Dr Meissam Bahlali

Role: Postdoctoral Research AssociateDepartment of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London

Subject area: Fluid mechanics with the Novel Reservoir and Simulation group (NORMS)

Nationality: French

My current research in the NORMS group at Imperial focuses on the development of mathematical models to study how fluids flow and how materials and fluids are transported beneath the Earth's surface.

Education

Education icon

GCSE (or equivalent): French General Certificate Secondary Education

A-level (or equivalent): French Baccalaureate, Scientific Section, Speciality: Mathematics

Degrees
• Master of Science in Fluid Mechanics and Energy Science, Grenoble Institute of Technology – ENSE3, France
PhD in Fluid Mechanics for Atmospheric Sciences, École des Ponts ParisTech, France

Detail about Emma

Research

My research

Applications of my research include modelling the movement of saline water from the oceans or seas to land, which can lead to contamination of freshwater resources with major economic, health and social consequences. I am also working on modelling the movement of copper in sedimentary basins, from the copper source location to its mineral deposit. This is important as copper is key for battery technology and the electricity transmission needed for moving toward a carbon-free energy.

My inspiration

My inspiration

My Fluid Mechanics teacher, Javier Jiménez Fernández. I did a research internship with him as an Erasmus student at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.  His passion for fluid mechanics and scientific research was very communicative, which encouraged me go on the PhD adventure.

My STEM hero

Who is your STEM hero?

Marie Skłodowska Curie, the Polish andnaturalized-French physicist and chemist, who was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity.  She was the first woman to ever win a Nobel Prize.

Abstract image of liquid

Most significant discovery/invention?

The Navier-Stokes equations, which describe the flow of incompressible fluids. These undrpin the study of fluids in a very wide variety of areas, from aerospace engineering to medical research. 

Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station full of people

Career options after study

  • Academic at a university
  • Research and Development Engineer in aerospace, energy production, energy storage, transport, pollution regulation (fluid mechanics is almost everywhere!)
  • Secondary Mathematics or Physics teacher
Dictionaries of various languages with a notebook and headphones

My hobbies

Learning foreign languages – I speak French, English, Arabic, Spanish, and a bit of Portuguese and Italian. When I had to choose a university degree, I hesitated but decided to go for Mathematics and Physics instead of languages because I figured I could always learn languages as a hobby!

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