RWTH Scientist Inducted into "Junges Kolleg"
RWTH Researchers Dr. Julia Kowalski has been accepted as a young scholar into the “Junges Kolleg” of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts. Academy President Wolfgang Löwer and NRW Science Minister Svenja Schulze congratulated the recipients of the recognition.
Acceptance to the Academy is one of the most meaningful academic honors in North Rhein-Westphalia. To promote young scholars and scientists, the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) with the support of the Stiftung Mercator foundation established the "Junges Kolleg" in 2006.
Up to 30 outstanding young scholars and scientists from any discipline are appointed for a period of up to four years. Members participate in the activities of the Academy and receive an annual stipend of 10,000 Euros, and they have the opportunity to discuss their projects in interdisciplinary working groups. Furthermore, members are given the chance to network with other outstanding researchers and benefit from the Academy's resources and infrastructure. A doctoral degree as well as exceptional academic and research achievement at one of the NWR universities or research institutions are among the prerequisites for election into the College.
Julia Kowalski studied mathematics and physics in Augsburg and at ETH Zürich, where she also obtained her doctoral degree. Currently, she is heading a junior research group at the Aachen Institute for Advanced Study in Computational Engineering Science, AICES for short, and a member of the Faculty of Georesources and Materials Engineering., where her group works on the development of mathematical and numerical methods for applications in the geosciences. In particular, she is concerned with the modeling and simulation of natural hazards such as mass movements and landslides. Challenging aspects include the heterogeneous composition of the sliding mass and the influence of the topography on its dynamics.
Another key focus of Kowalski’s work is the modeling of multi-phase systems and phase transitions to describe melting and solidification processes, which help to describe ice melting processes. She takes a particular interest in coupled processes which, aside from conduction and convection, take forces into account. As a sub-project leader for the Enceladus Explorer initiative by the German Aerospace Center DLR, she uses these models to develop innovative technologies for the investigation of ice and ice melting processes.
Source: Press and Communications