Profile summary

I am passionate about engineering and research. With a background in mechanical engineering, fluid physics experimental work and numerical simulations, I have been working on experiments performed in space in a highly collaborative and international context. I strive for improvement, completeness and precision in my work, and my ability to prioritise enables me to deliver on my commitments. I am very adaptable, a problem solver and a fast learner. I enthusiastically foster and embrace teamwork but also enjoy working independently.

Achievements

Some highlights of my current employment:

×     Coordination of various international scientific networks in the field of fluid dynamics, heat transfer and combustion.

×     Major contribution to the definition of a multi-user research platform concept for the International Space Station and its utilisation.

×     Demonstrated the feasibility of experiment core systems via engineering analysis supported by computational fluid dynamics modelling.

Skills and competences

×     Experience in project organisation, intra- and inter-agency, as well as International science coordination;

×     Planning projects as well as scientific and technological events;

×     Participating actively in numerous project reviews and related verification tests;

×     Hands-on laboratory research experience;

×     Experience in physical sciences at large and in fluid dynamics and heat transfer in particular;

×     Interacting with engineers and scientists, and focusing debates at ease;

×     In-depth though pragmatic work approach;

×     Delivers consistently and on time even under pressure.

Computer skills and competences

×     Masters Microsoft Office and associated tools

×     Excellent command of computing tools (e.g. Matlab, Tecplot)

×     User knowledge of CFD-ACE+, AutoCAD

×     Knowledge of SolidWorks, image processing tools (e.g. Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop) and computer networks (assistant manager of the computer network provider team at the Kármán Tódor Student Hostel from 1999 to 2001)

Work experience

Dates

From October 2008 – present day

Occupation or position held

Project Scientist and Discipline Coordinator (at the European Space Agency, ESTEC, Netherlands)

Main activities and responsibilities

Within the context of the European Programme for Life and Physical Sciences in Space (ELIPS), a programme covering in particular a very broad range of physics topics, I am the Scientific Coordinator for Fluid Dynamics, Two-phase Heat transfer and Combustion. This encompasses end-to-end involvement in all space projects in the field.

The tasks include:

×     Coordinate the overall programme in the field with particular attention to fundamental problems in studies requiring long-duration weightlessness (experiments targeting the International Space Station (ISS) as well as sounding rocket missions and other platforms with controllable gravity level). I supervise the activities of several International networks of scientists and various research and applications projects that are often interdisciplinary in nature, involve many laboratories worldwide as well as several industrial partners.

×     Support the formulation of the fundamental problems and the identification of the different scientific and industry relevant concerns.

×     Identify technology development studies in coordination with other ESA entities, as well as ensure the readiness of technologies required for future experiments.

×     Support the organisation of Calls for Proposals, the scientific and technical evaluation of the proposals as well as subsequent regular scientific reviews of the programme.

×     Present information to and seeking advice from the Science Advisory Groups of ESA on scientific priorities.

×     Define and regularly re-assess scientific requirements of selected space experiments and as Project Scientist; translate these into instrument performance requirements to the engineering teams in charge of the instrument development and its in-orbit operations.

×     Review regularly the instrument design and performance in the course of the development and its compliance with the scientific objectives.

×     In turn, promote the maximisation of the scientific return based on the actual instrument performance.

×     Support the science teams throughout the data exploitation phase.

×     Disseminate information on the programme at conferences, seek relevant complementary competences to consolidate the teams, and also provide inputs on the scientific aspects of the experiments for public relations purposes to relevant entities at ESA.

×     Raise the awareness of the scientific achievements towards national delegations funding the programme and other scientific funding organisations and industry.

Dates

From June 2008 to September 2008

Occupation or position held

Senior Research Engineer (von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, Belgium)

Main activities and responsibilities

Perform and evaluate aero acoustic experiments in a solid rocket motor model.

Dates

From February 2000 to January 2001

Occupation or position held

Undergraduate Research Assistant (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary)

Main activities and responsibilities

Support the development of an optical measurement technique for fluid dynamics experiments, based on a novel panoramic lens.

Education and training

Dates

From February 2008 to May 2008

Title of qualification awarded

Post-doctoral fellow

Principal subjects/occupational skills covered

Write publications, perform complementary experiments in relation to slag accumulation in solid rocket motors. Perform and evaluate aero acoustic experiments in a solid rocket motor model.

