Mathematician Andrea Bevilacqua, from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), has received the George Walker Award for his studies on “dynamics and prediction of volcanic eruptions with physical-mathematical and statistical models of the phenomena”.
The prestigious prize is given every two years by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior (IAVCEI) to a scientist who has obtained a PhD within the previous seven years. The initiative – which honours the memory of Professor Walker, a pioneer of the modern quantitative approach to physical volcanology – recognizes outstanding scientific achievements by young scientists in the fields of research encompassed by IAVCEI.
In particular, the researcher’s achievements include “eruptive vent opening maps, pyroclastic flow invasion maps, uncertainty estimation in volcanic eruption catalogues, spatio-temporal modelling of past eruptions”, as well as “time series analysis of monitoring data, with the aim of improving the quantitative modelling of volcanic eruption precursors”, as reported in the INGV’s press release.
After graduation, Bevilacqua followed a PhD course in mathematics for industrial technologies at Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa with a scholarship funded entirely by INGV. After completing his PhD, the Italian researcher had the opportunity to spend a period of time abroad on a post-doc contract at the State University of New York, in Buffalo. He returned to Italy, to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, in 2018.
