The Office for Science & Technlogy of the Consulate General of France in Houston and the French-American Chamber of Commerce of Dallas/Fort Worth invite you to a Science Café in Dallas with Professor Yves Gourinat, Full Professor for Solid Mechanics at the SupAéro aerospace engineering school, on March 26, 2018 at 6 pm.

• Where: Industrious Space, 1722, Routh Street, Suite 900, Dallas, TX, 75201
• When: Monday, March 26 at 6 pm
• Registration, limited number of guests
• Free event open to all.
• Presentation in English

Presentation: Aerospace Structures & Biodynamics: A Bridge Between Physicists & Physicians

After centuries of engineering and scientific development, biology remains in many fields a source of inspiration for effective and elegant solutions to many technological problems, and aerospace engineering is no exception to this. For the past fifteen years, the University of Toulouse supported research to better link these fields of research, taking the solutions found by nature and applying them much further than any living being ever went, for long range spaceflight among other things.

Yves Gourinat, professor at the SupAéro aerospace engineering school and former Airbus engineer, will present the numerous ways in which biology led the way to new technological developments as well as successful transversal collaborations between biolabs and manned spaceflight engineering laboratories.

About Professor Yves Gourinat:

Since 2003, Yves Gourinat has been a full professor for Solid Mechanics at the SupAéro aerospace engineering school. He is the founder of the lab of nonlinear dynamics and biodynamics. From 2012 to 2016 he was the Director of the Aerospace Doctoral School. Professor Gourinat is now the Deputy Director of Institut Clément Ader at the Univeristy of Toulouse. As a specialist in dynamics, he has worked with the Occitanian University Hospital Center and human biology laboratories on medical and bioinspired applications of Aerospace Science. Previously, he was an Engineer on Aircraft Structures for 7 years (Aerospatiale Aircraft, now Airbus SAS) for A340 and ATR72 certification. Professor Gourinat is the author of 229 referenced scientific contributions and holds several distinctions, including the FJ Malina Astronautics Medal of the International Astronautical Federation.

On January 17-19, 2018, the Galveston Campus of Texas A&M University (TAMUG) hosted the first France-US workshop on sargassum. Sargassum, a seaweed often found in the Atlantic Ocean, has been a constant of navigation and coasts for centuries, to the point that Columbus himself used it as an indicator for the proximity of land during his historical journey across the ocean. Because of massive landfalls on beaches on both sides of the Atlantic, Sargassum is often perceived as a nuisance by local populations as it covers beaches and brings a bad smell, both of these having a negative impact on the tourism revenue of coastal cities such as Galveston itself. A spectacularly large landfall during 2014 in the Less Antilles and French Guiana convinced the French government to start an international initiative on sargassum. As such, during the first symposium of the Caribbean Sea Commission, in November 2015, France succeeded in featuring the sargassum issue in the agenda of the Cartagena Convention, an agreement signed by 25 UN members from the region. At the French level, a cabinet-level report was ordered in 2015 and delivered in July 2016, offering clear recommendations for the management of sargassum landings in the concerned overseas territories.

In order to foster collaboration and facilitate communication between the French and American sargassum scientific communities, a workshop was organized under the auspices of the Office for Science and Technology (OST) of the Embassy of France. Issues addressed by researchers invited to the workshop included various topics such as the processes leading to the large sargassum drifting rafts, the relation between ocean warming and the algae proliferation, or how best to use satellite imagery to give early warning before a landing.

The workshop was organized within the FACT-O program (French American Climate Talks on Ocean) that was initiated a few years ago by the OST. FACT-O is dedicated to coordinating French - American initiatives on ocean-related areas and to disseminate knowledge on the state of the oceans to the general public. Overall, three dozen researchers came from France (Aix-Marseille Université, Toulouse) and the United States to participate in the workshop (Texas, Florida, Maryland, Mississippi).

The French delegation was led by Frédéric Ménard, director of the OCEANS department at the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) which coordinates French oceanic expeditions for sargassum study. Several scientific profiles were represented, from oceanographers to marine biologists as well as phycologists (specialists of algae), physicists modelling oceanic currents, satellite imagery analysts… Furthermore, representatives of natural parks (Galveston State Park, Regional Activity Centre of Guadeloupe SPAW-RAC [1], City of South Padre Island) and the Coordinator of a United Nations program for environment in West Africa came to discuss the different ways developed around the world to deal with sargassum landings. Finally, representatives of US federal agencies such as NASA and NOAA also attended the workshop, as they regularly work alongside researchers on sargassum.

The workshop was introduced by the Counselor for Science and Technology of the Embassy of France, Dr Minh-Hà Pham, as well as by Colonel Fossum, former astronaut, Vice President of Texas A&M and Chief Operating Officer of TAMUG and by the Mayor of Galveston, James D. Yarbrough. The workshop received significant media coverage (see below) confirming the local community's interest for the sargassum issue.

Several collaborative projects emerged from this workshop, particularly around the genetics of Sargassum populations between the Institut Européen d'Océanologie (Aix-Marseille Université/IRD) and the Eckerd College in Florida as well as on the modeling of Sargassum rafts from satellite data (Aix-Marseille, Toulouse, University of South Florida, University of Maryland). A joint funding request is planned as part of the Thomas Jefferson Fund's call. To ensure the continuation of these collaborations, the researchers agreed to meet again by the end of 2018, probably in France this time.

To learn more about the workshop:
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/neighborhood/galveston/article/French-American-scientists-gather-in-Galveston-12522003.php,
http://www.galvnews.com/news/image_9093567c-9665-5c22-a3d6-ea55c424a465.html,
https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2018/01/22/262713/galveston-researchers-and-the-french-government-have-a-question-what-to-do-about-sargassum/,
http://www.guidrynews.com/story.aspx?id=1000088504

The symposium "The Science of Learning and its Applications" is part of a yearly series organized by Professor Michel Baudry from Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona. The organization of this event is supported by the Office for Science and Technology of the Embassy of France. Four conferences are scheduled:

• “Modeling the hu­man brain by ascending levels of organization, from genes to consciousness. Consequences for drug design.”: Pr Jean-Pierre Changeux, Institut Pasteur, France
• “How do nanoscale glutamate receptor dynamics control synaptic function?”: Dr Daniel Choquet, Bordeaux, France
• “Illusions of Memory”: Pr Elizabeth Loftus, UCI
• "Expectancies, Learning, and Attention” Pr Andrea Chiba, UCSD

Where: Western University of Health Sciences, HPC Building Amphitheater II (2nd floor), 309 E. Second Street, Pomona, CA 91766
When: February 24, 2018, 9:00 am - 1:00 pm

The 2018 Call for Proposals of the Thomas Jefferson Fund is now open until March 12, 2018. This program, launched by the Embassy of France in the United States and the FACE Foundation, aims to encourage and support cooperation among the most promising young French and American researchers, and foster forward-looking collaborative research projects.

Each selected French-American project will receive up to $20,000 over a period of two years.

Applications are accepted in the three following fields:

• Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) ;
• Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) ;
• Science for Society (interdisciplinary STEM-HSS projects).

