Research and teaching. Two aspects of a doctoral student's scientific work | Gdańsk University of Technology

Sebastian Dziedziewicz is the author of the doctoral thesis entitled "Analysis of nonlinear eigenproblems for guides and resonance structures in optics and microwave technology." The thesis supervisor is prof. Rafał Lech from the Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics.

While writing his doctorate, the scientist developed a set of numerical tools to study the properties of waveguides and resonators in microwave and terahertz technology.

– Mathematics has played an important role in my research. Electromagnetic analysis requires solving eigenproblems in the complex domain, representing various physical parameters, e.g.: resonance frequency or wave propagation coefficient. In my work, I solved equations with eigenvalues to find the roots of the determinants of appropriately constructed matrices, explains Sebastian Dziedziewicz. – Using selected examples of electromagnetic problems, I examined the effectiveness and limitations of currently available element finding algorithms, and then presented improvements to the GRPF (Global Complex Roots and Poles Finding) algorithm.

In his work, the scientist proposed a self-adaptive initial mesh generator for GRPF, which enables faster and more accurate finding of zeros and poles of complex functions. The reviewers of his doctoral thesis are Jerzy Julian Michalski, PhD, DSc, Eng., SpaceForest Sp. z o. o. in Gdynia, prof. Andrzej Kucharski from the Wrocław University of Science and Technology and prof. Krzysztof Wincza from the AGH University of Science and Technology Stanisław Staszic in Krakow.

Currently, the PhD student works at The ETI Faculty, in the Department of Decision Systems and Robotics. In the near future, he plans to use the methods he has developed in the field of automation, where the same equations can be applied to other physical problems.

– In my scientific work, I like both the research and teaching aspects. Already during my engineering studies, I was an active member of the "Maxwell" scientific club operating at the Department of Microwave and Antenna Engineering, supervised by Piotr Kowalczyk, PhD, DSc, Eng. During my doctoral studies, I participated in the didactic project "Hub of Information Technology Excellence" (CMI), where I was an expert in the field of: programming in Python, algorithmics, discrete mathematics and robotics. – says the scientist. – By teaching others, I also learn more myself. I get satisfaction from passing on knowledge to others, but also from contact with students, which gives me the opportunity to look at various research aspects from different perspectives. Scientific work means skillfully asking questions, and here cooperation with students really brings a lot.

Sebastian Dziedziewicz also received a grant from the Uranium program and from 1 May, he will conduct the project "Applying advanced mathematics and physical to solve everyday problems utilizing robotic systems" for students of the 5th Secondary School in Olsztyn.