ESPCI Paris Editorials

A novel approach

Kévin Lamothe — 2017-05-10T09:31:00Z

Find out the joint interview between Marie-Christine Lemardeley, president of ESPCI Paris, and Jean-François Joanny, director of ESPCI.

ESPCI is an unusual example among french engineering schools.

JFJ: Indeed it is, and for several reasons. Our approach is novel in the world of engineering schools: teaching is done through research, and the school's curriculum and approach to research are based on interdisciplinary studies and innovation. Our teachers are all working researchers. Seventy percent of our students continue on to a PhD after their fourth year. Many of the researchers working in our laboratories no longer question whether they're physicists, chemists or biologists.

MCL: ESPCI also has deep roots in the heart of Paris. Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, located in the capital's very core, has historical ties to French research through institutions like the École Normale Supérieure and Institut Curie.

JFJ: The school plays a large role in that history, boasting six Nobel Prize winners, including Pierre and Marie Curie, and more recently Pierre-Gilles de Gennes and Georges Charpak. Our priority is to attract the best students and train engineers with a unique set of skills. We are constantly improving our pedagogical methods to support creativity and a culture of innovation. We also want to strengthen the school's position as a world-class research center in physics, chemistry and biology, by attracting the best French and international researchers, and by developing new fields of research. Naturally, we continue to innovate in promising research fields like microfluidics, wave physics for medical applications, biomedical engineering, materials studies, and more.

MCL: The school's international renown and visibility also fall within our priorities: we will continue to support research by and excellence within the teaching staff, notably within the framework of PSL Research University, the community of universities (ComUE) to which we belong. We will continue deploying our strategy of partnerships, dual diplomas and alliances with major universities in Brazil, China, North America, Israel and beyond.

The school defends a unique approach to teaching and scientific research. what is it?

JFJ: Our goal is to train engineers capable of responding to the needs of a constantly changing society, and who will adapt to that society's evolution. The phrase “breaking down barriers” sums up the school's vision well: barriers between the scientific disciplines of physics, chemistry and biology, which continually influence one another; between teaching and research, which are closely connected; between the scientific and economic worlds (laboratories, start-ups and industry rub shoulders within our walls); and finally, between basic and applied research, which interact with and enrich one another.

MCL: The school has the advantage of being human- scale, and not only in terms of space. Student, doctoral candidates, professor-researchers, researchers and entrepreneurs constantly interact, engage in discussion, share their problems and seek solutions together. This positioning enables a singular approach to problems and rapid engagement with new fields of innovation.

What is different about the “ESPCI method”?

JFJ: We recruit motivated students at the highest level. Our unique pedagogical method relies on research-based learning, scientific excellence and prioritizing the experimental method. Our students spend more than half their time on practical work. This approach enables us to train professionals with a unique set of skills: engineers and researchers
who are passionate, creative, capable of tackling problems in new ways, with a solid theoretical background and an equally firm grasp on society's challenges.

MCL: The school also imparts a strong culture of innovation, and its incubator hosts fourteen start-ups with roots in the school's laboratories or founded by ESPCI students.

What values does the school defend?

JFJ: I'd like to emphasize four: scientific excellence, an openness to the economic and academic spheres, the freedom to be inventive, and creativity. Our researchers are free to choose their own research topics. The school supports them and provides them with the means to see their projects through to completion.

how does the city of paris support ESPCI?

JFJ: The City of Paris is a very important support, and we work in close collaboration. This relationship contributes greatly to the flexibility and the reactivity of our education and research.

MCL: ESPCI Paris enjoys a freedom owed in part to its municipal support, the City of Paris, which provides the means necessary to maintaining excellence in teaching and research. We also position ourselves within the PSL Research University dynamic, its objective being to ensure the influence of Paris and its universities. This freedom, coupled with a flexible model, enables ESPCI Paris to remain firmly oriented towards research and start-up creation. ESPCI intends to be the spearhead of the City of Paris' attractiveness.

