research - Ecole Centrale Paris

egards roisés 

researCh 

Research 

aCademiC 

ProGrammes 

Conference on Complex 

systems design and managementÚ 

Academic 

Programmes 

alain Juppé Comes to CampusÚ 

International Scope 

Centrale Paris wins a new 

project tender for the european 

erasmus mundus 

Program Ú 

newsletter number 27 - November 2010 

international 

sCoPe 

CoPorate world 

the École Centrale Group 

alumni Career forum: 

shanghai, november 20, 

2010Ú 

Events 

President sarkozy confirms the 

arrival of institutions of higher 

education, including Centrale 

Paris, on the saclay PlateauÚ 

Focus 

Centrale Paris reinforces 

its Commitment to Gender 

equality through the 

Creation of the sébastienne 

Guyot scholarshipsÚ 

eVents 

tous droits réservés - École Centrale Paris 

École Centrale Paris 

Corporate World An InstItUtIon on the move 

foCUs 

The 2010 academic year confirms the dynamism of Centrale 

Paris in all its fields of activity. Thus far, the new class 

of student-engineers has already seen the launching of 

apprenticeships, the initial phase of e-learning programs, 

and Alain Juppé’s presentation as part of the conference 

series on the major challenges of the 21st century. In the 

field of research, as well, the École has much in store for 

this fall: a major conference (“Complex Systems Design and 

Management”), the third season of Science Cafés, and the 

awarding of prizes and medals. 

Meanwhile, the École Centrale Paris continues to develop 

its network of top-notch scientific and industrial partnerships. 

Indeed, the École has won yet another project 

tender as part of the Erasmus Mundus European program, 

and it will be in charge of organizing the second annual 

École Centrale Group Alumni Career Forum in Shanghai, in 

collaboration with over a dozen companies. 

The École Centrale Paris reaffirms its unwavering commitment 

to gender parity with the creation of Sébastienne 

Guyot Scholarships, designed to enable more young women 

to enroll as student-engineers. Beginning as soon as this 

academic year, the École Centrale Paris will cover all 

expenses for five female students, through the assistance 

of several companies who share the École’s commitment to 

increasing the number of female engineers. 

Last but not least, one of the major events of this fall is 

the confirmation by France’s president of the arrival on 

the Saclay Plateau of the first wave of institutions, which 

includes Centrale Paris. 

From e-learning to the Shanghai Forum, from Erasmus 

Mundus to the Saclay Plateau — recent developments 

attest to the École Centrale’s vitality. Thanks to its faculty, 

students and staff, the École Centrale Paris is truly an 

institution on the move. 

Happy reading, 

Hervé Biausser, Director of École Centrale Paris

egards croisés 

RESEARCH 

Conference on Complex Systems Design and Management 

Centrale Paris is a member of the partnership of institutions that organized the first 

«Complex Systems Design and Management» (CSDM) conference. This European 

conference, which brought together researchers and representatives from the business 

world engaged in engineering complex industrial systems, was held on October 27-29, 

2010, at the Cité Universitaire Internationale in Paris. The conference’s goal was to cover 

as comprehensively as possible the science and implementation of complex systems. The 

conference was comprised of both scientific (methods, modeling, etc.) and industrial (case 

studies, good practices, etc.) presentations. 

E More on: http://www.csdm2010.csdm.fr 

The Doctoral School’s Science Cafés — Season 3 

Each session of the bi-monthly Science Café, sponsored by the Doctoral 

School, is organized around the work of an Centrale Paris researcher or visiting 

professor (not to mention coffee and pastries, as the name promises). 

The aim is to promote interaction between laboratories and to showcase 

research in general through friendly and informal gatherings. This fall’s 

first Science Café featured Jean-Claude Bocquet, Director of the Industrial 

Engineering Lab (LGI), presenting his conception of “complex systems.” The 

Science Café takes place on the first and third Thursdays of each month, and 

is open to all. 

E Contact: pierre-eymeric.janolin@ecp.fr 

Centrale Paris Professor Sébastien Candel Awarded the Highest 

International Honor in the Field of Combustion 

At the 2010 Symposium on Combustion, held in Beijing July 31-August 

5, Sébastien Candel was awarded the Zeldovich Gold Medal by the 

Combustion Institute “for outstanding contribution to the theory of 

combustion or detonation.” The Combustion Institute’s gold medals 

represent the highest international distinctions in the field of combustion, 

and Sébastien Candel is the first French national in 46 years to have 

received the Zeldovich Medal. 