In support of the Make Our Planet Great Again initiative launched by President Emmanuel Macron in June 2017, the Thomas Jefferson Fund is offering additional grants this year for research projects related to:

• Earth System Science ;
• Climate Change and Sustainability ;
• Energy Transition.

The most innovative projects involving significant transatlantic mobility, collaborative research activities, the organization of joint workshops or conferences, the publication of joint articles, and the participation of younger researchers (PhDs) will receive the highest priority.

The grant will cover travel expenses between France and the US, accommodation costs and a part of the organizational costs of joint conferences and of publication costs.

Partner researchers are encouraged to obtain « in kind » and/or « in cash » co-funding from their institutions or from other sources of funding to cover all other types of expenses necessary to the successful implementation of the joint research project.

Proposals must be jointly submitted by one American researcher and one French researcher at the beginning of their career, with mid- to long- term positions at a research or higher education institution in the United States or in France (post-doctorate level, assistant or associate professor, maître de conférences or chargé de recherche).

Interested parties are invited to get more information and to apply on the Thomas Jefferson Fund website.

Dates:

• Submission deadline: March 12, 2018 (midday, EST)
• Announcement of the selected projects: June 2018
• Launch of the selected projects: July 2018

For specific questions, please contact the Thomas Jefferson Fund team: thomasjeffersonfund@ambafrance-us.org

Join us from the 15th to the 19th of February at the 2018 Annual Meeting of AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science), where the Office for Science and Technology will join its colleagues from the European Union in the EU booth. Alongside our colleagues, this venue will offer not only a constant presence to tell you everything you always wanted to know about research and innovation in Europe, as well as numerous presentations and conferences about EU programs around the Horizon 2020 initiative.

Where: Austin Convention Center and Hilton Austin, Austin, TX, EU booth (#1207)
When: Friday, February 16, 2017 to Sunday, February 18, 2018 from 9:30 AM to 5 PM
French presence at the booth: Friday and Sunday, February from 1:15 PM to 5 PM, Saturday, from 9:30 AM to 1:15 PM
Presentation by Dr Minh-Hà Pham, Counselor for Science & Technology of the French Embassy “Opportunities in the French Higher Education, Research and Innovation System”, on Friday from 2 PM to 2:15 PM

More information and registration: http://meetings.aaas.org/

Whether you are an industrial, a student, an academic or an entrepreneur, you are welcome to join us as we will be glad to introduce you to the numerous opportunities that await you in France and in the European Union.

The French Ambassador to the United States of America, M. Gérard Araud, and Gregory L. Fenves, president of University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) have signed on January 31st an agreement establishing an excellence fund to support collaborations between France and the largest multidisciplinary university of the Southwest.

This partnership will be the fifth bilateral agreement of its kind between France and the United States (after the Massachussetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of California Berkeley et University of Chicago), will reinforce the presence of Texas on the map of France-USA scientific collaborations. Based on private donations around an initial core established by both the Office for Science and Technology of the French Embassy and UT Austin, its yearly revenue will allow funding of bilateral research project in both STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and Humanities.

Signing Ceremony with the Ambassador of France to the United States of America, Gérard Araud, and Gregory L. Fenves, president of the University of Texas at Austin, in the presence of (from left to right) Herve Ferrage, Deputy Cousellor to Cultural Affairs for the French Embassy, Alexis Andres, Consul General of France in Houston, Minh-Hà Pham, Scientific Counsellor for the French Embassy, Christiane DeWitt, daughter of Cécile DeWitt-Morette, Maurie McInnis, Executive Vice-President and Provost of UT Austin, Dan Jaffe, Vice-President for Research at UT Austin and Rolando Pablos, Secretary of State of the State of Texas.

It will be named in honour of the late Dr. Cécile DeWitt-Morette, French physicist who taught from 1972 to 2017 at UT Austin where she held the Jane and Roland Blumberg Centennial Professor Emerita in Physics at UT Austin after establishing the Ecole des Houches in France. This school, hosting regular high-level physics conferences, became an important rendezvous for both promising researchers and established ones, with now 50 Nobel Prize and Fields Medal laureates having studied or taught in these courses (the last one being Kip Thorne, Nobel Prize for Physics in 2017).

By covering all fields of academia, the France-UT Austin fund will help reinforcing numerous existing and promising collaborations between the two partners. For example, UT Austin College of Liberal Arts already hosts since 2007 one of the nineteen Excellency Centers established by the Cultural Service of the Embassy of France. In STEM, France is the fourth largest partner of UT Austin in terms of publications, while enjoying old and remarkable relations with it in mathematics, numerical modelling and electrochemistry.

The France-UT Austin fund, through common publications, conferences and academic exchanges, will support and further the level of collaborations of both partners in research as well as the global visibility of French research.

For additional information:
UT and France Establish Endowment to Promote Academic Cooperation
French ambassador to the US celebrates UT-France endowment
France-UT Endowed Excellence Fund

Authors
Alain Mermet, Scientific Attaché , and Laurent Pelliser, Deputy Attaché for the Office of Science and Technology, General Consulate of France in Houston

On January 19, the CNES Office in Washington, DC, organized at the Embassy of France the second edition of the now annual « King cake » event for young professionals from the DC space community. This year about sixty participants from the private sector, federal agencies, the research and NGO communities, as well as foreign Embassies attended the gathering.

The event was the opportunity to present CNES's activities, the main French-American cooperation programs, CNES's key achievements in 2017 and major dates on CNES's agenda for 2018.

Recalling the initiative launched by CNES's President Jean-Yves Le Gall together with a large number of agency directors the day before the One Planet Summit organized in Paris on December 12, an initiative aimed at setting up a Space Climate Observatory (link), Isabelle Robert-Strebel and Armand Ousselin outlined the importance of studying climate for the future of the Planet as well as CNES's implication in this field.

On January 12, 2018, the cubesat 3U (3,5 kg) PicSat, developed by the laboratory of space and instrumentation studies in astrophysics (LESIA) of the Paris Observatory with the support of CNES, was placed in polar orbit (505 km) by an Indian PSLV launcher.

The cubesat's mission is to observe the 23 million-year-old Beta Pictoris star situated at 63.4 light-years as well as its Beta Pictoris b gaseous exoplanet using its 5 cm diameter telescope. PicSat should also determine the size and the composition of this planet that would be seven times the size of Jupiter, and evaluate the chemical composition and thickness of its atmosphere.

Innovation, investment, networking and development. These are the key words for the 29 start-ups from five different countries (USA, Italy, South Africa, Taiwan and South Korea) invited to France in November 2017 to discover the vibrant French innovation ecosystem and its inherent opportunities for R&D investment and technology development.

These start-ups were the laureates of the 2017 edition of the Young Enterprise Initiative (YEi) - Start In France program supported by the French Ministry for European and Foreign Affairs and run by the Office for Science & Technology of the Embassy of France in the US, in partnership with Paris&Co the economic development and innovation agency of Paris.

