Dr. Jose Manuel Lopez | Fluid Mechanics | Best Researcher Award 
Permanent Labor Professor at University of Malaga,Spain 🎓
Education 🎓:
Dr. José M. López has an impressive academic background in physics and engineering. He earned his Ph.D. in Applied and Computational Physics in 2015 from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain, where he specialized in numerical methods and turbulent flow simulations. Before that, he completed a Master’s in Applied and Computational Physics in 2012, a joint program offered by the University of Barcelona and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. His academic journey began with a degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Malaga, Spain, in 2009, providing him with a strong foundation in engineering principles.
Work Experience 💼:
Dr. López’s professional career reflects his progression as a dedicated researcher and educator in fluid mechanics. He currently serves as an Associate Professor (2024–Present) at the University of Malaga, Spain. Previously, he held the position of Assistant Professor at the same institution from 2022 to 2024. Between 2021 and 2022, he was a Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación Fellow at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, where he furthered his research in turbulence modeling. From 2015 to 2020, he worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at IST Austria and LSTM Erlangen, Germany, focusing on advanced numerical simulations. His academic career began as a Research Assistant (FPI Fellow) at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia from 2010 to 2014, where he conducted foundational research in fluid dynamics.
Skills 🔍
Dr. López possesses a diverse skill set that underpins his expertise in fluid mechanics and computational physics. He is highly skilled in Numerical Simulations, with extensive experience in developing and implementing computational codes for analyzing fluid dynamics. His specialization in Turbulence Modeling allows him to investigate transport, mixing, and energy efficiency in turbulent flows. He is also adept at Mathematical Modeling, creating practical solutions for real-world challenges such as pollutant dispersion and pipeline efficiency. Furthermore, his proficiency in Programming, particularly in parallel computing, enables him to perform high-performance simulations crucial for his research.
Awards and Honors 🏆
Dr. López’s contributions to science and education have been widely recognized. In 2023, he received the I3 Certificate, acknowledging his excellence in research and teaching. He was awarded the prestigious Marie Curie COFUND Fellowship (2015–2017) as part of the European Union’s initiative to support promising postdoctoral researchers. During his doctoral studies, he was a recipient of the FPI Scholarship (2010–2014), funded by the Spanish government. His academic excellence is further highlighted by his publications in leading journals such as Nature, Physical Review Letters, and PNAS.
🤝 Memberships:
Dr. López is an active member of the scientific community. He served on the Scientific Committee for the Second Spanish Fluid Mechanics Conference in 2023, showcasing his leadership and expertise in the field. He is a regular reviewer for high-impact journals such as Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Physics of Fluids, and Physical Review Fluids, and he also acts as an evaluator for Spain’s National Research Agency, contributing to the assessment of cutting-edge research projects.
Teaching Experience 👩🏫:
Dr. López is deeply committed to education, having taught undergraduate and master’s courses in Fluid Mechanics and Computational Physics. He has successfully supervised seven undergraduate theses and two master’s theses to completion, with two additional master’s students currently under his guidance. Beyond teaching, he has made significant contributions to academic events, such as organizing a special session on fluid simulations at the RSME22 Congress, further enriching the educational landscape in his field.
Research Focus 🔬:
📚 Publilcation
- “Convective Heat Transfer in Uniformly Accelerated and Decelerated Turbulent Pipe Flows”
- “Turbulence Suppression by Cardiac-Cycle-Inspired Driving of Pipe Flow”
- “Stably Stratified Taylor–Couette Flows”
- Year: 2023
- Journal: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
- DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2022.0115
- “Arrow-Shaped Elasto-Inertial Rotating Waves”
- Year: 2023
- Journal: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
- DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2022.0227
- “Vortex Merging and Splitting Events in Viscoelastic Taylor–Couette Flow”
- “Experimental Observation of the Origin and Structure of Elastoinertial Turbulence”
- “nsCouette — A High-Performance Code for Direct Numerical Simulations of Turbulent Taylor-Couette Flow”
- “Dynamics of Viscoelastic Pipe Flow at Low Reynolds Numbers in the Maximum Drag Reduction Limit”