Sébastien Candel is a professor at Centrale Paris. He conducts his 

research as part of the EM2C Laboratory (Molecular and Macroscopic 

Energy and Combustion), a CNRS (UPR288) lab at the École Centrale 

Paris. He also teaches at the Institut Universitaire de France. 

E More on: http://www.em2c.ecp.fr/Members/candel 

Best Paper Award Goes to Benoît Goyeau of the Centrale Paris EM2C Laboratory 

Benoît Goyeau, a researcher in the EM2C Lab (Molecular and Macroscopic Energy and 

Combustion), Daniela Bauer (University of Paris VI), and Dominique Gobin (University of 

Paris XI) received the Best Paper Award from the Journal of Porous Media for their article 

entitled “Large Particle Transport in Porous Media: Effect of Pore Plugging on the Macroscopic 

Transport Properties.” Professor Goyeau’s scientific work focuses on macroscopic modeling 

and computational simulation of transport phenomena in porous media and partially 

porous configurations, with and without phase change and chemical reaction. 

In the EMC2 Lab, this research constitutes one of the three main themes of the Transfer 

Physics area. The list of possible applications is long and includes, among others: 

assisted oil recovery, soil pollution, wood and agro-food product drying, gas separation, 

materials development (crystalline growth), thermal isolation, bio-fuel production 

(biomass pyrolysis), filtration processes, bone growth, transport phenomena in biological 

media, nuclear safety. 

E For more information: http://www.em2c.ecp.fr/Members/goyeau 


number 27 - November 2010 


Pierre Ponthiaux, Doctor 

Honoris Causa 

Pierre Ponthiaux, a 

professor in the Process 

and Material Engineering 

Lab (LGPM) at the École 

Centrale Paris, was 

awarded the title of 

Doctor Honoris Causa by 

the University of Galati 

(Romania) for his research 

on Tribocorrosion. In 

honoring Professor 

Ponthiaux’s work, this title 

also confers distinction on 

the training and research 

activities carried out at 

the École Centrale in the 

field of tribocorrosion, 

and mechanical-chemical 

behavior of surfaces more 

generally. 

This training and research 

has been conducted in 

close contact with the 

countries of Eastern 

Europe, and especially 

Romania, with which the 

École Centrale has worked 

continuously since 2000. 

Over the next two years, 

through the Ph.D. Expert 

Program, the École 

Centrale will help to bring 

the University of Galati’s 

Doctoral School up to 

international standards 

of excellence in the field 

of engineering sciences, 

according to the European 

standards recommended in 

the “Bologna Process.” 

E To know more: 

http://www.lgpm.ecp.fr


ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES 

Alain Juppé Comes to Campus 

Alain Juppé, the former French Prime Minister, 

took part in the Fall 2010 Challenges conference 

series. On September 22, before the entire incoming 

class (P2013), he gave a presentation on the major 

political issues of the new millennium (including the 

difficult balance in international relations), governance 

issues, and global environmental challenges. 

Each year, a high profile figure (Yann Arthus 

Bertrand in 2008, Hubert Védrine in 2009) closes 

the inaugural series of conferences on major challenges of the 21st century, focusing on 

seven key themes: 

• Energy, especially the rising price and increasing scarcity of fossil fuels 

• Environment, including a focus on ecological equilibriums 

• Health and biotechnologies, focusing on the engineer as a key figure in the life 

sciences and healthcare systems 

• Information and knowledge, especially the impact of information and communication 

technologies on society and social organization 

• Transport and mobility, with an emphasis on the globalization of exchanges, the 

increasing speed of means of transportation, and the growth of urban populations 

• Planning and sustainable construction, working to increase the economic attractiveness 

of cities, find a balance between city centers and suburbs, curb economic 

disparities between social groups, and produce higher quality housing, facilities, and 

transportation 

• Economic change, including financialization, off-shoring, and fair trade 

E More on: 

To see a clip of Alain Juppé’s presentation 

http://www.ecp.fr/fr/B_formations/B1_formation_ingenieur/B1a_ProjetEducatif.htm 

For the 2010–2011 course catalogue 

http://www.ecp.fr/en/document/course_catalog_ecole_centrale_paris.pdf 

E-learning Comes to Centrale Paris 

This summer, in preparation for the start of the academic year, Centrale Paris launched 

its e-learning platform: CentraleParis@home. 