After a call for applications in the spring of 2017, the start-ups were evaluated by a jury in each participating country, leading to the final selection of 29 companies.

Ten American companies were selected out of 62 applications, covering a variety of of technological fields:

Biotech/Medtech: D&P Innovations, Photonicare, Surgical Innovation Associates, Xenotherapeutics
Internet of Things, Robotics: Adjoint,Losant, Neurable, Sea Machine Robotics, Snapdragon
Cleantech: Catalytic Innovations

Joining their fellow laureates, the ten US companies embarked for a week in France, on November 13-17, 2017, where they attended information sessions on innovation opportunities in France, customized one-on-one meetings with potential partners and networking events. Selected speakers from key innovation players in France, like Business France, Bpifrance and La French Tech, provided comprehensive overviews of French innovation ecosystems and incentives for expanding in France. Venues included the Quai d'Orsay (French Ministry of Foreign Affairs), and the world's largest, brand-new start-up campus Station F in Paris.

All laureates had a personalized agenda of meetings with potential French partners: competitiveness clusters, research institutions or stakeholders. As France is not only Paris and has many regional clusters of excellence, laureates spent several days in selected regions of France. After Paris, some went to the pink southwestern city of Toulouse, others to the sunny French Riviera, the European capital city of Strasbourg or to the western Brittany city of Rennes…

The 10 American laureates enjoyed a special treat from the US Embassy in Paris, with a cocktail reception at the Chargé d'Affaires' residence. In addition, the US Embassy's Economic Counselor and Commercial Officer presented dedicated tools and programs meant to help young innovative American companies develop in France.

For these entrepreneurs, a week-long experience and a unique insight into a land of opportunity turned not only into satisfaction but also into actual promising contacts to build up their momentum and go global.

According to 95 % of the laureates asked whether the meetings held that week would lead to partnerships, the answer was an overwhelming “Yes!”, be it for future commercial relations or R&D cooperation or establishing subsidiaries in France.

Feedback from the 2017 participants was very positive and encouraging for the future of the program:

“There may be no better way to learn about the rapidly growing French economic ecosystem for entrepreneurs. Thank you!”
“YEi is a great programme for young innovative companies to visit France and discover the spirit of a start up nation.”
“YEI helped make real connections that are leading to direct collaboration in that market. The information and education have assisted in making informed, strategic decisions on time.”
“I was very impressed by the caliber of the meetings that were organized for me, and very thankful for all the support that was afforded.”
“The YEI week is a unique tool for any high-growth start-up or tech company looking to establish a presence in Europe. I can highly recommend the program, as it has provided a clear runway into Europe.”
The Office for Science and Technology of the Embassy of France congratulates all of the 2017 YEi laureates for their participation and is looking forward to following the development of their projects in France. Stay tuned for the 2018 edition!

Chicago (IL). January 25, 2018. Café des Sciences: The Human Microbiome with guest speaker Daniel van der Lelie, co-founder of Gusto Global. Presented by the Office for Science & Technology. Free - Open to all.

1st Café des Sciences in Chicago on the human microbiome with Dr. Daniel van der Lelie

When : Thursday, January 25, 2018 at 6:00pm
Where: Consulate General of France in Chicago, 205 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60601
Presentation and discussions in English
Free and open to the public
Registration required : https://www.eventbrite.com/e/human-microbiome-tickets-42127906703?ref=estw

Agenda

6:00pm - 6:30pm: Welcoming
6:30pm - 7:00pm: Presentation
7:00pm - 7:15pm: Q&A
7:15pm - 8:00pm: Networking & Light refreshments

Logistics : In order to pass security, bring valid and acceptable ID, if the name on your ID does not exactly match the name on your registration (excluding accents), you will not be permitted to access the building. Large bags are not allowed. For more information: https://chicago.consulfrance.org/Reinforced-security-measures

Summary

The role of Human microbiome by Giulia Enders in her book “Gut” explains how microbes digest our food, but also how they interfere with our health. Thus, today we tend to take care of our microbiome by being more careful about our food. The gut microbiome has become a kind of star and is now famous for its importance among the general public. However, apart from its essential role in digestion, new functions of the human microbiome are being currently discovered. Among them, modulation of the human immune response reveals novel possibilities to treat numerous human diseases including immune dysregulation, chronic infections and cancer. Exploring the diversity of the human microbiomes has recently led to the development of therapeutic approaches that are going to be presented in this talk. Indeed, numerous companies are active in this area, some developing therapeutic fecal microbiome transplants. For its part, the company Gusto Global is exploring the possibility of treating immune dysregulation, chronic intestinal infections, sepsis and various forms of food allergies using selected consortia.

Speaker

Daniel van der Lelie obtained his Ph.D. in Mathematics and Sciences (specialty Molecular Genetics and Microbiology) from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, in 1989. After a post doc at the Transgene (France), he spent 11 years at the Belgium Nuclear Research Centre (SCK) and the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Belgium. He was further employed by the Department of Biology at Brookhaven National Laboratory, in New York, where he founded the microbiology group. He then joined the Research Triangle Institute (RTI), a nonprofit research organization, where he founded the Center for Agricultural and Environmental Biotechnology (CAEB) that was soon acquired by FMC Corporation. Further Dr. van der Lelie has been very successful as an entrepreneur. In 2015, he became one of the co-founders of Gusto Global, with Dr. S. Taghavi, Jack Gilbert (Head of the Microbiome Center at the University of Chicago), and Chris Henry (Computational Biologist at Argonne National Laboratory), a company that aims to develop microbiome-based therapeutics for immune modulation. Daniel van der Lelie is the author of over 100 papers and book chapters as well as over 20 patents. He will be soon talking at the Microbiome Drug Development Summit being held in Paris this January and will be presenting an “avant premiere” of his lattest results.

More about Dr. van der Lelie career is available here:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Daniel_Van_Der_Lelie/info
https://patents.justia.com/inventor/daniel-van-der-lelie?page=2
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1751-7915.12597/full

The 2017 Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was awarded to Sylvain Guiriec “For contributions in understanding the nature of gamma-ray bursts via spectral studies and establishing them as standard candles and thereby as unique cosmological probes.” This prestigious NASA medal is awarded to individuals for exceptional scientific contributions toward achievement of the NASA mission or whose efforts have resulted in a key scientific discovery of fundamental importance.

Sylvain Guiriec was born in 1978 in Brest, France. In 2002 – 2003, he obtained a Masters degree in Material Sciences as well as an Engineering degree in Atomic and Molecular modeling and simulation, and computational structural analysis and design from the Institut Superieur des Materiaux du Mans, France. He worked for two years as a young researcher at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA, and at the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain, where he studied radiation damage for the nuclear research field. In 2004, he obtained a Masters degree in Astrophysics, Planetology and Space Sciences & Techniques from Paul Sabatier University, France, and majored in Space Sciences & Techniques at the Institut Superieur de l'Aeronautique et de l'Espace (SUPAERO), France. He received his PhD in Astrophysics in December 2007 from the Montpellier II University, France. His thesis was both theoretical and instrumental: (i) he studied the theoretical aspects of GRBs and made predictions of observability with the NASA Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi), and (ii) he participated to the integration and tests of the Fermi/Large Area Telescope (LAT), for which he developed an algorithm for suppressing its proton background.