Is campus modernization part of this strategy?

JFJ: Indeed. Modernization begins late 2017 and should wrap up in 2022. This project is more than a “simple” modernization. Our support has made an unprecedented investment of 176 million euros for teaching and research facilities worthy of the school's ambitions, which will provide the school with fresh momentum.

International Symposium: "30 Years of Quantum Dots"

Benoit Dubertret, Sylvain Gilat — 2014-05-25T15:27:11Z

About 30 years ago, Alexey Ekimov, Louis Brus & Alexander L. Efros started pioneering work on what has become the field of colloidal quantum dots. To celebrate this landmark event, a symposium will be held at ESPCI ParisTech on May 26-28, 2014.

Follow the symposium on Twitter with the hashtag #30YQD. Each conference will be recorded and posted on the symposium web site.

Colloidal quantum dots are semiconductor nanoparticles made of few hundred to a few thousand atoms only. They display unique optical and electronic properties that strongly depend on their size. Major progress has been made since the first synthesis of nearly monodisperse quantum dots in 1993 and, today, colloidal quantum dots may be produced with exquisite size control, down to atomic precision.

The fluorescence wavelength of a quantum dot is strongly correlated to its diameter - here from 2.3 nm (left) to 5.5 nm (right) ©B. Dubertret.

The number of teams around the globe performing research on colloidal quantum dots and on their applications is growing steadily, with the first large-scale production in sight.

In addition to their intriguing fundamental properties, these nanoparticles hold the potential to enable a new generation of electronic and opto-electronic devices, with disruptive impact on a number of industry segments such as displays, lighting, sensors, lasers, batteries, photovoltaics, biomarkers and medical imaging.

Numerous start-ups leveraging quantum-dot-based technologies have been founded - such as NexDot (formerly SolarWell) here at ESPCI ParisTech. The first consumer applications have emerged in 2013, in the display market.

In addition to the three keynote speakers, the symposium features a large number of invited talks given by scientists who made outstanding contributions to the early development of the field of colloidal quantum dots. Contributed talks by other teams and poster sessions will yet provide additional opportunities for lively discussions.

Contact

Benoît Dubertret
+33 140 794 592

Web Site

www.30-years-qds.com

Twitter

#30YQD

Topics include:
– Synthesis and characterization of colloidal semiconductor nano crystals
– Optical properties of quantum dots
– Quantum dot assembly and superstructures
– Quantum dot doping
– Charge transport through quantum dots and in quantum-dot assemblies
– Spins in quantum dots and quantum dots in quantum information science
– Photonic structures and plasmonic structures with quantum dots
– Hybrid structures (e.g., quantum dot - polymer/ferromagnet /superconductor structures)
– Theory of electronic structures, optical properties, transport, and many-body effects in quantum dots
– Applications of quantum dots in lasers, light-emitting diodes, displays, memories, photo-detectors, solar cells, bio- and chemo-sensing, etc.

Exploring further

– The symposium web site : "30 Years of Quantum Dots".
– The programme, with the abstracts of the various talks.
– The blog of Benoît Dubertret's team at ESPCI ParisTech.

From Bench to Bedside: nanoparticle aqueous solutions heal wounds in vivo

Sylvain Gilat — 2014-04-17T08:49:39Z

Ludwik Leibler and his colleagues reported spectacular evidence that nanoparticle aqueous solutions - a method invented a few months ago at ESPCI ParisTech - do indeed heal wounds in vivo.

Wound healing using a nanoparticle aqueous solution (left) vs. stitching (right) ©ESPCI

See the movie.

These results have just been published in Angewandte Chemie:
Organ Repair, Hemostasis, and In Vivo Bonding of Medical Devices by Aqueous Solutions of Nanoparticles
Anne Meddahi-Pellé, Aurélie Legrand, Alba Marcellan, Liliane Louedec, Didier Letourneur and Ludwik Leibler
Angewandte Chemie, International Edition published online April 16, 2014
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201401043

Read the joint Press Release from CNRS/ESPCI/INSERM/Paris Diderot/Paris 13.

