Jaakko Puhakka

As environmental biotechnology professor (Emeritus from 4/2022 onwards) my research aims at developing microbiological and biotechnical solutions for the environment and to support circular economy. Specific research areas involve bioprocesses for production of various energy carriers, bioremediation of contaminated environments, biological management and control of industrial pollution, as well as microbiology and microbial ecology of extreme environments.

My research has been conducted in national and international research programs with the industry and academic partners. This has involved supervision of over 140 M.Sc. and 31 Doctoral theses (plus 1 on-going) and resulted in over 240 papers with over 8 500 citations in Scopus. I held visiting faculty positions at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA) in 1990-1994 and at Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (Perth, Western Australia) in 2001-2002.

In education, my duty was to develop and establish the environmental biotechnology curriculum at Tampere University of Technology (TUT) and initiate the TUT Biotechnology program as chair of the development committee. 

In addition to academic work, I’ve served in administrative positions of TUT as President, Vice-President for Research, Vice-Dean and Department Head as well as Academic Rector of the University of Eastern Finland. I served as Academic Board Member at TAU in 2018-2021.

For publications, see: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tZ6QB0AAAAAJ&hl=en