Christopher J. Scolese, director of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and Sylvain Guiriec, assistant professor of physics

After the launch of Fermi mid-2008, Sylvain Guiriec joined the National Space Science and Technology Center, USA – associated to the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, USA – with a 3-year postdoctoral position at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, USA. His main efforts focused on the observational analysis of GRBs, leading to the discovery of the first clear evidence for photospheric emission in their prompt emission. He also worked on Magnetars, Solar Flares and Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes. From 2011 to 2016, Sylvain Guiriec worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, USA, first as a fellow of the NASA Postdoctoral Program and then as an Assistant Research Scientist affiliated with the University of Maryland, College Park and the Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science & Technology, USA. In 2015, he received the Young Scientist Prize in Astrophysics from the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) for his “insightful and innovative contributions towards understanding the nature of Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) prompt emission, in particular the establishment of multi-component spectra, and the discovery of a new Peak Energy – Luminosity relation showing that GRBs can be used as standard candles and thereby as unique cosmological probes.” Since 2016, Sylvain Guiriec is an Assistant Professor of Astrophysics at the George Washington University, USA, and a Research Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

The study of the human microbiome has become very attractive among the international scientific community in recent years and is now a leading research topic. In this context, the Office for Science and Technology of the Embassy of France in the United States is organizing a French-American event in Los Angeles, bringing together high-level scientists and companies to discuss the effective translation related to the human microbiome.

Where: California NanoSystems Institute, 570 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095
When: Thursday, March 29, 2018, 8 AM to Friday, March 30, 2018, 1 PM

Find more about this event: FAID 2018 Los Angeles

Contact : attache-sdv.la@ambascience-usa.org / deputy-sdv.la@ambascience-usa.org

As part of the French American Climate Talks on Ocean (FACT-O), the workshop on Sargassum will take place on January 18 and 19, 2018 in Galveston, Texas.

The critical evolution of massive landings of Sargassum over the past few years has raised concerns from economic and scientific standpoints. Several scientific initiatives in France and the USA were undertaken to understand the origins of those brown algae landings in unusual areas, forecast and model the travel routes of Sargassum patches, evaluate the impact of Sargassum overgrowth on marine ecosystems, as well as engineer the collection and the processing of Sargassum.

In order to share insights and approaches to the multiple issues of Sargassum and to encourage the coordination of French-American scientific collaborations, the Office for Science & Technology of the Embassy of France in the United States, in partnership with the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - IRD) and Texas A&M University in Galveston (TAMUG), are holding a two-day workshop.

The workshop will gather marine biologists, oceanographers, algologists, physicists, satellite imaging, data and remote sensing scientists from prominent research institutions in France and in the United States. The main purpose of the workshop is to bring together scientists working on Sargassum from different perspectives in order to share expertise, develop mutual awareness and foster French-American collaborative research in this field.

Program

Thursday, January 18, 2018

09:00-11:55 | Session 1: "Sargassum in the field: species and forms"

Moderator

Frédéric Ménard, Director of the Scientific Department Oceans, IRD, France

Speakers

Thierry Thibaut, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography, Université Aix-Marseille, France
Brian Lapointe, Florida Atlantic University, USA
Amy Siuda, Sea Education Association, Woods Hole, MA, USA
Jay Rooker, Marine Fisheries, Texas A&M University at Galveston, USA
Gilbert Rowe, Marine Biology Department, Texas A&M University at Galveston, USA

11:55-16:35 | Session 2: "Sargassum distribution: observation and modelling"

Moderator

Léo Berline, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography, Université Aix-Marseille, France

Speakers

Mengqiu Wang, College of Marine Sciences, University of South Florida, FL, USA
Anouck Ody, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography, Université Aix-Marseille, France
Léo Berline, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography, Université Aix-Marseille, France
Maureen Brooks, Center for Environmental Science, University of Maryland, USA
Thomas Linton, Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University at Galveston, USA
Bruce Cook, Goddard Space Flight Center, MD, USA
Donald R. Johnson, Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, The University of Southern Mississipi, MS, USA
Julien Jouanno, Laboratory of Space Geophysical and Oceanography Studies, Toulouse, France

16:50-19:00 | Session 3: "Impact and prediction of Sargassum landings on coastal ecosystems"

Moderator

Victor Viser, Department of Liberal Studies (Communication), Texas A&M University of Galveston, USA

Speakers

Brandon Hill, Shoreline Department for the City of South Padre Island, Texas, USA
Sandrine Pivard, Director of the Regional Activity Centre for the Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife for the Wider Caribbean Region
Jacques Abe, Thematic Coordinator, Biodiversity, Habitat and Water Quality, Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem Project (CCLME), Abidjan Convention, UN, Côte d'Ivoire

Friday, January 19, 2018

08:45-10:10 | Session 4: "Perspectives for future collaborations"

Moderator

Léo Berline, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography, Université Aix-Marseille, France

Speakers

Frédéric Ménard, Director of the Scientific Department Oceans, IRD, France
Thierry Thibaut, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography, Université Aix-Marseille, France
Antonietta Quigg, Texas A&M University at Galveston, USA
Gilbert Rowe, Texas A&M University at Galveston, USA

10:20-11:05 | Closing remarks

Françoise Gaill, Former Director of Ecology and Environment Institute, CNRS
Patrick Louchouarn, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at TAMUG and Associate Provost at TAMU

The series of destructive hurricanes which struck the South-Eastern part of the United States and the Antilles last summer have once again highlighted how critical satellites are to predicting and monitoring extreme weather crises. For a long time now, climate has been a priority for CNES, as 26 of the 50 essential climate variables can only be observed from space. In December, the One Planet Summit organized by France on the initiative of President Emmanuel Macron paved the way for the implementation of a Space Climate Observatory dedicated to set up a genuine international coordination between space agencies all over the World.

This 74^th issue of the quarterly magazine Cnesmag is an opportunity to rediscover the unique role played by satellites in the continued observation of our Planet.

On Monday, December 18, CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall was in Washington, D.C. where he joined guests from the U.S. space community for the traditional Christmas Party at the Maison Française at the Embassy of France. He took this opportunity to recall CNES's five main areas of focus—Ariane, science, Earth observation, telecommunications and defense—and to underline the key role that France is playing in the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission, illustrated by the agency's close involvement in the Galileo and Copernicus programmes.

CNES's President then highlighted the three milestone achievements of 2017: first, the proposed creation of a Space Climate Observatory (SCO), for which a number of the world's space agencies signed up at the One Planet Summit organized on the initiative of President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on 12 December; second, Thomas Pesquet's 196-day mission aboard the International Space Station, during which he accomplished two extravehicular activities and performed some 100 scientific experiments, widely covered on social media channels; and third, the Microscope fundamental science mission, launched in April 2016, which confirmed this December Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity with an unprecedented degree of precision.