The work was performed by a team of scientists from ESPCI ParisTech, CNRS, INSERM, Université Paris Diderot, Université Paris 13 and Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie (UPMC), at the Soft Matter and Chemistry Laboratory (UMR CNRS/ESPCI ParisTech) and the Laboratory for Vascular Translational Science (LVTS - INSERM/Université Paris Diderot/Université Paris 13).

Science

Ludwik Leibler

01 40 79 51 25

Press

Sylvain Gilat

01 40 79 58 76

Exploring Further

– Lire cette page en français
– The joint Press Release from CNRS/ESPCI/INSERM/Paris Diderot/Paris 13.
– The seminal article published in Nature in December 2013:
Nanoparticle solutions as adhesives for gels and biological tissues
Séverine Rose, Alexandre Prevoteau, Paul Elzière, Dominique Hourdet, Alba Marcellan & Ludwik Leibler
doi:10.1038/nature12806
– The corresponding press release: Revolutionary method for gluing gels and biological tissues

Media coverage

– Une nouvelle méthode française pour fermer une blessure sans sutures ni agrafes (BFM TV)
– Des chercheurs inventent une nouvelle façon de réparer les organes (Le Journal de la Science)
– Une "nano-colle" pour réparer les organes et refermer les plaies (Sciences & Avenir)
– Une nano colle pour réparer les organes et refermer les plaies (blog François Gros)
– Une stratégie simple et inédite pour réparer des organes (Techno-science.net)
– Chirurgie adhésive et nano point de suture (RFI)
– Des nanoparticules pour coller des plaies et réparer des organes (Pourquoi Docteur)
– Une colle de nanoparticules pour réparer des organes (Top Santé)
– Une nano-colle bientôt disponible dans les blocs opératoires (bluewin.ch)
– Une nouvelle "colle" chirurgicale à l'étude (Le Point)
– Suture: Une colle chirurgicale à base de nanoparticules (Santé Log)
– Cicatrisation : la fin des points de suture ? (Doctissimo)
– Une "colle" révolutionnaire pour réparer les organes et refermer des plaies (MaxiSciences)
– Finie la suture, vive le collage ! (Destination Santé)
– Une colle chirurgicale inventée pour réparer rapidement les organes (MetroNews)
– La Nanocolle : Se Soigner Sans Points De Suture (Syndrome Magazine)
– Bientôt de la "colle" chirurgicale pour refermer les blessures (Tech Redac)
– ‘Nanoglue' headed for hospital operating rooms (The Malaysian Insider)
– New technique to glue shut incisions and repair wounded organs (Democratic Underground)
– Adhesion method could revolutionize surgical practice and regenerative medicine (Medical News Today)
– Nanoparticles replace needle and thread for wound closure (NanoWerk)
– High-performing surgical adhesive utilizes nanoparticles (freenewspos.com, gizmag.com)
– Adhesive Gel Facilitates Organ Repair (Medical Design Technology Magazine)
– French researchers introduce new method to effectively control bleeding and repair tissues (News Medical)
– Look, ma, no stitches: 'Nanoglue' shuts wounds in seconds (The Star Online)
– Nanoparticle solution closes deep wounds in 30 seconds (Medical Technology Business Europe)
– Nanoparticles close wounds (The Loudest Geeks blog)
– Nanoparticles Replace Needle and Thread (Chemistry Views)
– Aqueous Nanoparticle Solution Repairs Deep Wounds (Azonano.com)
– Zipping Up Wounds With Nanoparticles (Association of Polymer and Chemical Engineers)
– The French glue wounds shut with aqueous solutions of nanoparticles (FrogHeart blog)
– Wässrige Nanopartikel statt Nadel und Faden? (DocCheck News)
– Nanopartikel statt Nadel und Faden (Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker e.V.)
– Wässrige Nanopartikellösungen als Wundkleber der Zukunft (der Standard)
– Nanopartikel können Wunden verschließen (Ingenieur.de)
– Healing : slutten av masker ? (no.france-sante.org)
– 創新策略使器官修補更便利 (Only Perception blog)
– Клей вместо портняжничества (novostinauki.ru)
– Разработан эффективный наноклей для ран (remedium.ru)
– Инновационная стратегия восстановления органов (Nano News Net)
– Nanoparticulas para reemplazar los hilos de sutura (unocero.com)
– Nanopartículas para reemplazar los hilos de sutura (estilos.prodigy.msn.com)
– Gel dán nano đa công dụng (baomoi.com)