Name and type of organisation providing education and training

von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics

Dates

From October 2002 to January 2008

Title of qualification awarded

PhD in Applied Physics

Principal subjects/occupational skills covered

Doctoral thesis on “Two-Phase Flow Investigation in a Cold-Gas Solid Rocket Motor Model through the Study of the Slag Accumulation Process”

The project included:

×     The design, the validation and the utilisation of a cold-gas facility modelling the relevant phenomena of the Solid Rocket Motors of Ariane 5.

×     The development and the application of a two-phase (gas and liquid droplets) particle image velocimetry technique and associated data analysis.

×     The development and the application of an optical measurement technique to study sloshing.

×     Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations.

Name and type of organisation providing education and training

von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics

Dates

From September 2001 to September 2002

Title of qualification awarded

Advanced Research Master

Principal subjects/occupational skills covered

Diploma Course project on “Application of a Novel Optical Image Capturing Technique”

The project also included the implementation and the validation of a stereoscopic particle image velocimetry technique.

Name and type of organisation providing education and training

von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics

Dates

From July 2000 to September 2000

Title of qualification awarded

Short Training Program

Principal subjects/occupational skills covered

Short training project on “Stereoscopic PIV Data Analysis via a Mapping Algorithm”

Name and type of organisation providing education and training

von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics

Dates

From September 1996 to June 2001

Title of qualification awarded

M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering

Principal subjects/occupational skills covered

Specialization: Integrated Engineering (comprising mechanical and electrical engineering as well as management qualifications; courses followed in English)

Final thesis on “Development of a Digital Image Processing Software for Laser Optical Concentration Measurement”

Name and type of organisation providing education and training

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Budapest University of Technology and Economics

Language skills

Mother tongue

Hungarian

Other languages

English – fluent, primary working language;

French – very good, secondary working language;

Dutch – basic knowledge

Additional information

Publications

Refereed papers

TÓTH, B. (2012)

Future Experiments to Measure Liquid-Gas Phase Change and Heat Transfer Phenomena on the International Space Station

Microgravity Science and Technology, Volume 24, Number 3, pp 189-194

LABOUREUR, D.; TÓTH, B.; ANTHOINE, J. (2010)

Investigation of the Taylor-Culick Flow Through Particle Image Velocimetry and Numerical Simulation

AIAA Journal, Volume 48, Number 6, pp. 1077-1084 (June 2010)

TÓTH, B.; LEMA, M.R.; RAMBAUD, P.; ANTHOINE, J.; STEELANT, J. (2009)

Single-Phase Internal Flowfield Validation with an Experimental Solid Rocket Motor Model

Journal of Propulsion and Power, Volume 25, Number 6, pp. 1311-1321 (Nov. – Dec. 2009)

TÓTH, B.; ANTHOINE, J.; RIETHMULLER, M.L. (2009)

Two-phase PIV method using two excitation and two emission spectra

Experiments in Fluids, Volume 47, Number 3, pp. 475-487 (September 2009)

TÓTH, B.; ANTHOINE, J.; STEELANT, J. (2009)

Experimental Characterization of a Two-Phase Flowfield in a Solid Rocket Motor Model

Journal of Propulsion and Power, Volume 25, Number 4, pp. 914-920 (Jul. – Aug. 2009)

GORICSÁN, I.; VAD, J.; TÓTH, B.; GREGUSS, P. (2002)

PALLAS: a Novel Optical Measurement Technique in Air Pollutant Transport Studies

Structural Engineering Compendium I., Elsevier Science Ltd.; pp. 371-382

GORICSÁN, I.; VAD, J.; TÓTH, B.; GREGUSS, P. (2000)

PALLAS: a Novel Optical Measurement Technique in Air Pollutant Transport Studies

Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics; vol. 87 pp. 259-270

Conference papers until 2008

TÓTH, B.; ANTHOINE, J.; RIETHMULLER, M.L. (2008)

Mesures PIV diphasiques dans un modèle de propulseur

Congrès Francophone de Techniques Laser, CFTL 2008, 16-19 septembre 2008, Futuroscope, France

