The activities of the Evaluation Committee for the ECCOMAS award for the best PhD theses in 2021 were carried out in an online format due to the remaining mobility restrictions resulting of the Covid-19 pandemic. As an answer to the call for tenders, the ECCOMAS member associations nominated 16 theses. The Evaluation Committee was composed by Manolis Papadrakakis (chairman), Annabelle Colin, Jeroen Wackers, Frans van der Meer and Pedro Díez (secretary). After discussing the procedure, all the candidate theses were assessed by the members of the Committee, accounting for the different relevant aspects of all of them. The assessment grids of all the members were added up and a shortlist of the six best ranked ones was analyzed again in detail. Two theses ranked above the others and therefore the committee has unanimously agreed on selecting them as the two winners. The two winners are:
- Dr. Marco Tezzele (Italy) for the thesis “Data-driven parameter and model order
reduction for industrial optimisation problems with applications in naval
engineering”. - Dr. Erik Hiltunen (Switzerland) for the thesis “Asymptotic analysis of high-contrast
subwavelength resonator”
These theses are outstanding works in Computational Methods in Applied Sciences combining excellent knowledge of both theory and practice, with special insight in the fundamental and computational aspects. The panel has appreciated the complementary on the focus of the scientific contributions: the first contributions to the modelling and reduced-order solver of a complex model in CFD with a pertinent industrial application, and sharp-edge technologies to solve optimization problems in a non-intrusive framework, and the second he comprehensive and rigorous analysis of a problem with high potential impact, covering different aspects of the modelling, mathematical analysis and numerical approximation. Both, the two winners are pieces of research that extend the frontiers of the fields of ECCOMAS, and open our community to new problems and methodologies. The award decision was based on the relevance of the topics, the originality of the theses, their scientific content, the innovative numerical developments and the personal involvement of the candidates. Moreover, both theses are very well
written and meticulously presented.
All nominees will be recognized by a special diploma that will be sent directly to the candidate. On behalf of ECCOMAS we would like to thank you for your cooperative efforts in this selection process.
| Association | Author | Title of the thesis |
|---|---|---|
| AIMETA-GIMC | Donatella Passiatore | Direct Numerical Simulations of hypersonic turbulent boundary layers with thermochemical non-equilibrium effects |
| APMTAC | Mohammad-Reza Pendar | Numerical modelling of complex flows with sprays including electrostatic effects |
| BNCTAM | Jef Wambacq | Variational formulation and numerical solution techniques for the phase field approach to fracture |
| CEACMC | Henrik Tamas Sykora | Dynamics of Stochastic Mechanical Systems with Delays |
| CSMA/SMAI-GAMNI | Marie Touboul | Acoustic and elastic wave propagation in microstructured media with interfaces: homogenization, simulation and optimization |
| GACM | Tobias Bode | Peridynamic Galerkin methods for nonlinear solid mechanics |
| GAMM | Robert Eggersmann | Constitutive-model-free data-driven computational mechanics |
| GRACM | Nikos Vasileiadis | Gaseous transport phenomena in rarefied conditions via deterministic and stochastic methods with applications in vacuum and fusion engineering |
| IACMM | Adar Kahana | Numerical approximation of the wave problem and its properties using learning |
| NOACM | Fredrik Ekre | Numerical Model Reduction and Error Control for Computational Homogenization of Transient Problems |
| PACM | Michał Wichrowski | Fluid-structure interaction problems: velocity-based formulation and monolithic computational methods |
| SEMA | Ernesto Pimentel García | Numerical analysis of some nonlinear hyperbolic systems of Partial Differential Equations arising from Fluid Mechanics |
| SEMNI | David Codony | Mathematical and Computational Modelling of Flexoelectricity at mesoscopic and atomistic scales |
| UKACM | Jinlong Fu | Stochastic Characterization, Microstructure Reconstruction and Transport Property Prediction for Porous Media |