The Graduate School, together with the Research Direction, under the General Direction of Research, Development and Innovation, both of Universidad del Bío-Bío (UBB), recently convened a competition to provide places for postdoctoral researchers for the different Doctorate programs this public entity has. One of these positions was given to Carlos García who recently obtained a PhD in Applied Sciences with a minor in Mathematical Engineering, after defending his research thesis conducted under the direction of Professor Dr. Salim Meddahi from University of Oviedo, Spain, and Gabriel Gatica, researcher and director of the Center for Research in Mathematical Engineering, CI²MA, of the Universidad de Concepción.

“The program begins September 1 and extends for 12 months, with measurable results to six months, to assess progress. I will work with Ricardo Oyarzúa, and our goal is to work with magneto-hydrodynamic equations, which are a coupling between Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism, and the Navier-Stokes equations for hydrodynamics”, Carlos explains about his study objectives in the postdoctoral program, and he emphasizes that these equations “allow to model the behavior of fluids that conduct electricity in the presence of magnetic fields, which has several technological and industrial applications, for example in electricity generation, especially at nuclear power plants. On this subject, we want to do analysis of error a priori and a posteriori, generating at least two publications sent during the postdoctoral time and, at least, one more in a time immediately after it, to complete three of them”, he says. Although the topic he will addressed during this period is not directly related to the one he studied in his doctoral thesis, Carlos explains that he has the theoretical tools that are required “especially in the mathematical treatment of the subject, the use of weak formulations, numerical methods and mixed finite elements, for example. Besides, it's good that you can diversify a little, doing different things, to enrich your experience” García says, and adds that, through this postdoc he will continue linked to CI²MA given his collaboration with Ricardo Oyarzúa, since this Center “has a great reputation, both in Chile and abroad”.

Precisely, Oyarzúa, an academician at the Department of Mathematics at the UBB and an external associate researcher at CI²MA, UdeC, was the main architect of this possibility of professional development for Carlos García, having participated in the Evaluation Commission of his presentation of doctoral thesis. “When I learned that the contests were available, I decided to ask Carlos. He was interested in applying and he was selected” explains the also Director of the Doctoral Program in Applied Mathematics at that university and complements with that “I have been working for some time with Navier-Stokes equations and I'm interested in studying the coupling between it and Maxwell's equations to model magneto-hydrodynamics, and I could not get enough time to study this, so that Carlos comes to work with me on this subject is a very good chance. In the project, we are committed to give certain scientific productivity that is measured in the papers production. In addition, Carlos could eventually teach some mini-courses, although he is not obligated to develop teaching activities, but only research ones, but it will help in motivating students of our Doctorate program to work in research lines we are developing”, Oyarzúa emphasizes.