Ultrafast imaging and cardiovascular diseases: the CNP Assurances Foundation supports a new research project

Vincent Montigny — 2013-04-26T08:41:00Z


Mickaël Tanter, directeur de recherche INSERM à l'Institut Langevin de l'ESPCI ParisTech

The CNP Assurances Foundation is giving its support to the École Supérieure of Industrial Physics and Chemistry of the City of Paris (ESPCI ParisTech) in its ambitious research project directed by Mickael Tanter (photo), intended to improve the detection and management of heart contraction abnormalities. These dysfunctions affect one million individuals in France and are responsible for numerous deaths.

Such abnormalities are difficult to detect

Cardiovascular diseases constitute the main cause of mortality worldwide, ahead of infectious diseases and cancer. Some of these deaths are due to cardiac insufficiencies, often consecutive to contraction abnormalities of the heart. These dysfunctions, such as cardiac arrhythmia and ventricular desynchronisation, currently affect close to one million individuals in France. The ageing of the population only exacerbates the problem.

With conventional examination techniques, such as electrocardiograms or MRI, electrical abnormalities of the heart, which lead in time to cardiac insufficiency, cannot yet be detected early on and located with sufficient precision.

An ultrafast ultrasound imaging technique

The Inserm U 979 research team “Physics of Waves for Medicine” of the Institut Langevin of ESPCI (École Supérieure of Industrial Physics and Chemistry of the City of Paris) has developed an ultrafast ultrasound imaging technique (12,000 images/second), which in time will be usable to visualise and measure the electromechanical activation of the heart at a very fast rate.

Contact :

Capable of achieving rates of thousands of images per second, this new non-invasive technique allows the propagation of mechanical vibrations inside organs to be observed in real time with millimetre precision, the velocity of these waves being associated with the local hardness, making it possible to obtain a quantitative map of the hardness of tissues. In the case in point, ultrafast imaging of the heart will allow early detection of dysfunctions connected with electrical conductivity, and to differentiate very early between benign conditions and serious conditions requiring a major operation, such as the fitting of a pacemaker.

Challenges to overcome

It will be a case of applying this ultrafast imaging technique, which has proven itself in the detection of certain tumours, such as those of the breast, to observation of the contraction movements of the heart. However, adapting this ultrafast imaging technique to measurement of the rigidity of the myocardium, as well as to high-resolution visualisation of the electrical activity of the heart, raises new difficulties, but we believe we can solve them. Our goal is full validation of these new imaging approaches in patients within two or three years,” explain Mickaël Tanter, director of research at the Institut Langevin in ESPCI ParisTech, and Mathieu Pernot, head of Inserm research.

Financed by ESPCI, Inserm and the CNP Assurances Foundation, this project will lead to the creation of an ultrafast 3D image prototype for cardiovascular research, scheduled for 2015. It is planned to allow a resolution of 5000 images per second simultaneously in multiple regions of the heart, compared with 50 images per second for the echocardiography systems currently in clinical use.

The project is being conducted in association with the team of Prof. Haissaguerre (Haut-Lévêque Hospital, Bordeaux), international expert in the field of cardiac arrhythmia. The team, directed by Mickaël Tanter at the Institut Langevin, is made up of 13 permanent researchers (CNRS, ESPCI and Inserm), 8 postdoctorals, one of whom was recently recruited to bring forward the rapid heart imaging project, and 20 doctoral students.

