Among the doctoral theses defended at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) during the 2023–2024 academic year, the work of Aircraft Operations Lab researcher Dr. Abolfazl Simorgh stood out for its scientific excellence and societal relevance, earning him the University’s Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award.
The Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award recognizes the merit, originality, and scientific excellence of doctoral research conducted at UC3M. The distinction is granted to graduates who have achieved the highest academic distinction (cum laude) and whose research demonstrates exceptional scientific and technological contributions.
Dr. Simorgh received the award for his PhD thesis, “Robust Aircraft Trajectory Optimization & Climate Change.” His research addresses one of the major challenges facing modern aviation: reducing the climate impact of air traffic operations.
While aviation contributes to climate change through emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO₂), water vapor (H₂O), aerosols, and nitrogen oxides (NOₓ), the climate effects of non-CO₂ emissions are highly dependent on the location, altitude, and timing of emissions. Dr. Simorgh’s work focuses on optimizing aircraft trajectories to avoid climate-sensitive regions, thereby reducing aviation’s overall environmental impact.
A key contribution of the thesis is the development of robust optimization techniques that balance operational costs with climate considerations while maintaining computational performance suitable for real-time or near-real-time applications. This research represents an important step toward more sustainable air traffic operations and climate-conscious flight planning.
We warmly congratulate Abolfazl on this well-deserved recognition and celebrate this outstanding achievement.