AAU Professor is World’s Most Cited Researcher in Engineering

AAU Professor is World’s Most Cited Researcher in Engineering

Engineering and science at Aalborg University stands strong. Internationally, the faculty’s research distinguishes itself on several international rankings, and most recently, Frede Blaabjerg, AAU Professor in Power Electronics, took first place as the researcher with the highest number of citations per publication in Engineering in the world. The recognized international journal THE (Times Higher Education) provides the rankings based on publications from 2011-2015 and 10 different subject areas.

World university rankings have great importance for how the quality and impact of the university's research is assessed by the outside world.

Mogens Rysholt Poulsen, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Science at Aalborg University, is both delighted and proud of Frede Blaabjerg’s placing on the list. He views it as a sign that the faculty's research in fields like power electronics is world class, and he hopes that it can help achieve one of the strategic objectives the management group has set.

- In the management group, we agree that one of our focus points is that we must work hard to create an attractive and internationally recognized research environment, not only to produce the highest quality research but also to ultimately attract even more excellent profiles from abroad. And Frede Blaabjerg’s placing on a ranking like this helps significantly, says Mogens Rysholt Poulsen.

Many inquiries from abroad

Frede Blaabjerg himself takes the ranking calmly, but acknowledges that the impressive placing speaks to the fact that the research he does and the exceptional research environment surrounding him are very reputable in the international research arena.

- For example, I get more and more inquiries from international researchers who would like to come to AAU as guest researchers or would like to publish with me. This is a positive development, although the many inquiries also demand that I'm pretty selective about what collaborations I choose to be a part of, says Frede Blaabjerg.

Frede Blaabjerg’s first place in the entire field of engineering makes the placing even more remarkable, and it is indicative of an excellent research environment at AAU. Frede Blaabjerg is, however, more modest in his interpretation of the issue.

- The entire restructuring of our energy systems is an extremely popular topic these days, and this means there will also be a lot of publications in this area. And this of course obviously contributes to the fact that I am cited so often, says Frede Blaabjerg.

Going forward, Frede Blaabjerg’s focus will continue to produce world class research, but he is emphasizes that he cannot do this alone. Therefore he makes a point of spotting talented researchers regularly and on training and motivating them since this is the only way to maintain a position as a leading research institution in the field of power electronics.

Frede Blaabjerg is the only Dane with a first place in the 27 fields THE has ranked, but in the top 100 AAU is also represented by Zhe Chen, Ramjee Prasad, Gregory Lipp and Kim Overvad.

Contact

  • Frede Blaabjerg, Professor, Tel. +45 2129 2454 
  • Mogens Rysholt Poulsen, Dean, Tel. +45 9940 2006
  • Press contact at AAU: Sanne Holm Nielsen, Tel. +45 9940 3517