Our former SFB 1313 doctoral researcher Beatrix Becker from the Department of Hydromechanics and Modelling of Hydrosystems of the University of Stuttgart received the Bürkert University Prize for her outstanding dissertation alongside two other scientists:
The award ceremony took place on 17 November 2023 as part of the annual celebration of the University of Stuttgart. From 1st May 2024 until 15 August 2021, Beatrix Becker was a research assistant at the Department of Hydromechanics and Modeling of Hydrosystemsfrom. She was a doctoral student in the Graduate School of SC Simtech and successfully defended her dissertation on 22nd June 2021 with the grade "summa cum laude". The thesis was supervised by Rainer Helmig. Co-supervisors were M. Celia (Princeton University), B. Flemisch (University of Stuttgart) and C. Rohde (University of Stuttgart).
As part of her dissertation, Beatrix Becker has developed a new, highly efficient multiscale approach for multiphase flow and transport processes in the subsurface. The focus is on a new adaptive dimension reduction approach (vertical averaging), which allows complex 3-dimensional areas to be adaptively linked with 2-dimensional areas, as well as adaptively incorporating the complexity of the physical processes with the help of a multi-physics approach. In her work, she was able to show very clearly that this new approach enables the necessary large-scale modeling of storage, e.g. of hydrogen or methane. These storage systems are potentially important components of larger renewable energy systems.
About the Bürkert University Prize
Each year, up to three doctoral theses can be awarded a prize of 5,000 € each. The prize must be awarded for outstanding work. The deans have the right to nominate candidates. Each dean can make a maximum of one nomination per year.
After the dissolution of the Association of Friends of the University of Stuttgart e.V. until the establishment of the University of Stuttgart Foundation in 2023, the Christian Bürkert Foundation endowed the University Prize (formerly known as the "Friends of the University Prize") in 2022.
