We had the pleasure of interviewing Prof. Dr. Maria Founti, Section Editor-in-Chief of Energies (ISSN: 1996-1073), to discuss her recent research activities in the field and her views on women in the engineering field. We hope all women enjoy this International Women’s Day.

Name: Prof. Dr. Maria Founti
Affiliation: School of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens
Research Interests: combustion; fire engineering; energy efficiency in buildings; LCA; KPIs

 Prof. Dr. Maria Founti was born in Piraeus in 1955. She has been a faculty member at the School of Mechanical Engineering of NTUA since 1987. She has been the Director of the Laboratory of Heterogeneous Mixtures and Combustion Systems since 2002 and Professor in the Thermal Engineering Section since 2007. She holds a B.Sc. degree in nuclear engineering from the University of London, an M.Sc. and D.I.C. in heat transfer engineering and a Ph.D. (1983) in combustion technology from Imperial College London. She has worked as a research associate at the Chair of Fluid Mechanics of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany (1983-1987).

Her current interests focus on energy saving and storage in buildings combined with advanced energy systems and materials, combustion systems and processes and heterogeneous mixtures, fire engineering and compartment fires, multicriteria assessment and life cycle analysis for the techno-economic, social and environmental impacts of energy systems.

She has 250 publications in international journals and conferences. She has participated in and coordinated 40 funded research projects. Prof. Dr. Founti was a member and chair of the E.C.'s External Advisory Board (1998-2006) for FP5 and FP6 for research on materials, products and production processes. She is a member of the Steering Committee of the European and Greek "Technological Platform for Research and Technology in Construction" and a member of the European Public-Private-Partnership "Energy Efficiency in Buildings".

She served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Public Power Cooperation S.A. (09/2017–07/2019), a member of the Committee for Building Materials of the Ministry of Development (2009-2010), and an external expert on energy saving issues of the Central Committee for Evaluation and Coordination of the “EXOIKONOMO” Program of the Ministry of Environment and Energy. She has served as chairman of the Examination Committee of Building Energy Inspectors (2012-2014). She speaks English, German, French and elementary Portuguese.

The following is an interview with Prof. Dr. Maria Founti:

1. Could you please tell us a bit about yourself?

I have been a mechanical engineer for nearly 40 years. In the late 70s, mechanical engineering was considered a hard topic, especially for women. I was educated in England, and I have work experience in England, Germany, France, and Portugal in the 70s and 80s.

My expertise is in combustion, a field that combines knowledge from very different phenomena and disciplines, from very basic engineering to very advanced theoretical knowledge.

Combustion analyzes and optimizes the way fossil/biofuels burn and how we use the produced thermal energy in different energy systems. The energy transition and the decarbonization target that the EU and other countries have set create a framework for moving away from conventional combustion systems, such as boilers, furnaces and internal combustion engines. Nowadays, there are voices that believe that decarbonization will slowly eliminate the need for research in combustion, but I believe this will not happen. One reason is the fact that it will take another 30 to 40 years to complete the transition to energy systems that will operate without the need of transforming chemical energy from fuels into thermal energy. This includes all types of currently used energy systems in the industry, transport, and building sectors. Additionally, there are new generations of fuels based on synthesis processes exploiting renewable energy sources. Such fuels will have to be used during the transition period in the existing energy systems. The research in combustion will have to continue. The research focus may change, in terms of specific topics and themes, that will be elaborated in the future, but the conceptual and methodological tools will remain the same. For the academic circle, we will adapt to the new requirements. It will take a lot of time until we move away from traditional combustion in our everyday life.

2. Would you like to share something about your current research?

Our laboratory, the laboratory of Heterogenous Mixtures and Combustion Systems of the National Technical University of Athens, focuses on the investigation of energy production via thermo-chemical conversion, not only pure combustion. At the same time, we are working intensively on the techno-economic, environmental, and technical feasibility assessments of innovative energy systems and processes that are based on the concept of using chemical energy to regulate and control the production of thermal and electrical energy. The research combines the understanding of fundamental phenomena and processes with the impact assessment at system level. This multi-level and interdisciplinary approach is necessary to support the upscaling and market introduction of new energy systems.

