RWTH Researcher Dr. Tobias Sauter Receives Best Dissertation Award
Dr. Tobias Sauter from RWTH’s Physical Geography and Climatology Group has now been presented with the Best Dissertation Award by the Association of German University Geographers (VGDH). The award was given for the best dissertation in Physical Geography in the period between 2009 and 2011. The award, which is considered the most prestigious of its kind in German Geography, was presented at the “IGC 2012 - Down to Earth” international geography conference in Cologne. Sauter’s dissertation, written in English, is titled “Application, Optimization and Uncertainty Estimation of Global Nonlinear Nonparametric Prediction Algorithms: Case Studies in Physical Geography.“
For his dissertation, Sauter has conducted research on the development and assessment of mathematical methods for the creation of models for spatial and temporal structures, such as the distribution of snow layers in German mid-range mountainous areas, rain patterns in North Rhine-Westphalia, and water flows in glaciated catchment areas in Patagonia. In his research, he made use of so-called non-linear methods, including neural networks. In order to analyze uncertainty in the time series and the spatial structures and to investigate the physical relationships behind the geostatistical data, he conducted sensitivity studies using cutting-edge mathematical approaches. The results of his research have been published in prestigious international journals and as book chapters.
Sauter has studied Geography, Meteorology and Geology at the University of Freiburg. Since 2007, he has been working as a research assistant at RWTH Aachen University, under the supervision of Professor Christoph Schneider. For his outstanding dissertation, Sauter had already received the Borchers Medal from RWTH Aachen.