Welcome Antonella

Antonella Valcozzena’s path to material science engineering is anything but conventional. Her journey has taken her halfway around the world, from Italy to Japan, then to Sweden, back to Japan, and then finally to Sweden again!

Born in northern Italy surrounded by the Dolomite mountains, Antonella developed an early interest in Japanese language and culture. Continuing with Japanese studies at university was therefore a natural step, including a period as an exchange student in Japan. During the pandemic however, she faced a crossroad of what to do next.

– I decided to go back to university to study Industrial Engineering, and it was during this time that I became fascinated by material science.

This fascination led Antonella to enrol in the material science master’s programme at KTH in Sweden. As if were meant to be, KTH had a collaboration with Tohoku University in Japan.

­- I was able to do my master’s thesis at the Tohoku University where I studied the liquidus line in the slag system for Invar iron-nickel alloys, which included a lot of experiments and lab work.

Shortly after finishing her master’s thesis, Antonella returned to Sweden and started working for UHT, strengthening the Process and Control team. A typical workday consists mostly of calculations for sales and different projects in UTCAS, UHT’s steel production management system.

– I enjoy the technical side of the projects. I still have a lot to learn about UTCAS and the different processes, but I have great colleagues who guide me whenever I have any questions.

It has also been an adjustment to start thinking in terms of the bigger picture, moving from theory to practice where so many various parameters at an actual steel plant come into play.

– In practice it is so much more factors to consider than just the metallurgical process within the heat. Site visits are very exciting, because they give me a different perspective and deeper understanding of the specifics of each plant.

Even though Antonella is still very fond of Japan and loves taking hikes in the Dolomites of her Italian hometown, choosing to live in Sweden was not difficult.

– I like it here. People are quiet and respectful and not super loud. It very seldom gets too crowded and the way Swedes tend to spread out on subway trains and buses and keep a slight distance is just perfect for me, she adds with a smile.