Jean-Yves Le Gall also reviewed the most emblematic French-U.S. projects currently underway or in development, emphasizing the close partnership ties between the two nations and their desire to pursue the exceptional cooperation and successes achieved together in the field of oceanography, marked by this year's celebration of the 25^th anniversary of the launch of the TOPEX/Poseidon mission, and in Mars exploration. He gave special mention to the SWOT mission (Surface Water and Ocean Topography), the InSight mission set to launch on 5 May 2018, to which CNES is contributing with its SEIS seismometer, and Mars 2020, which will be carrying the French SuperCam instrument. He also reaffirmed his attachment to ensuring the continuity of the Cospas-Sarsat satellite-based search-and-rescue programme, as well as that of the Argos location and data collection system so vital for environmental monitoring and wildlife tracking.

CNES's President also took advantage of his visit to Washington D.C. to meet Scott Pace, Executive Secretary of the National Space Council, NASA Administrator Robert M. Lightfoot and NOAA Assistant Administrator Stephen Volz. These meetings provided the opportunity to discuss the outlook for the evolving global space landscape and to reaffirm France and the United States' shared commitment to continuing and stepping up their cooperation efforts.

Following the decision of the United States to withdraw from the Paris agreement, as announced by President Trump on June 1, 2017, the President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron issued a call to students and researchers working on climate change to join France in the fight against global warming. More than 1,800 complete applications were received in total from students and researchers from around the world, who were interested in a long or short stay in France, a collaboration with a French lab, or a PhD program in France. Among them, over 1,000 came from the United States.

In France, the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the French National Research Agency (ANR) were in charge of evaluating applications for long-term research positions in France. In the first round of selection, 18 high-level projects were selected by an international jury. Among these 18 researchers, 13 come from the United States. Laureates will join their new research labs in France in the coming months. In the United States, the Embassy of France in Washington is in charge of U.S. applications for short stays, PhD programs and collaborations with French labs. Thanks to additional funding made available as part of the "Make Our Planet Great Again" initiative, the Embassy will take advantage of its existing mobility and collaboration programs to support projects related to earth system science, energy transition, and climate change and sustainability.

Theresa Oehmke is one of the U.S. PhD students who applied on the makeourplanetgreatagain.fr platform. Theresa is studying Environmental Engineering at Berkeley and received a fellowship from the Chateaubriand Fellowship Program, a program implemented by the Embassy to support outstanding PhD students who wish to conduct research in France. Thanks to this fellowship, she was able to join a laboratory in Marseille in September 2017 for 8 months: the Institut de Recherche sur les Phénomènes Hors Équilibre (IRPHE, a CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université and École Centrale Marseille laboratory). There, Theresa uses particle dynamics to understand the behavior of aquatic organisms in the oceans, which plays an important role in the global carbon cycle. Their behavior is influenced by extreme events, which are likely to increase with climate change. Thanks to the additional funding available, she will have the opportunity to extend her stay in France.

Two years after the Paris Agreement, the One Planet Summit was organized in Paris on December 12, 2017 to address climate change by bringing together international leaders and civil society organizations. In parallel to the summit, during the event Tech For Planet organized at the startup incubator Station F on December 11, the President of the French Republic revealed the names of the 18 selected researchers and welcomed them on stage along with Theresa Oehmke.

Watch the video made by Theresa Oehmke for her participation in the summit:

Watch the interview of Theresa Oehmke from the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs:

• Are you a PhD student at a U.S. university? Apply to the Chateaubriand Fellowship Program to conduct research in a French lab for 4-9 months and benefit from additional "Make Our Planet Great Again" fellowships: https://www.chateaubriand-fellowship.org/ (the call for applications is open until mid-January)

• Are you a researcher at a U.S. university wishing to initiate a collaborative research project with a French team? Apply to the Thomas Jefferson Fund and benefit from financial support in the context of the "Make Our Planet Great Again" initiative: http://face-foundation.org/thomas-jefferson-fund/index.html (call for applications will open mid-January)

• To know more about the way U.S. applications are handled by the Embassy: https://frenchly.us/make-planet-great-many-americans-responded-macrons-call/

• Contact: deputy-ntics@ambascience-usa.org

On November 30, 2017, Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) and Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers Paris Tech (ENSAM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Marseille to structure their cooperation in the coming decades.

Over about fifteen years, Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station and ENSAM have been successfully collaborating in research on materials science. After the signing in 2015 of two agreements formalizing student exchanges and scientific collaborations, the two institutions have agreed to strengthen their cooperation by creating a Joint Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Research, Innovation, and Education Cluster on the ENSAM campus in Aix-en-Provence. This project, strongly supported by Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA), will mainly focus on new technologies for aeronautics, the production of new energies and digital technologies, across research, education and innovation partnerships. It will benefit from the common cultures of both institutions in research and education excellence, industrial partnership and technology transfer.

Dr. Katherine Banks, Vice Chancellor, Dean of Engineering and Director of the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, and Prof Laurent Champaney, Director general of Arts & Métiers ParisTech.

Dr. Katherine Banks, Vice Chancellor, Dean of Engineering and Director of the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, and Prof Laurent Champaney, Director general of Arts & Métiers ParisTech, officially signed the agreement at the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Region headquarters, in the presence of the Vice President of PACA Region and of the Scientific attaché of the Consulate general of France in Houston.

Tuesday 12 December, Ariane 5 completed a flawless launch from Europe's spaceport at the Guiana Space Centre (CSG), orbiting the 19^th, 20^th, 21^st and 22^nd Full Operational Capability (FOC) satellites for the European Galileo satellite navigation programme on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission. The flight was the eleventh of the year from the CSG, Ariane 5's sixth launch in 2017 and its 96^th in total.

Galileo initial services were declared operational in December 2016. Galileo is already providing Europe with an extremely precise, reliable and secure satellite navigation system, and these four new satellites are set to further boost its performance. Ultimately, the full constellation will deliver an unprecedented degree of precision and variety of applications.

The four satellites, each weighing slightly over 700 kilograms, were placed in a circular inclined orbit at an altitude of 22,922 kilometers. They will deliver signals compatible and interoperable with existing satellite navigation systems, but one of Galileo's key advantages is that it will offer near-metric precision, and that is before signals are further refined by additional processing.

Euro Science Open Forum (ESOF) is the largest interdisciplinary meeting on science, innovation and their relations with society in Europe. Created in 2004 by the EuroScience association, this European biennale brings together more than 4,000 researchers, sociocultural, economic and political actors from around the world. The event enjoys extensive media coverage by more than 400 international journalists and science communicators.

Toulouse was selected to host for the first time in France the 8th edition of this unique event in Europe and is thus the "European City of Science" until the end of 2018.

The symposium sessions will be held from July 9 to 14, 2018 and will include hundreds of conferences, debates etc.

