Meet our new colleague – Marta Ribeiro

Who are you?
I'm Marta Ribeiro and I come from Portugal. I moved to the Netherlands late 2014. I am currently an Assistant Professor at Air Transport and Operations (ATO) at TUDelft, where I explore artificial intelligence/machine learning methods to improve aircraft operations.

Can you describe your career in brief?
I studied Aerospace Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon. After completing my Master in Avionics, I worked at Portugália Airlines as an Operations Engineer, later at Simteq creating simulators for pilot Training, and finally at CGI developing on the Galileo Project for ESA. In February 2023, I completed my PhD at TUDelft entitled "Conflict Resolution at High Traffic Densities with Reinforcement Learning". Currently, I am an Assistant Professor at ATO.

Why Delft?
I did my PhD at TUDelft at the Control & Simulation section. I really enjoyed the environment and the people, and thus wanted to continue working here. Additionally, I appreciate how TUDelft is at the cutting edge of innovation, attempting to make aviation more sustainable.

What is your greatest research challenge at the moment?
Aviation operations are the result of many variables: airports, airlines, crew, pilots, weather, and other uncountable uncertainties. Before implementing new operation rules, we must understand how all these agents and uncertainties affect the final result. First, we need proper data that fairly represents these agents. Second, we need to correctly model this environment to find out if our new methods can truly have a positive effect on this system. Having achieved the latter two objectives, we can finally focus on developing new techniques to optimize this environment and make it more sustainable.

What do you like to do in your free time?
I enjoy bouldering, running, and playing video games. Which hobby to enjoy heavily depends on the weather.