The site of the Institut Langevin de l'ESPCI ParisTech

The site of the Fondation CNP Assurances

This project is supported by the ESPCI Georges Charpak Endowment Fund

ESPCI and Nexans sign a scientific partnership agreement

Vincent Montigny — 2013-04-04T08:58:00Z

On March 20 at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, the École Supérieure of Industrial Physics and Chemistry of the City of Paris, the company Nexans and the ESPCI Georges Charpak Endowment Fund signed an agreement to create a partnership promoting excellence in research. At the heart of the project lies the science and technology of the transport of energy.

Signed by Jean-Louis Missika, President of ESPCI ParisTech and deputy to the Mayor of Paris responsible for innovation, research and universities, Frédéric Vincent, President and Director General of Nexans, and Jacques Lewiner, President of the ESPCI Georges Charpak Endowment Fund, this agreement establishes cooperation in science and innovation between Nexans, world leader in the field of advanced cables, and ESPCI ParisTech, ranked as the foremost French engineering school by the Shanghai Classification.

Jean-Louis Missika was pleased to welcome the move by Nexans as “a pioneering enterprise among the partners of ESPCI ParisTech, a school whose research can provide a crucial competitive advantage for the company”.

Frédéric Vincent indicated that “Nexans needed to develop technical expertise; this agreement is the best way of achieving that in the field of nanotechnology, polymers and high voltage”.

About Nexans

With energy at the basis of its development, Nexans, worldwide expert in the cable industry, offers an extensive range of cables and cabling solutions. The Group is a global player in the energy transmission and distribution, industry and building markets. Nexans addresses a wide series of market segments: from energy and telecom networks to energy resources (wind turbines, photovoltaic, oil and gas, and mining) to transportation (shipbuilding, aerospace, automotive and automation, and railways). Nexans holds an unique expertise in the field of superconducting cables.

An ambitious scientific project

There are a number of research fields at the heart of the joint venture. These include, under the leadership of Stéphane Holé, electrical insulation and more particularly the study of insulators and their interfaces for high-voltage devices, and methods of characterizing insulating material by measuring the space charge distribution.
Other areas are: superconductor materials and new polymer materials

Three presentations gave a foretaste of the variety of innovative research carried out by ESPCI ParisTech:

• the vitrimer, a material developed by Ludwik Leibler, associate professor at ESPCI ParisTech, director of the Laboratory for Soft Matter and Chemistry (MMC) and recipient of the CNRS Medal for Innovation in 2013;

• ultrafast medical imaging, developed by Mickaël Tanter, director of research at the Institut Langevin of ESPCI ParisTech;

• superconductivity and Meissner effect levitation, studied by Jérôme Lesueur, professor and director of the Laboratory of Physics and Materials Study (LPEM).

During the ceremony, the engineering students Aurélien Baelde and Kejian Wang gave a demonstration of superconductivity using a levitating train made by them at the Langevinium, the School's HackLab, of which they are the cofounders with their colleague Guillaume Chatté. There remarkable demonstration captured the attention of the public and greatly contributed to the success of the day.

Ludwik Leibler, recipient of the 2013 Medal for Innovation

Vincent Montigny — 2013-03-20T10:25:00Z

Ludwik Leibler © CNRS/Photothèque/Cyril_FRESILLONLudwik Leibler, associate professor at ESPCI ParisTech, director of the Laboratory for Soft Matter and Chemistry and director of exceptional research at the CNRS, receives the CNRS Medal for Innovation, which rewards individuals whose exceptional research has led to noteworthy innovations for technology, economics, therapeutics and society.

