“Understanding the physics and improving the modeling of environmental flows allows for better practices and smart design of interventions that affect our surroundings.”

Matias Duran Matute is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Physics at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). His main research topics include Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Coastal Physical Oceanography, with a specific focus on sediment transport, dynamics of shallow flows, transport in coastal areas, effects of background rotation, turbulent mixing, and estuarine dynamics. An important goal of Matias’ research is to improve nature around us. His aim is to understand fundamental dynamics and characteristics of environmental and coastal flows to improve modeling and predictions to make better-informed decisions.

In the course of his research, Matias has performed high-resolution numerical simulations of the Dutch Wadden Sea, which have made it possible to understand and quantify the transport and fluxes in the region. Supported by an NWO VENI grant, he has proven the efficiency of vortices as transport media for sediment in coastal areas. In future, he plans to dive deeper into the understanding of the interaction of sediment and well-controlled but complex flows. 

Matias Duran Matute obtained his PhD (with honors) in Fluid Dynamics (2010) at TU/e on the subject of Dynamics of shallow flows with and without background rotation. He also holds a BSc in Physics (2004) from the University of Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Mexico and and MSc in Physical Oceanography (2006) from CICESE, Ensenada, Mexico. In 2011 he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at LEGI, Grenoble, France, and from 2012 to 2014 he was a postdoctoral researcher at Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Texel, The Netherlands, where he still works as a guest researcher.   

Matias is a reviewer for Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans, Physics of Fluids, Continental Shelf Research, Journal of Turbulence, Ocean Dynamics, Ocean Science and European Journal of Mechanics-B. He is currently serving as guest editor for a ‘Shallow Flows’ special issue on Environmental Fluid Mechanics. He is regularly invited as a speaker and publishes in key journals.