From a total of 124 applicants to the 2018 call of the Concurso de Becas de Postdoctorado en el Extranjero de Becas Chile, 61 winners were selected, one of which, no less than in position 25 of the respective ranking, is Dr. Sergio Caucao, graduated in past December from our Ph.D. Program in Applied Sciences with major in Mathematical Engineering, under the advising of the CI²MA researchers, Gabriel N. Gatica y Ricardo Oyarzua. Sergio, who performs from March 2018 until the end of this month a postdoctoral stay in the CI²MA under the guidance of his former advisors, which is funded by our joint basal project with the CMM of the U. of Chile, will move in January 2019 to the Department of Mathematics, University of Pittsburgh, USA, to start this new postdoctorate, now under the supervision of Professor Ivan Yotov. The research project that he will carry out there is entitled: Numerical Methods for Fluid-Poroelastic Structure Interaction Models, whose main objective is to study, analyze and develop new numerical methods for the coupled problem of Navier-Stokes / Biot and related models. In this regard, Sergio details that: "In particular, we are interested in developing the stability and error analyses of the proposed schemes, in addition to deriving temporal a posteriorir error estimators that allow to improve the accuracy of the numerical approximations. All this motivated by the study of physical phenomena such as the processes that arise in the flow of groundwater in aquifers, in the extraction of oil and gas, and in arterial flows. "

Concerning the meaning of this postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Caucao adds: "I see it as an honor and recognition of the work done during my doctoral training. Indeed, I understand that one of the important points that was evaluated in my application is the high productivity vs. years in the program, which undoubtedly would not have been achieved without the constant and rigorous work with my advisors. In turn, this new challenge is certainly a great opportunity to continue developing collaborative work with internationally renowned researchers, which will contribute to diversify and expand my knowledge in Numerical Analysis of Partial Differential Equations. In addition, it will allow me to create academic ties with the University of Pittsburgh, which will help me to continue strengthening my career as researcher."

And as regards how he projects his academic future beyond the postdoc that will begin next January, Sergio does not hesitate to point out that: "As a researcher, my goal is to carry out research that contributes to the development of the country. More precisely, once this postdoc is concluded, I intend to continue doing that task, but above all collaborative work with academics and specialists from other applied areas. At the same time, and as a teacher, I project myself as a trainer of new researchers, guiding undergraduate and graduate theses, and leading new research projects."