A theoretical physicist by training, the eclectic Ludwik Leibler has succeeded in developing fundamental pioneering work in the field of the physics and chemistry of polymers. Acknowledged worldwide for his essential contributions in the field of nanostructuring and dynamics of polymers, Ludwik Leibler has maintained a constant dialogue with the industrial world. Close collaborations, including the creation of a mixed laboratory, with groups such as Arkema and Total, have contributed to ground-breaking innovations.

A prolific inventor

Ludwik Leibler has invented entirely original materials by combining deep theoretical understanding and the concern for highly integrated industrial exploitation from conception. One of these recent noteworthy discoveries relates to supramolecular rubbers capable of self-healing by simple contact after a full tear. Another recent discovery relates to a new class of organic materials - vitrimers. These repairable and recyclable materials are, like glass, capable of being shaped reversibly at will, while remaining insoluble, lightweight and strong.

Ludwik Leibler has filed 47 patents and published 177 scientific articles.

This distinction will be awarded to him, as well as to the two other recipients - Phillippe Cinquin and Stéphane Mallat - on 12 June 2013 by Geneviève Fioraso, Minister of Higher Education and Research.

The press communiqué of the CNRS

Teaching researchers: six posts open to competition

Vincent Montigny — 2013-03-13T12:48:00Z

Waves and acoustics, neurobiology, organic chemistry… Six posts de Maître de conférences are open to competition and eligible for European citizens. This initiative highlights the scientific and educational dynamism of the School, at a time when various fields of research are over-extended.

What aspects are sought in the profiles?

The six posts of Maître de conférences are open in the following specialisms: waves and acoustics, neurobiology, organic chemistry, neurobiology and electronics, biochemistry and analytical sciences, and lastly analytical sciences and microfluidics. Our aim is to promote openness and interdisciplinary collaboration. Subject mobility is also encouraged. Furthermore, all the posts are widely open.

Practically: how to apply?

NB: portfolios cannot be sent directly to ESPCI ParisTech. This is because the competitions are still being organised by the Office of the Mayor of Paris this year. Candidates must apply to: Online service - competition of the City of Paris within the specified deadlines. Specifically, each competition is:

Maître de Conférences - specialising in waves and acoustics https://teleservices.paris.fr/fow/s...

Maître de Conférences - specialising in neurobiology

Maître de Conférences - specialising in neurobiology and electronics

Maître de Conférences - specialising in organic chemistry

Maître de Conférences - specialising in analytical chemistry and microfluidics

Maître de Conférences - specialising in biochemistry

The teaching researchers of ESPCI ParisTech enjoyed a particularly stimulating working environment:
– teaching methods promoting the quality of exchange with engineering students and masters students (practical work, supervised work, tutorials, academic projects),
– an exceptionally high level of training allowing genuine questions to be addressed in depth,
– a very high-level interdisciplinary and international research setting at the heart of Paris,
– the opportunity to conduct engaged research, from fundamental research to the most of practical of applications.

Contact :

A board to convince

According to the rules of the civil service of local governments, the board is made up of:
– two elected members,
– two civil servants at a level at least equivalent to the post which is open,
– two qualified individuals.
The candidate's presentation should be made with these various assessors in mind.

2012: A retrospective in pictures

Vincent Montigny — 2013-01-23T13:41:00Z

From the visit of Dan Shechtman, 2011 Nobel Laureate in chemistry, to the ceremony awarding diplomas to the students of the 126th class, through the relocation of the Institut Langevin and the victory of our handball team, a review of some of the highlights of last year.

Related content :

Our 2013 greeting card

Sport: A trophy for the student life

Vincent Montigny — 2012-12-23T14:07:00Z

De gauche à droite - From left to right : Gaétan Mary, Raphaël Pauchet, Jean-Christophe Ono-Dit-Bio, Thomas Guyon, Corentin Durant, Léo Gury, Wassim (coach), Hubert Sizaret, Anthony Janin, Simon Kulifaj, Thibault Jauzein, Vincent Miralles - Nos handballeurs Crédits : ESPCI ParisTechThey're names are Gaétan, Raphaël, Léo or Vincent… They are handballers and champions of the ParisTech Tournament. Spotlight on the feat achieved by their team last autumn, a resounding success which illustrates the dynamism of the Bureau of Sports, the competitive spirit of our engineering students and the atmosphere which exists on campus.

