The Zeldovich Medals are conferred by the Russian Academy of Sciences and COSPAR to young scientists (under 36) for excellence and achievements. These institutions have announced the concession of a medal to José Miguel Ezquerro, an Aeronautical Engineer by the Polytechnics University of Madrid (UPM), who is currently writing his PhD thesis in the field of aerospace research.
In the case of Ezquerro, the board of Materials Sciences in Space has assessed the expertise, professionalism and commitment shown in the payload operations support for fluid science experiments on-board the ISS. In particular, the work in the SODI-DCMIX2 experiment, which aims to study the diffusion coefficients of ternary fluid mixtures samples in a microgravity environment (+info).
For the young Spanish researcher, this recognition represents “a great honor”, and it was totally unexpected:
“I never imagined this nomination. I strongly believe that the award belongs to the whole team; it is the prize for the culture of effort and improvement adopted for every project in which we are involved.”
Young excellence research
Ezquerro works for E-USOC together with other 13 researchers. A young team whose average age is in the thirties. The centre, lead by the professor Ana Laverón, has been previously awarded by the European Space Agency (ESA) for its outstanding performance in the operation of payloads on-board the ISS.
“When we started working for the Columbus project, we were amused to be part of such an important scientific and technological project for Humanity”, reminds Ana Laverón. “Throughout these years we have worked intensely with the best engineering and scientific groups of the sector, and we have learnt a lot from them. This is the reason why we are so excited with the recognitions received, for both the ESA ISS award and the Zeldovich medal. I never imagined this project could give us so many satisfactions”.
Source: E-USOC