POST-doctoral position Starting date: 2018
Title: Diamond-based Electron Field Emissions Sources Triggerred by an ultrafast fiber laser
Responsible of the project: Angela Vella
Collaboration: GPM – UMR 6634 / CORIA – UMR 6614
Team: Angela Vella (GPM), Jonathan Houard (GPM), Ammar Hideur (CORIA), Thomas Godin (CORIA)
This research will be developed at the “Groupe de Physique des Matériaux (GPM)” in collaboration with the “Lasers and Nonlinear Optics team” of CORIA Laboratory at the University of Rouen Normandie, FRANCE.

Description of the project

Activities at the GPM laboratory are centred on investigating the link between material properties and their features at the nanometer scale. One of the laboratory's teams is the “advanced instrumentation team” (ERIS) where the ultrafast laser assisted Tomographic Atom Probe was developed in the 1990s. ERIS is one of the world's leading teams in the development of laser assisted 3D atom probes, in particular concerning field evaporation processes and laser matter interaction in nanoscaled features [1-2]. The recent development of laser assisted field emitter bench opened the activity of the GPM to the ultrafast electrons photoemission domain. The ERIS team is focusing now on the study of the electron emission from diamond nanoneedles illuminated by femtosecond laser. Currently diamond nanotips, or metallic nanotips covered by nano-diamonds, are widely studied for the static emission of electrons, due to their high emission current and greater stability, compared to tungsten tips commonly used as a cold gun in electron microscopes [3]. Despite their high performances, the emission properties of these nano-diamonds under ultrashort laser illumination remain almost unexplored. In order to better understand the mechanisms of electron emission from nanodiamond tip under ultra-short laser illumination, the post-doc will work on the optimization of a homemade ultrafast laser developed specifically for laser assisted field emission and on the caracterization of the performances of this nano-tips. This study will be conducted using the emission and electron spectroscopy benchmark setup at GPM. This bench will be coupled with different ultrafast fiber laser sources in collaboration with the CORIA.

Qualifications and experience

The candidate will work on the development of the ultrafast fiber laser sources, in order to couple them with the field emission bench. She/he will perform analysis on diamond nanoneedles in order to have new insight on the emission properties of these samples under laser illumination. The ideal applicant for this post-doc position should have a PhD thesis in the domain of field emission, laser matter interaction and/or ultrafast laser sources. She/he should be able to work independently and in team. His work will take place at GPM laboratory in collaboration with the “Laser and Nonlinear Optics team” of CORIA.

[1] B. Gault, F. Vurpillot, A. Vella, M. Gilbert, A. Menand, D. Blavette, and B. Deconihout, , Rev. Sci. Instrum. 77, 043705 (2006)
[2] E. Silaeva, L. Arnoldi, M.L. Karahka, B. Deconihout, A. Menand, H.J. Kreuzer, and A. Vella ‘Do dielectric nanostructures turn metallic in high electric dc fields ?' Nano Letters 2014, 14 (11), pp 6066-6072
[3] Victor I. Kleshch et al., Single Crystal Diamond Needle as Point Electron Source, Scientific Reports | 6:35260 | DOI: 10.1038/srep35260.

Contact : Pr Angela Vella
Groupe de Physique des Matériaux
GPM –UFR Sciences et Techniques
Avenue de l'Universite - B.P. 12
76801 SAINT ETIENNE DU ROUVRAY FRANCE
E-mail: Angela.vella@univ-rouen.fr
Phone: (33) (0)2 32 95 51 68
FAX: (33) (0)2 3295 5032
For further information see Institute: http://www.univ-rouen.fr/gpm/

Contact : Pr Ammar Hideur
CORIA –UFR Sciences et Techniques
Avenue de l'Universite - B.P. 12
76801 SAINT ETIENNE DU ROUVRAY, FRANCE
E-mail : ammar.hideur@coria.fr
Phone: (33) (0)2 32 95 3739

The Chateaubriand Fellowship in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics & Health for doctoral students aims to initiate or reinforce collaborations, partnerships or joint projects between French and American research teams. The Chateaubriand Fellowship supports PhD students registered in an American university who wish to conduct part of their doctoral research in a French laboratory.

This fellowship is offered by the Office for Science & Technology (OST) of the Embassy of France in Washington in partnership universities and research organizations in France and the United States such as CNRS, Inria, Inserm and Université Paris-Saclay. It is a partner of the National Science Foundation's GROW program.

This year, in support of the Make Our Planet Great Again Initiative launched by President Emmanuel Macron in June 2017, the Chateaubriand Program is offering additional fellowships for research projects related to Earth System Science, Climate Change and Sustainability, and Energy Transition.

The OST and its partners provide Chateaubriand fellows with a monthly stipend of up to 1,400 € (depending on other sources of funding) for a 4-9 month period and support for travel expenses and student health insurance. All STEM and Health disciplines are eligible. The required level of French remains at the discretion of the host laboratory.

Dates : The call for applications is now open for fellowships starting during the 2018-2019 academic year.
Deadline : January 16, 2018 at 12pm (noon) EST
Application : http://www.chateaubriand-fellowship.org
Flyer : Chateaubriand Fellowship 2018-2019 EN, Chateaubriand Fellowship 2018-2019 FR
Partners :

Fabien Cavalier, CNRS research Director, will address the Science Diplomats Club on Wednesday, October 18, 2017 from 8am to 10am, at the Embassy of France in Washington, DC.

About the speaker

Fabien Cavalier is a CNRS research Director at the Laboratoire de l'Accélérateur Linéaire (LAL, CNRS/Université Paris-Sud), in Orsay. In the Virgo experiment, his activities have always been based on two major subjects: longitudinal control of optical cavities (Virgo at Cascina and CALVA test bench at LAL) and data analysis (characterization of the detector and search for unmodeled short signals). He was in charge of Virgo global control and data analysis coordinator. He is currently a member of the detection committee. In addition to these scientific activities, since February 2011, he has been the deputy director of LAL (300 people including 100 researchers).

About the observations of gravitational waves

The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics was just awarded to researchers who detected for the first time a gravitational wave produced in 2015 by the fusion of two black holes.

Advanced LIGO gravitational wave detectors then carried out their second data collection phase from December 2016 to August 2017 and during the same period, the European detector Advanced Virgo started operating. The two detectors were therefore able to collect common data for a few fruitful weeks in August 2017.

Fabien Cavalier will present the observations made during this most recent data collection which will allow us to shed new light on General Relativity and some violent astrophysical phenomena.

The 30^th World Astronaut Congress is taking place at the Cité de l'espace in Toulouse from October 16-20. Toulouse, Europe's space capital, was chosen to host this year's congress as the city concentrating the very best scientific, technological and industrial expertise in space, and as a symbol of European excellence. CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall, who has followed the flights of all of France's astronauts for more than 30 years, gave a speech at the opening of the event hailing the success of the Cité de l'espace which is also celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

The presence in Toulouse this week of over 100 astronauts is an exceptional event highlighting France's eminent role in the international space arena and its commitment to human spaceflight. The congress also comes in the wake of Thomas Pesquet's recent return to Earth, after a mission that captivated young and old alike. The experiments he conducted aboard the International Space Station were in no small measure made possible by CNES CADMOS (centre for the development of microgravity applications and space operations plans) unit, which is continuing its work to devise and perform new experiments for astronauts to advance scientific research in the years ahead.

