall Public Relations and Press Office Lena Larsson Finance and Planning Lennart Larsson, Centor Translation Patrick O’Malley Photographs Jan-Olof Yxell (unless stated otherwise) Layout Tomas Wahlberg ISSN 0281 - 6229 Circulation 2,500 Printed by Palmeblads Tryckeri AB Göteborg, Sweden, March 2002 Contents 2 Key events 2001 3 Statement from the President 6 Student Union view 7 Focus on results 8 Undergraduate programmes 18 Doctoral programmes 23 Research 29 Continuing professional development 31 Educational development 32 Dialogue with the community 35 International networks 37 Architecture 38 Chemical Engineering 39 Civil Engineering 40 Electrical and Computer Engineering 41 Environmental Sciences 42 Mathematical and Computing Sciences 43 Mechanical Engineering 44 Physics and Engineering Physics 45 Technology Management and Economics 46 Chalmers Lindholmen University College 48 Microtechnology Centre, MC2 49 Onsala Space Observatory 50 Information 51 Working environment and safety 52 People and know-how 54 New professors – new knowledge 56 The Chalmers Campus 57 Management and Organisation 58 Chalmers Board of Directors 59 Financial Report – Chalmers University of Technology AB 61 Financial Report – Chalmers University of Technology Foundation Statistical overview – trends 1991- 2001 Key events 2001 Chalmers elected as a member of AGS, the Alliance for Global Sustainability Further King Carl XVI Gustaf professorship in the environmental field All environmental professors now appointed Information Engineering – new MScEng programme The IT University – new network organisation for education and research Increased number of students and improved performance levels Chalmers elected to Unitech – international student exchange High PhD graduation rate New national research school in Materials Science Success for bioscience research groups Awards and research support for outstanding young research leaders Fraunhofer Institute establishes joint centre for Industrial Mathematics at Chalmers Research agreement with General Motors MC2 inaugurated with major international symposium New Student Union building inaugurated Margot Wallström becomes honorary doctor 2 Chalmers’ aim is to be a university of technology that is at the forefront internationally in learning and research. Those who are educated by us should also be in demand outside the country. To achieve this we must develop forms of learning that attract attention internationally, lead to good qualifications and pre- pare for life-long learning. Our research must be of particularly good international quality and we must have researchers in several areas who are at the cut- ting edge. The long Chalmers tradition of efficiency and innovative use of research results is becoming increasingly essential, in particular in the development of an ecologically, economically and socially sustainable society. In summing up 2001 it is impossible to avoid ad- dressing the terrible terrorist attacks that took place in the USA on September 11. These events have affected us all and the world will never be the same again. The conditions for maintaining an open society have been changed drastically. As a university, Chalmers is an obvious advocate of an open world without borders. Our research has always been international and the guideline for research has always been the international research front. The fact that the problems that are being studied are increasingly com- plex, has meant that interaction between research groups in different countries has become absolutely vital. Undergraduate education has also become more international and each year we admit around 400 for- eign students from more than 50 different countries. Our international MSc programmes play an important role in attracting gifted students and they are a The President good way into the doctoral programmes. In Europe, co-ordination of education systems is also taking place, which will lead to students finding it easier to looks back change education location and receive credit for the work they have already done. We are deeply involved The second year of the millennium has come to an end in this. and it is once again time to sum up and reflect. Has our work during the year led us closer to achieving International recognition our goals? I hope that this annual report will provide Chalmers’ international efforts have clearly attracted some insight and in doing so prove that this has been the attention in other respects in 2001. During the year, case. We have high ambitions and in many respects we Chalmers became a member of two highly-respected international networks, UNITECH International and have been extremely successful. We must, however, not the Alliance for Global Sustainability, AGS. rest on our laurels. The challenges and problems will be Within UNITECH International, eight highly- constantly renewed. I can look back on 2001 with satis- respected universities of technology and some twen- faction. All the employees, students and alumni, as well ty international companies co-operate to create a as our many friends in the community, are naturally the structured student exchange system with practical ones who have made Chalmers strong and successful. work at the member companies adapted to the course I would like to thank everyone for their solid, committed programmes. The programme is directed at all contribution to Chalmers’ development in 2001. MScEng students who, during their fourth year, would like to pursue a combination of engineering and management/economics. In September, Chalmers became a member of this network – the first Nordic university of technology to do so. 3 AGS is an alliance of world-class universities and ademic Europe for the first time, the choice was the The President looks back Chalmers was selected to be the fourth member in School of Mathematical and Computing Sciences at May 2001. The others are Massachusetts University of Chalmers. The new institute will concentrate on ap- Technology (MIT), Boston, Swiss Federal Institute of plied mathematics for industry. Technology (ETH), Zürich and the University of To- kyo. Chalmers was invited to join thanks to its success- Economic downturn ful environmental research. What we can see here is During the year we have unfortunately seen a clear a result of the SEK 100 million the Chalmers Founda- continuation of the downturn on the stock markets tion has invested in environmental research at Chalm- around the world. The majority have fallen and for the ers. AGS co-operates with companies and organisa- first time in many decades the world’s major econo- tions throughout the world to support and develop re- mies have gone into recession at the same time. This search into sustainable development from a global has of course affected Chalmers, particularly in the perspective. AGS was created in 1994 and aims to fact that the funds the Chalmers Foundation can in- solve environmental problems across borders and to vest in the University’s renewal have also decreased. initiate research that cannot be achieved through There has therefore been a reprioritisation of pre- funding on a national level. Strong commitment from viously-planned foundation projects. Alongside this industry is the key to the success of AGS. we have worked during the year to reduce our costs caused by an unquestioned expansion of administra- tive routines, an IT structure that is far too diverse and accelerating costs for premises. The latter is due, among other things, to structural problems within the property managment sector for universities and colleges. We are also focusing on reinforcing more system- atically our relationship with financing bodies and interested parties to achieve a higher, more stable level of income. The task of reducing costs has for many been painful and a lot of people have worked hard on these issues. Even if we have not yet achieved our objective entirely we are well on the way. Strong research Research at Chalmers is strong – in certain areas very strong – and definitely world class. Research has also attracted a great deal of attention in the media and our researchers have both been seen and heard. This is extremely important. If we are to be involved in knowledge development in society we must also have Apart from these two university networks, Chalm- the courage to influence public opinion, adopt a firm ers – the first university in Europe to do so – has position and provide information. If we are not in- signed a co-operation agreement with General Mo- volved in social debate with the strength of our knowl- tors aimed at increased research collaboration. The edge then the field will be open for anyone without areas in question are safety, environment and interac- the requisite factual knowledge to form public opin- tion between man and machine. Chalmers already has ion instead. Chalmers aims to be involved in ongoing, good co-operation with Saab Automobile and this knowledge-driven social change. agreement will further facilitate co-operation be- Research has also attracted attention in many other tween researchers at Chalmers and GM. I am also ways. In the investment in research leaders of the firmly convinced that this will lead to Chalmers’ re- future by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Re- search attracting greater attention internationally. search, five of the 20 grants went to Chalmers re- Yet another indication of Chalmers’ international searchers.

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