The aim is to provide all student-engineers, and 

especially those coming via other trajectories than 

the CPGE selective exams (international students, 

university graduates, ESSEC double-degree 

students), with short modules (between 3 and 15 

minutes) to help them prepare for the start of the 

academic year. Combining teacher interventions 

and presentation slideshows, the video modules are 

deliberately edited for greater dynamism. 

Three faculty members were involved in preparing the first installment of e-learning 

materials, comprised of 11 modules: Christophe Laux for the Thermal Transfers course, 

and Thierry Schuller and Franck Richecoeur for the Fluid Mechanics course. These first 

examples of innovative pedagogy—in which students are given an exciting introduction 

to professors and their teaching approach—cry out for more. As Claire Bordes, project 

coordinator, points out: “this is a first step toward the creation of a multimedia platform 

entirely devoted to the École’s teaching and pedagogical approach.” 

E Contact: claire.bordes@ecp.fr 




The First Apprenticeships 

Centrale Paris inaugurates 

a new curriculum in 

the engineering cycle: 

apprenticeships. Starting 

in January 2011, selected 

students will undertake 

an alternating curriculum, 

in which 1.5 days of their 

weekly schedule will 

be spent working at a 

company. This innovative 

curriculum provides 

students with the opportunity 

to gain professional 

experience earlier in 

their training, while still 

receiving a rigorous 

scientific education. At the 

end of their program, these 

students will boast both an 

École Centrale engineering 

degree and 3 years of 

professional experience, 

which will give them a 

considerable competitive 

edge on the job market. 

This year, 16 first-year students 

were selected for the 

new curriculum. Matthieu 

Luet and Guillemette 

Breysse, of the Office of 

the Dean of Studies, will 

monitor their progress 

closely. The students 

selected represent diverse 

backgrounds and fields of 

study: 2 female students, 

3 international students, 

and 4 university students, 

who aspire to work in 

a wide variety of fields 

ranging from aeronautics, 

energy, and building, to civil 

engineering, transportation, 

finance, consulting, 

and physics. 

E Contact: 

mathieu.luet@ecp.fr


INTERNATIONAL SCOPE 




Centrale Paris wins a new project tender for the European Erasmus Mundus Program 

EM-BEAM (Erasmus Mundus – Build on Euro-Asian Mobility) is the new program to be coordinated by Centrale Paris 

to promote exchanges between Europe and the Japan/Korea region. The only project to be selected out of the 19 

proposed, and endowed with a €1.5 million budget, it will provide funding, beginning in 2011, for about 85 doctoral, 

post-doctoral, faculty and non-faculty exchanges. 60% of these visiting positions will be for Europeans, with the rest 

divided between Koreans and Japanese, one-third and two-thirds, respectively. 

The program involves 6 European partners—École Centrale Paris in a coordinating role, École Centrale Nantes, 

Imperial College, Technische Universität München, the Free University of Brussels and Universidad Politecnica 

de Madrid—4 Japanese partners—Keio University, Okayama University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Waseda 

University¬—and two Korean partners—Hanyang University and the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and 

Technology (KAIST). In addition, two research centers—the Center of Integrated Engineering for Sustainable Society 

and the Japanese Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute¬—as well as the T.I.M.E. (Top Industrial Managers for 

Europe) organization, of which Centrale Paris is a founding member—are also participating in the program. 

Combined with its coordination of EM-TANDEM, which is currently active in developing Sino-European links (€4.5 million 

for creating 240 visiting positions), and its participation in the EM-WILLPOWER program with India, as well as the 

EM-EUBRANEX program with Brasil, Centrale Paris’s efforts demonstrate a robust commitment to its international 

development strategy, building on European consortiums both for exchanges and research. 

“We are delighted to have been selected to coordinate the Erasmus-Mundus BEAM program, which represents a perfect 

illustration of our commitment to enlarging our network of research exchanges. The quality of our European partners, 

and the support of excellent Japanese and Korean institutions, have contributed to the success of the project and confirm 

the growing importance of these kind of exchanges with major countries,” commented Christopher Cripps, Director of 

International Relations at Centrale Paris. 

E Contact: marc.zolver@ecp.fr 

E More on: http://www.ecp.fr/em_beam 

Representatives of the prestigious KTH Technological University (Sweden) 

attend a training seminar at Centrale Paris 

On September 23, a delegation of 33 researchers, professors, and administrators, who 

are all to be appointed to management positions in the near future, attended a leadership 

training program at École Centrale Paris, to help them prepare for their new responsibilities. 

KTH chose Centrale Paris in order to study its methods in the fields of pedagogy, research, 

development, and international relations. Thus, each member of the École Centrale 

executive committee gave a roundtable presentation to share their know-how in their 

respective area of expertise. 