The CNES team working on SuperCam, one of the instruments set to equip the Mars 2020 rover, is also in the spotlight at the congress. Thomas Pesquet presented the team with a Martian rock ejected from the planet's surface by a meteorite collision and discovered in Morocco. The idea is to put this rock back where it came from in a little over three years' time, an operation combining space exploration and robotics that will be calling on the expertise of astronauts and CNES. This much-travelled rock will thus serve as a calibration target for SuperCam in 2020.

Mission of the France-Stanford Center

The France-Stanford Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, founded in partnership with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, bridges the disciplines of the humanities, social sciences, engineering, business and law, addressing issues of significance for France and the U.S. from a broad range of perspectives. It is part of Stanford Global Studies in the School of Humanities and Sciences.

Collaborative Projects Call for Proposals

The France-Stanford Center seeks to fund research projects across all disciplines. Priority will be given to projects with the potential to develop new collaborations involving junior researchers, and to those leading to collaborative work on interdisciplinary issues.
Funding: up to $15,000.
Application deadline: March 1, 2018
More information: http://francestanford.stanford.edu/collaborative_projects

Visiting Student Researcher Fellowship

Call for Applications
Available to graduate students affiliated with a French institution who are interested in pursuing research at Stanford, and to Stanford graduate students interested in undertaking research or pursuing an internship at a French institution. Applicants for the Visiting Student Researcher Fellowship must be graduate students: they must be pursuing either a master's or doctoral degree.
Funding:

• Projects lasting 2 months up to $5,000
• Projects lasting 3 months up to $6,000
• Projects lasting 4 months up to $7,000

Application deadline: March 1, 2018
More information: http://francestanford.stanford.edu/fellowships/visiting_student_researcher

Call for Conferences/Workshops Proposals

Conferences, to be held at Stanford or at any French research institution, should address significant issues of common interest to scholars from France and Stanford, and particularly, but not exclusively, those subject to differences of disciplinary or interdisciplinary approach in or between the two countries.
Application deadline: March 1, 2018
More information: http://francestanford.stanford.edu/conferences

Visiting Junior Scholar Fellowship

Call for Applications
Available to junior scholars from either Stanford or France seeking a research visit either in a French institution or at Stanford. Fellowships are available to postdoctoral students as well as scholars who have completed a Ph.D. no more than three years from the date of applying for the fellowship and who hold a tenure-track/permanent (rather than postdoctoral) position.
Funding:

• Projects lasting 3 months up to $6,000
• Projects lasting 4 months up to $7,000

Application deadline: March 1, 2018
More information: http://francestanford.stanford.edu/fellowships/visiting_junior_scholar

Undergraduate Fellowship Call for Applications

Intended to fund Stanford undergraduates interested in undertaking research or pursuing an internship at a French institution.
Funding:

• Projects lasting 2 months up to $4,000
• Projects lasting 3 months up to $5,500
• Projects lasting 4 months up to $7,000

Application deadline: February 15, 2018
More information: http://francestanford.stanford.edu/fellowships/undergraduate

For more information and to apply, please visit francestanford.stanford.edu.
Questions? Contact Isabelle Collignon, francestanford@stanford.edu.

The France And Chicago Collaborating in The Sciences (FACCTS) program is designed to enhance science at the University of Chicago by encouraging closer relations between researchers in the Physical Sciences Division (PSD), the Biological Sciences Division (BSD) and the Institute for Molecular Engineering (IME) and high-level research teams and institutions of higher education in France. It seeks to accomplish this goal by offering seed funding for new projects that promote meaningful academic and scientific exchange, and that show promise of leading to fruitful and sustainable collaboration. Through a partnership with Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab, researchers at these two national laboratories are also eligible for FACCTS support, and are encouraged to apply

Eligibility

Invited to apply are all PI-eligible University of Chicago faculty members and researchers affiliated with PSD, BSD and/or IME, as well as PI-eligible researchers at Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab.

Selection Criteria

Excellent, important science is necessary for a successful proposal, but not sufficient. The committee will also consider such other factors including:

• The strengths and levels of complementarity between the collaborating partner laboratories
• The likelihood of a high reward relative to the amount of funding requested
• The potential for continued collaboration in the medium and long term

The FACCTS program seeks to help foster a broad range of networks and productive partnerships between Chicago-based research with French colleagues and institutions. For this reason, when choosing between similarly ranked projects, the committee may use “past FACCTS funding” as a secondary criterion, giving preference to first-time applicants and to individuals whose initiatives have not recently (within the last 2 years) received FACCTS support.

Deadlines and Key Dates

• October 16, 2017: Deadline for Argonne-based researchers to submit preproposal
• November 1, 2017: Responses sent to all Argonne-based researchers who submitted pre-proposals. (Up to five Argonne-based researchers will be invited to submit a full application.)
• December 4, 2017: Deadline for FACCTS proposals from UChicago, Fermilab, and Argonne National Laboratory applicants
• February 28, 2018: Notification given to all applicants
• March 31, 2018: Funds become available to award recipients

One Program, Three Pools

FACCTS applications from PI-eligible researchers affiliated with the University of Chicago constitute one applicant pool. Proposals from this pool will be competing for funding totaling $150,000.
Applications submitted by researchers from Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab will constitute a second and third pool. These applications will be evaluated by the FACCTS committee against applications in their respective pools, and ratings and recommendations will be forwarded to the offices of the directors of the appropriate national laboratory, which will be responsible for final award decisions. Successful national laboratory FACCTS proposals will be funded internally at different levels: $20,000/year for up to two years for the Argonne FACCTS recipient, and up to a total of $15,000 for the Fermilab FACCTS recipient.

Funding Parameters

Funding parameters for ANL and Fermilab researchers are described in the previous section. In the UChicago pool, most one-year awards are in amounts between $5,000 and $15,000. Most two-year awards are in the $10,000 to $25,000 range. While these funding levels are relatively modest when compared to those offered by most state and federal agencies, FACCTS funds are significantly more flexible, and may be used for nearly any purpose that the University's (or national laborary's) accounting system allows. We discourage the use of FACCTS funds to support travel to France by senior Chicago faculty members. However, bringing researchers from France to Chicago, and supporting travel by students, and junior faculty members/researchers in either direction is considered a particularly appropriate use of FACCTS funding.

Apply and more information: http://fcc.uchicago.edu/faccts

I.S.Rivers is an international conference dedicated to research and practices on natural and human-impacted large rivers. It aims at promoting multidisciplinary approaches and engaging all stakeholders.

Submit your abstract – See you in Lyon, France, from June 4-8, 2018!

You can find all information on ISRivers Call for abstracts and on their website.

Key dates :

Declarations of intent (optional): October 15, 2017
Extended abstracts: November 20, 2017
Notification of acceptance: February 15, 2018
Dates of the conference: June 4-8, 2018

Why participate in I.S.Rivers 2018?

