Laura graduated from the National University of Asuncion (UNA) in 2016 with a degree in Chemical Engineering. Her dissertation focused on the numerical simulation of pollutant dispersion in shallow lakes. Following her undergraduate degree, she co-tutored two engineering dissertations and worked as a research assistant at the Centre for Research in Mathematics in Paraguay, where she took part in a research project in collaboration with colleagues in the Nephrology Department of the Clinics Hospital at UNA. Her other interests are reading, watching films, swimming and learning Korean and Finnish.

Research project title:
Hybrid physical-statistical models for air quality prediction from traffic data

Supervisor(s):
Paul Milewski, Theresa Smith

Project description:
Laura’s project aims to combine deterministic and statistical modelling to forecast air pollution levels in a city with a focus on traffic impact. Her project is in collaboration with AVL. Local air quality management can be complex due to the different emission sources such as transport, buildings, industry and more. Weather conditions, local topography, and emissions from distant places may also influence pollutant transport and amplify pollution in certain locations. Her project has three main parts: a deterministic approach, where she’s looking at a fluid and chemical modelling to predict pollutant concentrations; a statistical model to analyse data from pollution and traffic monitors; and methods combining these two to calibrate parameters, improve the accuracy of the model and extend prediction horizons