Professor Tapio Lokki from Department of Media Technology at Aalto University School of Science is chosen as EspooAmbassador 2013. EspooAmbassador operates as a congress ambassador of Espoo in Finland and abroad.
The award was presented by Espoo Director for Economic and Business Development, Tuula Antola, 29th of August 2013 during the annual EspooAmbassador lunch in Dipoli Congress Centre. Professor Lokki is the 5th Congress Ambassador in Espoo.
Visit Espoo Convention together with the City of Espoo annually chooses and awards the Ambassador of the year. The selected person is an active member in international scientific associations representing one’s own university and the Finnish scientific expertise and research work. Ambassador actively takes part in international congresses in his/her own field as well as arranges these in Espoo. At the same time EspooAmbassador encourages other scientists to active work in international associations and at their congresses. Ambassador also disseminates information on how the city of Espoo can support and assist scientists and researchers in inviting and organizing international congresses.
EspooAmbassador 2013, Associate Professor Tapio Lokki leads the virtual acoustics team jointly with Professor Lauri Savioja in the Department of Media Technology at Aalto University in Espoo. Their research aims to create the novel objective and subjective ways to evaluate concert hall acoustics. In addition, the team develops physically-based room acoustics modeling methods to obtain authentic auralizations of performance spaces. The team also studies augmented reality audio and eyes-free user interfaces.
In summer 2013, Lokki and his team’s work got a signifigant international recognition when Lokki was presented with an International Commission for Acoustics Early Career Award in Montreal, Canada. The award was given to professor Lokki for outstanding contributions to room acoustics, and in particular for the novel subjective and objective assessment methods of concert halls. The International Commission for Acoustics ICA is a global forum of researchers active in the field of acoustics. The ICA Early Career Award is presented once in three years to an individual who has contributed substantially, through published papers, to the advancement of theoretical or applied acoustics.
Along with the university work professor Lokki is currently the President of Finland Acoustical Society, general secretary of European Acoustics Association, member of editorial board in Acta Acustica united with Acustica Journal, and actively involved in the following respective organizations: Acoustical Society of America, the Audio Engineering Society AES, IEEE Computer Society, and ACM / Siggraph Helsinki Chapter.
During his career Lokki has been involved inviting and organizing many international conferences in Finland and Espoo, such as Audio Engineering Society conferences (AES 45th Conference on Applications of Time-Frequency Processing in Audio in Espoo 2012) and European Acoustics Association conferences (EAA Symposium on Auralization in Espoo 2009). Next year Lokki is actively involved in organizing the AES 55th Conference on Spatial Audio in Helsinki.
Criteria for choosing EspooAmbassador
The Ambassador’s selection criteria include a person’s activity in international research efforts and in their respective scientific associations. Another important factor is how active the person is as a congress inviter and organizer and also how notable the congresses are internationally. Selected person represents the top of their research field in Finland.
The prize is announced in annual EspooAmbassador lunch, hosted by the Mayor of Espoo and Aalto University, where wide range of representatives from scientific institutions are invited. The purpose of naming EspooAmbassadors is to highlight the importance of international scientific congresses for the host city, for the represented institute as well as for the researcher itself. In connection with the award ceremony participants are encouraged to invite congresses from their own field to Espoo and Finland. They are also informed how the City of Espoo and the city convention bureau along with the Aalto University can support and help scientists inviting and organizing international congresses.
Visit Espoo Convention has awarded Ambassador of the Year since 2009.
Other EspooAmbassadors are:
Honour Ambassador 2009 Markku Peltoniemi
EspooAmbassador 2010 Riitta Smeds
EspooAmbassador 2011 Olli Simula
EspooAmbassador 2012 Jukka Tuhkuri
