Newsmail #45, 2022-12-21

Dear all,

We have now wrapped up today’s meeting with the rector, deputy rector, and the university director. We decided not to visit the MMK building; we will do that next time. We visited the other departments of the ITM school very briefly. The program started with a discussion about MMK and our activities, based on presentations by Zeinab Raoofi and Ulf Olofsson. Zeinab and Ulf did an excellent job, and – both the rector and the university director, several times during the morning and lunch, wanted to discuss our thoughts on expanding into systems engineering.

The rector (and KTH management) will visit each department during 2023. At this meeting, they would like to meet a lot of staff. So, as soon as we know the date, I’ll invite all members at MMK, and we’ll create a program that enables much interaction.

I also want to let you know about some other things. The learning department, mainly located in the KTH Library and the Sing-Sing building, has now decided to move to our part of campus. They will move into the two top floors of the EGI/IPU building (above the service center). The move is planned for the coming summer. This move is possible since the EGI dept leaves these two top floors. The IPU department (production department) goes most of the second floor of the same building back to KTH to reduce the cost of the rent. So, the EGI/IPD-building will see lots of change during the following year, and we’ll go from three departments here to four.

If you saw the holiday greetings movie we received on Monday from the ITM communicators, you might have noticed that we received a big basket of chocolate from the head of the school. I put the basket in the coffee area last Friday and was not surprised to see that it was empty not many hours later. I hope you all enjoyed the content.

I will now try to stop working for two weeks and enjoy the holidays. I hope that you all can do the same. Two weeks of rest might be a long-term investment toward yourself and your career.

Tonight is the longest and darkest night of the year. In Iran, it’s called Yaldā Night - Wikipedia. So, I wrap up by saying, “I wish you a long and happy life like the Yalda night, sweet as watermelon and fruitful as pomegranates!”.

Best,

Martin