Michael Persson appointed professor at Chalmers

Today, April 19, Michael Persson from AkzoNobel’s business unit (BU) Pulp and Performance Chemicals will hold his inaugural lecture as adjunct professor at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg.

”This is of course an immensely interesting and positive thing for us. We are world-leaders in the area of colloidal silica and it is imperitive for our competitive advantage that we are at the forefront,” says Ruud Joosten, Managing Director for AkzoNobel Pulp and Performance Chemicals.

”It is a very exciting and expansive research area. For a long time now, we have had close cooperation with Chalmers and this is just a natural progression of that,” says a very happy Michael Persson.

His inaugural lecture is titled, “Design of silica nanoparticles for papermaking”. He will be presenting this today at 2 pm in the KA lecture hall, Kemigården 4 at Chalmers.

In his new role, Michael will focus on one of AkzoNobel Pulp and Performance’s strategically important areas – the chemistry of silica. Michael has a long and close cooperation with Chalmers, both as a lecturer and as a participant in different research projects. His time will now be shared between Chalmers and a newly created position as Innovation Manager at AkzoNobel.

Michael, 56, has worked at AkzoNobel since 1989. His previous position was Principal Scientist, Product RD&I, a position he has held since 2004.

Background

A large part of the paper manufacturing industry in the world uses AkzoNobel’s silica based products. In addition to the paper and pulp industry, large volumes of silcic based products are sold to the pharmaceutical and electronic industries among others. More information is available at www.akzonobel.com/eka