Prof Dr.-Ing. Rainer Helmig, Chair of LH2 (Department of Hydromechanics and Modelling of Hydrosystems, Institute for Modelling Hydraulic and Environmental Systems, University of Stuttgart), spokesman of the Collaborative Research Centre 1313 (“Interface-Driven Multi-Field Processes in Porous Media. Flow, Transport and Deformation”) and Dean of Studies of SimTech (Cluster of Excellence) is the third person to be appointed Magne Espedal Professor by the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Bergen. The professorship is to start on March 15th, 2019.
The professorship is awarded for a period of three years to internationally recognized researchers in the fields of applied mathematics, computational science, mathematical modelling and/or energy research and has been established with the support of DEA Norge*.
Magne S. Espedal, world-renowned professor at the University of Bergen, was the first person to introduce and connect the field of applied mathematics and research on porous media. After he unexpectedly passed away in 2010, a professorship was established in his honour: the Magne Espedal Honorary Professorship.
Until now, the Magne Espedal Honorary Professorship has been awarded three times:
1) Prof. Margot Gerritsen, Stanford University
2) Prof. Barbara Wohlmuth, TU München
3) Prof. Rainer Helmig, University of Stuttgart
The aim of this honorary professorship is to intensify the collaboration between the porous-media community and the field of applied mathematics. "The University of Stuttgart has been running joint projects and dissertations with the University of Bergen, and especially with Magne S. Espedal, for more than 20 years. It is a great honour and pleasure to have the opportunity of intensifying our international cooperation", says Professor Rainer Helmig.
“We are very grateful for the opportunity to establish an honorary professorship in memory of Magne Espedal, and for having Rainer with us on our team. The group has produced groundbreaking research results that are attracting international attention. Rainer knows the work well already and will help strengthen the research and connect the group to the world,” says Professor Jan M. Nordbotten, one of the initiators of this honorary professorship.
*DEA Norge is part of the international DEA Group – the Deutsche Erdoel AG.