1 competition, 12 schools, 9 disciplines

The ParisTech Tournament? “It's one of the undeniable highlights of sporting life at ESPCI,” says Anthony Janin, member of the Bureau of Sports and handballer. Each autumn, the schools of the ParisTech network compete on all fields: football, volleyball, basketball, handball, rugby sevens, athletics, swimming… Without forgetting the band and cheerleader events. Did you know that the ESPCI cheerleaders swept to victory in the competition at the 2011 meeting? The sport is particularly well represented at the School. Naturally, the classes are small, but is nothing to prevent ESPCI ParisTech from fielding strong teams in all disciplines of the tournament.

An opportunity to seize

« “Competing against the other schools is essential for gauging one's level and progress” explains Elodie Chaudan, also a member of the BoS. “And this tournament has precisely the right layout.” It gathers teams from a number of Grandes Ecoles of different sizes with varying skills. So, at the start of this academic year, ESPCI ParisTech entered the competition buoyed up with good results achieved a few months before.

Contact :

A triumph

On 12 October 2012, under a grey sky, our engineering students shone.
First, the male basketball and rugby players had very good results. Then, at the end of the day, our mail handball team won a resounding victory.

After topping the pool with victories over Chimie Paris (9-0) and HEC (8-2), the team continued to progress to the final. By that time, all the other competition being completed, a large number of engineering students were present: supporters attending the tournament, other players, as well as the cheerleaders, who supported their team tirelessly.

Our handballers then came up against the team from the Ponts et Chaussées. It was a tough match, and although the ESPCI players started well, and dominated the match and lead until the equaliser… twenty seconds from the end. In the tense atmosphere, the spectators were waiting for extra time. But suddenly, with five seconds left on the clock, Thomas Guyon (130th class) seized his chance, shot and scored. The crowd went wild. “Everybody, all the supporters, the cheerleaders… They all invaded the pitch,” recall Anthony and Elodie, still delighted. The ESPCI team had taken a title at the ParisTech Tournament for only the second time in their history.

The keys to success

How to compete with the bigger schools? “That day, our team deserved to win,” calmly explains Thomas Guyon, member of the BoS and seasoned handballer. “Its strength undoubtedly lies in an integrated nucleus, with players who know each other very well bedded in from their first year at the School.” A number of them have already reached to a high level: National Division 2, regional teams… Others are beginners but are motivated and dedicated to group, spurred on by the recent arrival of a coach. “Our coach helps us keep focussed when times are hard. This is a great boon to improvement and solid training,” emphasises Thomas.

The Bureau of Sports sees its efforts rewarded

A key player in the student life at ESPCI, the BoS enables students to compete and represent their school. Its prime mission? Access to sport for all, in as many sporting disciplines as possible. The organisation has in fact helped in the creation of teams or clubs. It also facilitates gym reservations and promotes coaching. “We benefit from very favourable rates thanks to the City of Paris. This is an advantage which other schools in the city do not enjoy,” stresses Elodie, “and the handballers' victory is a great encouragement for the entire organisation” she acknowledges with a smile. The BoS also arranges team participation in sporting events throughout the year. These include the inter-school tournaments:

– The Challenge Centrale Lyon,
– The Inter Chimie Tournament
– The TOSS
– The Grandes Ecoles World Challenge

Last but not least, the organisation runs a sporting afternoon for the new students, the inter-class tournament (in which the researchers and teachers also take part) and the skiing week… which is nearly upon us!

