I am originally from Hankasalmi, a small rural town of less than 6000 inhabitants in Central Finland. After finishing high school, I moved to Jyväskylä to study physics at the University of Jyväskylä. During my undergrad, I was an exchange student in Regina, Saskatchewan, for one semester. Towards the end of my undergraduate studies, I ended up working with the ALICE group doing experimental heavy ion physics. I continued in the ALICE group to work towards a PhD. In the first half of my PhD studies, I was located in Jyväskylä, but in the second half, I was stationed at CERN to be able to take a closer part in the everyday running of the experiment. I got my PhD in 2017 and got my first postdoctoral researcher position at the University of Illinois at Chicago. At the same time, I also changed experiments from ALICE to CMS. After working for 3.5 years in Chicago, I moved to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, together with my beautiful wife, Emily. In November 2024, our family grew as Elizabeth, who is the cutest baby ever, was born. I currently work at Vanderbilt University as a postdoctoral researcher.

Heavy ion physics and jets

In heavy ion physics, we collide heavy ions in order to create quark-gluon plasma, an exotic state of matter that filled the universe a fraction of a second after the Big Bang. Quarks are the building blocks that combine to create protons, neutrons, and many other particles. Gluons carry the interactions between quarks. In regular matter, quantum chromodynamics, the theory of the strong interaction, dictates that quarks are always either in pairs or sets of three. Quark-gluon plasma is a special state of matter since, within this state, quarks can move freely, without being confined to particles where they normally reside. I am especially interested in collimated streams of particles, called jets, that are sometimes created in particle collisions. The particles in these jets interact with quark-gluon plasma, and when they are measured in a detector, their properties are modified when compared to collisions where no quark-gluon plasma is created. The details of these modifications carry information about the properties of the quark-gluon plasma.

Free time

I find an adequate amount of free time very important to balance the time spent on research. I like doing all kinds of sports. I have played football (for the Americans there, in this football the ball is actually kicked with your feet) in the fifth highest league stage in Finland, in addition to many different recreational leagues. I have also played volleyball at recreational league level. I used to be in a circus school in Jyväskylä, where I did juggling, floor acrobatics, aerial silks, and pair acrobatics. At times, I have also practiced martial arts (Han Moo Do and Taekwondo), tennis, floorball, running, swimming, biking, cross-country skiing, disc golf, slacklining, orienteering, and trampoline acrobatics.

I enjoy being in nature, doing camping and hiking. In Finland, I have done these especially in the Hossa National Park in the north, which has really beautiful forests. When stationed at CERN, I often did day hikes in the Jura or the Alps. In the United States, I have visited several state and national parks for day and overnight hikes, including Indiana Dunes, Starved Rock, Smoky Mountains, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Virgin Falls.

I also really like playing board games. I own tens of games and have played hundreds of different ones. I really appreciate the problem-solving aspect in many heavier board games, where you need to make the best decisions within the available options. Even though heavy strategy games are my favorites, I enjoy a wide variety of games, and lighter social ones are great icebreakers for evenings with friends.