TÓTH, B.; LEMA, M.R.; RAMBAUD, P.; ANTHOINE, J.; STEELANT, J. (2008)

Two-phase internal flow-field characterization of a solid rocket motor model

44th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE, Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, 20-23 July 2008, Hartford (CT), USA; AIAA 2008-5050

TÓTH, B.; ANTHOINE, J. (2008)

Two-phase flow PIV experiments in a solid rocket motor model

14th Int Symp on Applications of Laser Techniques to Fluid Mechanics, 07-10 July, 2008, Lisbon, Portugal,  -  Paper No. 1320

TÓTH, B.; LEMA, M.R.; RAMBAUD, P.; ANTHOINE, J.; STEELANT, J. (2008)

Flow structures in solid rocket motor LES models

EuroPAM 2008 User Conference and Exhibition, 29 – 30 May 2008, Prague, Czech Republic

TÓTH, B.; LEMA, M.R.; RAMBAUD, P.; ANTHOINE, J.; STEELANT, J. (2007)

Assessment of Slag Accumulation in Solid Rocket Boosters: Summary of the VKI research

43rd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE, Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, 8-11 July 2007, Cincinnati (OH), USA; AIAA 2007-5760

TÓTH, B.; ANTHOINE, J.; RIETHMULLER, M.L. (2006)

Mesures dynamiques de la déformée d'une surface libre

Congrès Francophone de Techniques Laser, CFTL 2006, 19-22 septembre 2006, Toulouse, France; papier 036

TÓTH, B.; ANTHOINE, J.; RIETHMULLER, M.L. (2006)

Mesures PIV diphasiques dans un modèle de propulseur

Congrès Francophone de Techniques Laser, CFTL 2006, 19-22 septembre 2006, Toulouse, France; papier 035

TÓTH, B.; LEMA, M.R.; ANTHOINE, J.; STEELANT, J. (2006)

Assessment of Slag Accumulation in Solid Rocket Boosters: Part II, Two-Phase Flow Experiments

42nd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE, Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, 9-12 July 2006, Sacramento (CA), USA; AIAA 2006-4430

TÓTH, B.; LEMA, M.R.; STEELANT, J.; ANTHOINE, J.; RAMBAUD, P. (2005)

Assessment of Slag Accumulation in Solid Rocket Boosters: Part I. Single-phase

41st AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE, Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, 10-13 July 2005, Tucson (AZ), USA; AIAA 2005-4489

LEMA, M.R.; TÓTH, B.; RAMBAUD, P.; STEELANT, J.; ANTHOINE, J. (2005)

Numerical Study of Flow Field in Solid Rocket Motors

3rd International Conference on Advanced Computational Methods in Engineering, 30 May – 2 June 2005, Gent, Belgium

TÓTH, B.; DELAURETIS, A.; ANTHOINE, J. (2004)

Développement d'une technique PIV pour les écoulements diphasiques gaz-gouttes

9ème Congrès Francophone de Vélocimétrie Laser, 14-17 septembre 2004, Bruxelles, Belgique

TÓTH, B.; ANTHOINE, J.; GORICSÁN, I. (2003)

Application of the PALLAS System to PIV Measurements

Conference on Modelling Fluid Flow (CMFF’03), 12th International Conference on Fluid Flow Technologies, 3-6 September 2003, Budapest, Hungary; paper 881

TÓTH, B.; ANTHOINE, J.; RIETHMULLER, M.L.; GORICSÁN, I. (2003)

PIV: Evaluation of an Image Capturing System based on a New 360 Lens

Photonics in Mechanical and Industrial Processes (Photomec’02), 20-21 February 2003, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; paper 21

GORICSÁN, I.; VAD, J.; TÓTH, B.; GREGUSS, P. (2001)

PALLAS, a Novel Experimental Concept for Flow Diagnostics

10th International Conference on Advanced Robotics, Workshop on Omnidirectional Vision, August 2001, Budapest, Hungary; pp. 107-114

GORICSÁN, I.; VAD, J.; TÓTH, B.; GREGUSS, P. (2000)

Application of Centric Minded Imaging Methods in Flow Diagnostics,

CD ROM Proceedings of 9th Millennium Symposium on Flow Visualization, 22-25 August 2000, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom; ISBN 0 9533991 17