19th ERCOFTAC Da Vinci Competition 2024 - Interview with Da Vinci Winner

Christopher Geschwindner 

(Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany)

"​Optical Diagnostics for Carbonaceous Solid Fuels and Flame Retarded Polymers in Laminar and Turbulent Flows"  

• What is the topic of your Ph.D. thesis?

My PhD thesis focused on the development and application of laser diagnostics to study solid fuel combustion. A key part of my research was investigating the replacement of coal with biomass for retrofitting coal power stations using the oxy-fuel process. This approach enables power plants to achieve net-zero or even net-negative carbon dioxide emissions by capturing the CO2, which was absorbed during biomass growth and collecting it post-combustion. My experiments examined how individual particles and particle clouds interact with turbulent flows during combustion, using ultrafast optical measurements to capture all phenomena precisely.

In 2019, our research group started collaborating with polymer chemists at Fraunhofer LBF on flame retardants for polymers. They were impressed by our ability to visualize and quantify reactive species around burning particles, leading us to apply our solid fuel combustion diagnostics to study chemical inhibitors in polymers. This became a significant part of my work and demonstrated the importance of diagnostic techniques for understanding physicochemical effects in both desired and undesired combustion.

• What does the Da Vinci competition mean to you and what does winning mean to you?

The Da Vinci competition is a fantastic opportunity for PhDs in fluid mechanics and combustion to showcase their work on the European stage. I really appreciate the format, being part of a mini-symposium structure, and the hosts at Imperial College were wonderful. Winning the prize in London was particularly special for me, as the city holds a lot of personal significance with many friends and great memories. Looking at past winners, there are some outstanding works on important topics, especially in energy science. I feel truly humbled to be among the chosen finalists, and winning the competition was just the cherry on top. It's especially meaningful that my friend and former colleague from Darmstadt, Matthias Steinhausen, and I won together this year. I think this highlights the importance of both experimental and simulation work in advancing reactive flows research to address the pressing challenges of clean energy production and conversion.

• What did trigger your interest in STEM?

I've always been curious, especially exploring everything from art and music to science. I wouldn’t say that I considered myself to be the typical nerdy kid, but I definitely had a knack for wanting to understand why things are the way they are and most importantly play around and find out for myself what to do with this info and shape something out of it. This curiosity was a big driver for me in pursuing a career in a STEM-related field and so after high school, it was clear to me that I wanted to be a scientist or engineer. In the end, I chose the engineering route but always stayed interested in fundamental scientific fields. During my PhD, I had a physicist as a supervisor and now I work in research for a chemical company. This interdisciplinary aspect of connecting different fields is great about being in STEM and a choice for one field rarely means closing the book on another topic as long as you stay connected to it. This flexibility is just great.

• Do you have any advice for others in STEM?

STEM isn't just about the topics, but the variety of people you get to work with and often become friends with. Due to this variety, my advice to others in STEM is to listen to yourself and follow what feels right for you and not to just copy what others might have done. A good mentor is very important but essentially this mentor should enable you to decide for yourself and give you the opportunities by pointing you in the right direction based on your interest.

Also, it's important not to stick to just one thing and master it, but to always keep learning. In a world with constant changes, especially with the rise of AI, staying curious and open to new knowledge is crucial. At university during studies and the PhD work, we focus a lot on the tools we use to tackle problems rather than seeing the bigger picture of why that topic is actually relevant to work on. Still, staying up to date with these tools is very important. Even as an experimentalist, don't shy away from learning about numerical methods and simulations, and vice versa. The trend in academia and industry is moving towards integrating experimental and in-silico methods. This is a great opportunity, but we should remember that while modeling is incredibly valuable, hands-on building and experimentation are equally important when we put things into practice. So, if you want to pursue a career in STEM, be prepared to add new tools to your toolbox and stay open to learning and adapting throughout your career while always changing perspective form overseeing projects to in-depth deep work on the relevant problems.

• What motivates you in your work?

What motivates me most in my work are the people I collaborate with, the connections I make, and the challenges we face in developing and implementing technologies. It's incredibly motivating to see our efforts in clean energy and industry systems finally paying off, especially with the recent drop in energy costs from renewables, where fluid mechanics plays a crucial role.

The next step for me is to work on improving processes in emission-intensive industries. This motivation led me to join the research team at BASF a few months ago. Here, I'm particularly driven by the opportunity to work on research projects that are connected to rethinking sustainable industrial processes. The connection between fundamental research and large-scale chemical production plants is amazing to see, and I’m excited to leverage this in my new position with the reaction engineering team.

• Where do you see yourself in five years?

This is hard to predict, but definitely in a STEM-related position.

• What advice would you give to new PhD students starting in fluid mechanics?

When you are looking for a research group to do your PhD in, the single most important thing is an open discussion culture and the importance of being allowed to make mistakes. Innovation comes from cycling through loops of failure and supervisors that get mad and angry at their staff for this reason haven’t really understood that this is just the natural process. So make sure that you personally fit into the group and with that I mean that you are given the opportunity to speak up when it’s necessary, even if it’s reporting a failure.

Current times require us to break out of ordinary cycles. We live in a world with highly efficient processes grounded in the combustion of carbon-based fuels, but this sunset technology is being replaced faster than ever. These times are exciting because we are rethinking and fundamentally changing processes in energy production, transportation, chemical industries, and beyond. For those with a strong interest in fluid mechanics and reactive flows, there is a plethora of topics to work on, so my advice here is to commit to something that sounds interesting and try to make an impact. While many students are moving into IT, we desperately need talented engineers to shape the processes of tomorrow. Now is a great time for those who want to swim against the current, rethink, and innovate.

Da Vinci P​resentation available here

P​aper summary