Related contents:

The Internet site of the BoS

Information about the ParisTech Tournament

Gulliver: A laboratory crosses borders

Vincent Montigny — 2012-11-06T11:06:00Z

1 2 3 4

De gauche à droite, Pierre Sens et Florent Krzakala Crédits : ESPCI ParisTech
Pierre Sens et Florent Krzakala are theoretical physicists, both members of the Gulliver Laboratory. This year, they both received an international research grant to develop innovative interdisciplinary projects. From compressed data sensing to cell mobility, a meeting with two scientists who think big in a laboratory specialising in diversity of scales.

Two international funds: a European grant for Florent Krzakala

Florent Krzakala is one of the 2012 recipients of the research grants awarded each year by the European Research Council. “Its sum of one million euros will finance in particular four postdoctorals over the next five years,” explains Florent Krzakala. He first needs to set up this research team. Its aspects? “Interdisciplinary, intercultural, international of course, both very fundamental and very applied, at the crossroads of computing, mathematics and physics.”

About European Research Council grants

Each year, the ERC panel selects individual approaches and proposals “on the sole criterion of the scientific excellence of a researcher and the innovative strength of his or her idea, regardless of nationality, age or field of research”. Each grant is to one person and gives great autonomy to its recipient. In 2011, Sylvain Gigan, teaching researcher at the School, also received an ERC research grant.

This year (2012), Florent Krzakala, armed with encouraging initial scientific results, presented his proposal to the European panel for ERC grants. One panel? More like two! While the portfolio was examined by physicists, he sat the oral before scientists from a different field, namely signal processing. “It's that my proposal is at the crossroads,” explains Florent Krzakala. “The physicists who examined my initial application decided themselves to call in electronic engineers and mathematicians. As it were, my proposal received double endorsement.”

Pierre Sens supported by the Human Frontier Science Program

Pierre Sens similarly presented a research proposal to the panel of another international organisation: the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP).

About the Human Frontier Science Program

Founded in 1986 on Japanese initiative, this international program finances research into the complex mechanisms of living organisms.
The research is financed at all levels of biological complexity, from biomolecules to interactions between organisms. The grants are awarded for innovative research proposals involving close collaboration between independent teams of researchers, working in different countries and in different disciplines.

Contacts :

Mission accomplished! Pierre Sens will also benefit from a grant shared with his partners, funding large enough to finance two postdoctorals alongside him for two years. A success which highlights the serious nature of the enterprise: in fact, the HFSP accepts only 10% of proposals put forward. “We combine numerous aspects valued by the panel,” adds Pierre Sens. “In particular, an interdisciplinary international research team including theoretical modelling.”

Next page: Florent Krzakala and his colleagues have solved a problem regarded as insoluble

1 2 3 4

ESPCI Paris Editorials

A novel approach

ESPCI is an unusual example among french engineering schools.

The school defends a unique approach to teaching and scientific research. what is it?

What is different about the “ESPCI method”?

What values does the school defend?

how does the city of paris support ESPCI?

Is campus modernization part of this strategy?

International Symposium: "30 Years of Quantum Dots"

Contact

Web Site

Twitter

Exploring further

From Bench to Bedside: nanoparticle aqueous solutions heal wounds in vivo

Science

Press

Exploring Further

Media coverage

Ultrafast imaging and cardiovascular diseases: the CNP Assurances Foundation supports a new research project

Such abnormalities are difficult to detect

An ultrafast ultrasound imaging technique

Challenges to overcome

ESPCI and Nexans sign a scientific partnership agreement

An ambitious scientific project

Ludwik Leibler, recipient of the 2013 Medal for Innovation

A prolific inventor

Related articles:

Teaching researchers: six posts open to competition

What aspects are sought in the profiles?

A board to convince

2012: A retrospective in pictures

Sport: A trophy for the student life

1 competition, 12 schools, 9 disciplines

An opportunity to seize

A triumph

The Bureau of Sports sees its efforts rewarded

Gulliver: A laboratory crosses borders

Two international funds: a European grant for Florent Krzakala

Pierre Sens supported by the Human Frontier Science Program