Anu Kankainen appointed as Academy Professor
Academy Professors are researchers at the international forefront of their fields, whose work strives for scientific renewal and breakthroughs. Jari Kaukua and Otso Ovaskainen from the University of Jyväskylä were previously appointed as Academy Professors for the same term.
Professor Kankainen conducts basic research on the structures and origin of atomic nuclei. Nuclear astrophysics, her field of research, seeks to explain how elements were created in the universe. A central theme of her work is extremely precise mass measurements of radioactive isotopes. These masses provide information on the binding energies of nuclei and the amount of energy released in the nuclear reactions in stars, which in turn affects the likelihood of such reactions occurring.
In her academy project, Kankainen will be studying the structure and properties of nuclei to gain a better understanding of fundamental interactions, elemental synthesis in stars, and phenomena that deviate from the standard model of physics. This advanced research will be carried out at the Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Jyväskylä, and at other international laboratories.
Kankainen’s research is closely linked to the nuclear astrophysics research conducted at the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Neutron-Star Physics, which was established by the Research Council of Finland. The CoE is led by the University of Helsinki. Professor Anu Kankainen and Professor Markus Kortelainen, both from the Department of Physics, represent the University of Jyväskylä in the CoE.
