The new Thermo-Calc Professor of the Practice position aims to bring in experts such as Professor Olson, who have created their own successful practice, to teach about the entrepreneurial side of materials science and engineering. Professor Olson’s success in co-founding and building a world-renowned company will allow him to teach beyond the classroom and focus his curriculum on what has been successful in industry. Moreover, his expertise in CALPHAD and computational materials engineering introduces a branch of materials science that has not been a recent focus of the department, namely using computational tools to design and develop new alloys and materials processes.
A History of Supporting Education
The sponsorship of this new position adds to a long list of support that Thermo-Calc Software has given to academia. The company grew out of three joint dissertation projects at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, and remains closely linked to its academic roots. The majority owner of Thermo-Calc Software is the non-profit foundation “Stiftelsen för Tillämpad Termodynamik” (STT), the purpose of which is to support research in the field of computational thermodynamics. STT achieves this goal by annually distributing scholarships to young researchers who are active in the field. This goal is further met through the company by providing educational resources developed in collaboration with KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
Thermo-Calc Software also actively supports university research programs in Sweden, the United States and China and provides numerous training programs, educational videos, webinars and workshops to be used in both undergraduate, post-graduate and continuing workforce development.