We look also at the interface between the use of energy systems in buildings and building component performance—basically, the interaction between the envelope of the building and renewable energy systems. Last, but not least, we are also working on fire engineering, recognizing that the fire performance of building materials and building energy systems becomes increasingly important because of the use of new materials and related changes in construction. We have a horizontally organized lab with different groups working on different interlinked topics. This strongly promotes the collaborative spirit among the lab researchers. In a nutshell, the key topics are energy efficiency, especially in the building environment, coupled with fire safety issues, life cycle analysis, and techno-economic and environmental assessment.

3. What motivated you to join the Energies Editorial Board? How was your experience working with the journal editorial team?

I believe in Open Access. Why Energies and why MDPI? Because you are very active and consistent. You make every effort to keep the standard as high as possible. As I said before, I believe combustion has a future. If you look at the Special Issues and the papers published in Energies that are related to the broad topic of combustion, they are very interesting and they cover a lot of different topics.

I like the punctuality, the marketing approach, and last, but not least, the IT support of MDPI, which is very efficient and reliable. Maybe more personal contact, like the one that we are having now, would further improve the journal's quality. Getting to know the other editors, the Special Issue editors and how they see things, could broaden the range of thematic topics and the acceptance of the journal as a very high-quality open access means of publication.

4. How do you think COVID-19 affects engineering research projects and publishing?

I think the first year of the pandemic was positive for publishing because a lot of researchers were quarantined and stayed at home. They had more time to analyze previous research work and prepare articles for publication. In the second year, a decrease started showing, in terms of practical and experimental research due to the effects of COVID-19. This will be reflected in publishing; I think it has already started becoming apparent. It may show more in the next year. We will see more theoretical and computational work being published rather than experimental work, because of having limited access to experimental facilities and infrastructures. This affects, for instance, Ph.D. students, younger researchers, and their work.

5. As we know, the engineering field is male dominated. When you were young, what made you decide to become an expert engineer?

My first degree was in nuclear engineering in 1976. This somehow has affected my career. When I was young, 14 or 15, I was impressed by the biography and life of Marie Curie. Since then, I pictured myself in a lab doing research. That’s when I decided to study nuclear engineering. Always in my life, passion for what I am doing was a dominant factor in deciding what to do. I never questioned myself “why engineering?”.

Most importantly, I think we should point out that the percentage of women studying engineering increased gradually but continuously in the last twenty years. Therefore, perceptions change, and for the next generations of young women, engineering will not be considered a male-dominated profession. Women will not be skeptical any longer about entering the engineering profession. In the past, people believed that engineering was associated with manual work that could not be undertaken by women. However, the advent of IT diversifies the role of engineers, and women are much needed in this process.

I believe these messages are starting to be passed to the younger generations. Nevertheless, the percentage of women not practicing their engineering profession or dropping out is quite high, and this should be looked at.

In addition, from my experience in the academic environment, I cannot see any performance difference between men and women. There are pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses in both. Women are not lacking anything in their early career stages compared to men. There is a gap in the senior engineering management positions for women. The percentage of women that are entrepreneurs, in top management positions, CEOs, etc., is not that big. Often women compromise or adjust their careers to take care of their families, although this is also changing.

6. Would you like to give some advice or tips for other women who are pursuing or will pursue a career in this area?

Believe in yourself and follow your dreams. Do not compromise, set realistic goals, and try as hard as you can. The more you do, the more creative you feel.

7. Thanks for sharing. It’s also our great honor to collaborate with research experts and extraordinary female engineers around the world. Finally, do you have any suggestions for our journal’s future development?

Keep it up. Don’t fall into the trap of “mass low-quality publishing”. Keep on increasing the quality, visibility, and acceptance in the academic circle.