Doctoral Researcher Mikko Räsänen started his university studies in the Department of Technical Physics of the University of Eastern Finland in 2014, when the department was still called the Department of Applied Physics.
In spring 2017, he wrote his Bachelor’s thesis, which was a literature review on hyperpolarized magnetic resonance imaging. At the same time, he became involved with electrical impedance tomography (EIT) research through a summer project in Prof. Aku Ursin’s team. After this, he continued working with EIT for his Master’s thesis, and his interest in the topic grew along the way.
This turned into an opportunity to continue with the subject for his doctoral research work.
Advancing anisotropic EIT
Räsänen’s research started with a plan to focus on using EIT for the imaging of concrete structural elements. A part of the plan was implementing novel computational methods for the imaging of strain fields on surfaces, which was done during the project. Another part of the plan was studying the use of inexpensive equipment for EIT measurements. The plans changed along the way because of challenges posed by some of the initially intended research directions, but also due to welcomed collaboration with other research groups.
For Räsänen, the most significant finding of the research was the applicability of anisotropic conductivity imaging in a real measurement setup. Ideally, he would like it if this part of the work inspires other researchers to study anisotropic EIT using either real or simulated data.
Milestones and new horizons
Räsänen’s long-term focus on EIT culminated on the completion of his doctoral dissertation Development of computational methods for electrical impedance tomography in multiphysical applications, which he defended at the Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology on 12 June, 2026.
Currently, Räsänen plans to continue working in research, although on a different topic. He is now working in FAME Director, Prof. Tanja Tarvainen’s team, where his focus is on software development for numerical modelling of light transport. Such modelling can be used in various biological tissue imaging applications.
Photo: Tanja Tarvainen. | From the left: the custos, Professor Aku Ursin, Doctoral Researcher Mikko Räsänen fresh out of his public defence, and the opponent, FAME Vice Director, Professor Nuutti Hyvönen from Aalto University.