I.S.Rivers attracts research and management professionals, and promotes multidisciplinary approaches

It allows French and international scientists, policymakers and technicians to present, discover and discuss the latest scientific knowledge and case studies regarding river hydrosystems. It is a chance to share the latest research, practices, implementation of local policies on different scales and geographical, social contexts: hydrographic districts (watershed), corridors, large cities, transition
zones and estuaries.

I.S.Rivers engages all stakeholders and builds links

I.S.Rivers stimulates European and international collaborations between scientists and river managers for the purpose of improving decision support and practices. By welcoming scientists, large river managers, residents, and by offering French-English simultaneous translation in all sessions and technical tours, I.S.Rivers promotes knowledge transfer and helps build links between stakeholders.

Submit an abstract for I.S.Rivers 2018!

The heart of the conference is your expertise, perspectives and experiences

By participating in the 3rd I.S.Rivers, you will contribute not only to the conference, but to the evolution of knowledge and practices towards a better sustainable and integrated river management. It is, indeed, around your research, action and case studies that the conference is built.

An opportunity to enhance your work

A diversity of possible presentation formats will enable you to present in a way that suits the nature of your project. Extended abstracts (2-3 p.) will be included in the conference proceedings and on the I.S.Rivers website. Will also be given to scientists the opportunity to submit their contribution to a recognized international journal.

I.S.Rivers: a unique occasion in Europe to…

Provide an overview of worldwide river management and restoration practices.
Discover the most recent developments regarding knowledge, methodology and decision support tools, integrating research results, for a sustainable management of rivers.

I.S.Rivers includes…

Specialised workshops on Monday, June 4.
2.5 conference days from June 5-7, 2018:

• 2,200 presentations expected (oral and poster), with works from more than 30 countries, incl. 1/3 from European countries. 50% of presentations are scientific and 50% are case studies.
• 2 Plenary conferences presenting innovative approaches and highlighting some of the world's rivers.

Technical tours on Thursday, June 7 in the afternoon and Friday, June 8.

RESEARCH

The Institut Lumière Matière (iLM) is a joint research unit attached to the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1 and the CNRS. The laboratory is located on the LyonTech-la Doua campus in the heart of the Lyon metropolitan area and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and brings together more than 300 people at a research center of excellence in physics and chemistry.

The iLM is looking for an external candidate in order to reinforce its research activity in the field of non-equilibrium matter, in line with the themes developed by the LABEX iMUST. The candidate will join one of the existing iLM teams.

Targeted topics include, but are not limited to, transport measurements, ultrafast dynamics, non-linear physics and optics, instability, self-organization in nanosystems, disordered condensed matter, complex fluids and living matter

Research contact: Laboratory director: dir.ilm@univ-lyon1.fr, 04.72.43.84.54
Website: http://ilm.univ-lyon1.fr/

EDUCATION

Physics teaching at L and M levels.
Some of the teaching can be done in English
Contact : Director of the Department of Physics: Jean-Claude Plenet, jean-claude.plenet@univ-lyon1.fr 04.72.43.11.96

• Position: Professor
• Chair: No
• CNU Section No. 1: 28 - Dense Media and Materials
• CNU Section No. 2: 30 - Diluted and Optical Media
• Synthetic profile: New methodologies for the study of non-equilibrium matter
• Component or department: FST - Department of Physics
• Research unit: Institut Lumière Matière

A post-doctoral position in the field of complex molecules is open in the “BioMolecular Group” at Paris-Saclay University (Dr. Michel Mons and Dr. Eric Gloaguen), France.

Topic

Laser spectroscopy of isolated flexible molecules: IR/UV double resonance spectroscopy ; pico- and femto-second pump-probe dynamics experiments.

Profile

The successful candidate is expected to hold a PhD in a relevant area of chemical physics since no more than 2 years. He/she will have prior experience in gas phase techniques, including high vacuum, lasers, spectroscopic techniques and mass spectrometry. Background in theoretical approaches to electronic structure and force field calculations will be an asset.

Dates, Salary & Location

Start: January-February 2018
Duration: 1 year, renewable under mutual agreement
Salary: Net monthly salary (including state health benefits): from 2200 €, depending on experience.
Location: CEA Paris-Saclay is a research center of the French Atomic Agency, located South West of Paris, close to Orsay and Gif-sur-Yvette, at approx. 20 km from Paris downtown.

Application

The application should include :

• a Curriculum Vitae
• a letter of motivation
• names and contact information of two academic referees

Applications must be sent before October 15th to :
Dr. Michel Mons
CEA Saclay, LIDYL, Bât 522
91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
michel.mons@cea.fr

More informations on the group webpage.

The Call

A three-year PhD position in solid-state NMR spectroscopy of advanced materials is available at the University of Lille in France. It will start preferably in October 2017.

Project Description

Hybrid materials are promising for numerous applications, such as catalysis, gas storage or drug delivery. Solid-state NMR provides unique information about the atomic-level structure of defects and surfaces in hybrid materials. Nevertheless, a major limitation is the lack of sensitivity of solid-state NMR, which limits the observation of defects and surfaces, particularly for insensitive isotopes with low gyromagnetic ratio, low natural abundance or subject to large quadrupolar interaction. Recent instrumental developments, such as high-magnetic field and Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP), can boost the sensitivity of solid-state NMR. This project aims at developing and applying novel solid-state NMR methods to probe the local environment of quadrupolar nuclei in hybrid materials. The structural information obtained by solid-state NMR will be useful to improve the performances of hybrid materials.

Host and research Infrastructure

Lille is a vibrant and handsome city, imbued with a rich history, located in the middle of northwestern Europe (only 30 min by high-speed trains from Brussels, 1h from Paris and 1h30 from London). Lille is one of France's top student cities and the university of Lille is a leading center for magnetic resonance. Lille NMR facility includes 800 and 900 MHz NMR spectrometers and has been selected to host the first 1.2 GHz NMR spectrometer to be installed in France. Our research group is internationally known for the development of solid-state NMR methods, notably for quadrupolar nuclei, and the characterization of hybrid materials. We have an expertise in high-field solid-state NMR spectroscopy and we are among the pioneers of high-field DNP-NMR of hybrid and inorganic materials.

The Applicant

We seek application from national and international students who have graduated in physics or chemistry, preferably with a background in material sciences or NMR spectroscopy. The successful applicant will be given the opportunity to work in an exciting environment with national and international collaborations.

Funding

The scholarship would be 1684,93 € per month (gross amount)

Contact

Applications and informal queries about the lab and research projects should be directed by email to olivier.lafon@univ-lille1.fr and frederique.pourpoint@ensc-lille.fr

The Franco-American Fulbright Commission's US Scholar Program offers grants to US academics, university and college administrators, professionals, and artists to lecture and/or pursue research in France.

Fulbright is extending the deadline to September 12th, 2017 for two of its grants: the Tocqueville Distinguished Chair Award and the Hauts-de-France Region grant.

Tocqueville Distinguished Chair Award

Hauts-de-France Region Grant

Applicants must apply through the CIES website : www.cies.org
Contact :
By phone: +1 (202) 686-6247
By Email: europeeurasia@iie.org