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Malin Selleby the first woman to get the Sefström Medal

Malin receives a diploma and flowers from Peter, older man.
Malin Selleby is regarded as one of the world's foremost experts in thermodynamic modelling in materials design. Here, she receives the medal by Peter Samuelsson. Photo: Mats Gartz
Published Mar 30, 2022

Malin Selleby receives the Sefström Medal for her work in Computational Thermodynamics. The Sefström Medal is awarded by The Swedish association of mining and metallurgical engineers* every 5 years since 1987 and this year it was time for the first woman to take place on the podium.

"In her work as a researcher and teacher, Malin Selleby  has made decisive contributions to raising the level of knowledge regarding computational thermodynamics in Sweden".

This is part of the motivation for why Malin Selleby at KTH's Department of Materials Science and Engineering received the medal this year.

Portrait Malin with diploma and flowers
Malin Selleby is Professor of Computational Thermodynamics. Photo: Mats Gartz

After graduating in 1986, Malin has been active first as a PhD student with Mats Hillert as main supervisor and then as a researcher at KTH. In 2008 she was appointed Associate Professor and, in 2012, Professor of Computational Thermodynamics. Together with her colleagues, she is developing models and descriptions for the next generation of Calphad databases, something which is getting increasingly important when new materials are to be developed faster.

Among students, Malin is a popular teacher, and in 2020 she was named Teacher of the year at KTH by the student union. Together with her colleagues she is currently reviewing the courses in the Materials Design programme to sharpen the education further.

"It is important that the students see a connecting thread through all grades", says Malin."And that we constantly stay relevant".

In addition to teaching, supervision and paper writing, she used to have roles such as Director of Third-Cycle Studies at the ITM School and Unit Head. She has acquired a broad international network and is regarded as one of the world's foremost experts in thermodynamic modelling in materials design.

To crown it all Malin is arranging the international Calphad conference in May together with Anders Engström at Thermo-Calc Software AB.

"I'm not good at relaxing", she admits." I think the topic is incredibly interesting".

"The best thing about my job is probably the freedom I have and the privilege to collaborate with talented doctoral students and colleagues".

*Svenska Bergsmannaföreningen

Text: Ulrika Georgsson 

Some of Malin Selleby's merits

  • Appointed KTH's best Teacher by THS (KTH’s Student Union) in 2020
  • Chairman of STT (Foundation for Applied Thermodynamics)
  • Publication of over 100 articles in reputable international scientific journals
  • KTH's representative in APDIC (Alloy Phase Diagram International Commission)
  • KTH's representative in SGTE (Scientific Group Thermodata Europe).