Our Stories

3 PhDs at once (almost)

During two intense weeks at the end of October and beginning of November, three students obtained their doctoral degrees in rock mechanics at the Luleå University of Technology. Itasca has contributed with supervision and support to all three students during the course of their studies. We work closely with research and development and it feels very good to see the results of several years of hard work, which had lead to a deepened knowledge in rock mechanics. We congratulate all three to their doctoral degrees!

Mikael Svartsjaern presented a thesis on large-scale footwall stability at the Kiirunavaara Mine (LKAB). Mikael will join our Luleå office, starting January, which you can read more about here (in Swedish). His doctoral thesis can be downloaded here.

Mikael Svartsjaern receiving his diploma form Björn Lund (examining committe) with Doug Stead (opponent), Andrew Corkum (examining committe) and Krishna Panthi (examining committe) to the right

Jessa Vatcher defended her doctoral thesis on "Listening to the story of the rock mass", in which she has made use of several types of data sources to better characterize and understand the behavior of rock masses, with particular application to the Kiirunavaara Mine. Jessa is already an Itasca employee at the office in Luleå, working on various rock mechanics consulting projects for mining and civil applications. Jessa's thesis is available for download here.

Jessa Vatcher (third from left) with members of the examining committe, opponent and supervisors, from left: Kristin Hilde Holmöy, Heinz Konietzky, Dick Stacey, Mikael Rinne, Steve McKinnon & Jonny Sjöberg.
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