Elena Marianne Pummer

Elena Marianne Pummer is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at NTNU. She specializes in hydraulic engineering, with a focus on hydrodynamics, sediment transport, and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Her research integrates experimental modeling, CFD simulations, and field studies to address challenges in hydropower, flood mitigation, and infrastructure design.

Education:

• Dr.-Ing., RWTH Aachen University, Germany (2016)
• Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Ing., TU Darmstadt, Germany (2011)

Research Interests: Her work spans hydraulic structures, ethohydraulics, and the dynamics of high-speed flows. She leads projects on GLOF hydraulics, underground pumped storage plants, and culvert blockage analysis. Key areas include sediment transport modeling, experimental validation of CFD frameworks, and sustainable hydropower solutions for climate resilience.

Publications: Recent work addresses GLOF mechanisms in Peru, spillway capacity optimization, and CFD studies of supercritical flows. Her publications emphasize practical applications in infrastructure design and environmental risk management.

Awards:

• 2019: DTK & WasserWirtschaft Studienpreis (3rd place)
• 2018: Young European Talent Award
• 2017: Friedrich-Wilhelm and ICOLD Young Engineers Awards

Leadership & Projects: She chairs committees including IAHR's Hydraulic Structures and EERA's Hydropower SP2. Current projects include RenewHydro (sediment management), HydroCen (hydraulic structures), and Energydam (non-powered dam retrofitting).

Advising: Supervises PhD students in GLOF hydraulics (Jan Hrebrina) and InSpillyFish (Nils Solheim). Past advisees include Subhojit Kadia (supercritical flows) and Joakim Sellevold (culvert hydraulics).

Labs/Teams: Leads experimental hydraulics research at NTNU, collaborating with global institutions on projects like Pen@Hydropower (hydropower potential analysis) and Kajak Waves (nature-based infrastructure solutions).