E Contact: christopher.cripps@ecp.fr


CORPORATE WORLD 

The École Centrale Group Alumni Career Forum: Shanghai, November 

20, 2010 

For the second year running, the École Centrale Group is 

organizing a Career Forum in China, to be held in Shanghai on 

Saturday, November 20, 2010. This forum provides a unique 

opportunity for companies operating in China to meet and offer 

internships and job opportunities to engineers with international 

profiles (French and Chinese students and graduates) 

who will receive or have received a double-degree at one of the 5 institutions in the French 

École Centrale Group (École Centrale Paris, École Centrale Lille, École Centrale Lyon, 

École Centrale Nantes, École Centrale Marseille) and at one of its 4 Chinese partneruniversities 

(Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Xi’An Jiaotong University 

and Southwest Jiao Tong University). 

More than fifteen companies are involved, including AIR LIQUIDE, ERNST & YOUNG, 

L’OREAL, LAFARGE, LOUIS VUITTON, MICHELIN, NESTLE, ORANGE, PSA PEUGEOT 

CITROEN, ROLAND BERGER, SAFRAN, SAINT-GOBAIN, SOCIETE GENERALE, and TOTAL. 

E Contact: sylvie.mazurat@ecp.fr 

The Centrale–Supelec Forum: December 14, 2010 in Paris 

In 2010, Centrale Entreprises and the Supelec Forum chose to combine their experience 

and effort to organize an innovative common forum, the quality of which would more 

than meet the expectations of companies and students alike. The 2010 Centrale-Supelec 

Forum will take place on Tuesday, December 14, 2010, from 9 am at the Palais des 

Congrès in Paris, providing a spacious and accessible venue for companies. 

More than 3000 visitors and 170 companies are expected to take part. Louis Gallois, 

President of EADS, will preside over the closing presentation. 

E Contact: forum@ecp.fr - 01 41 13 15 15 

Year-Off Internship Event: February 15, 2011, 5:30 pm, Centrale Paris 

During the evening event dedicated to year-off internships, approximately thirty companies 

will offer internship opportunities to around 200 second-year students who have 

opted to take a year off between their second and third years of study. These internships 

will be of up to 12 months duration (either two 6-month internships at two different 

companies, or a full-year at a single company), 6 months of which must necessarily be 

spent abroad. 

The year-off internship provides a first extensive professional experience for studentengineers, 

which often proves decisive for their future careers (especially as regards their 

choice of career path and third-year curriculum). 

E For further information and to enroll contact: nicole.meru-beauge@ecp.fr 

2011 Taxe d’apprentissage: investing in 21st century engineers 

You can support Centrale Paris through a portion of your taxe 

d’apprentissage, and thus help us achieve our innovative project: to 

train engineers that will enable companies to develop sustainably in 

the world of tomorrow. 

Thank you for your support (payment deadline: February 28, 2011) 

E Contact : lara.wolfman@ecp.fr 




Forward your offers of 

training courses and 

jobs 

YOUR TRAINING 

COURSES OFFERS 

1st year 

operator training: July and/ 

or August, at least 

6 weeks 

2 nd year 

Break internship: from July 

to July, 2 X 6 months 

international internship: 

between February and 

August, at least 5 months 

3rd year 

internship abroad: from 

April to November at least 

6 months 

The Office of the Training 

in Companies: 

de-bfe@ecp.fr 

YOUR JOB OFFERS 

Association des 

Centraliens, 

Service Carrières & Emploi 

carrieres@centraliens.net


EVENTS 




President Sarkozy confirms the arrival of Institutions of Higher Education, including 

Centrale Paris, on the Saclay Plateau 

On September 24, in heralding the transfer to the Saclay Plateau of École Centrale Paris, AgroParitech, ENSAE, and 

the Biology-Healthcare Development Pole centering around the University of Paris Sud, as well as, in a second wave, 

the École Normale Supérieure Cachan, the École des Mines, and Institut Telecom, the French president officially gave 

birth to the Paris-Saclay Campus. 

The big move will begin with the transfer of ENSTA, which is already planned for the coming academic year, followed 

by the establishment of the École Centrale Paris, AgroParitech, ENSAE, a part of the Biology-Health Pole, the mathematics 

oundation, student life facilities, and the renovation of research laboratories at Polytechnique and Supelec. 

This first wave will promote the growth of world class poles of excellence in five domains: engineering and systems 

sciences, in which the École Centrale is determined to play a major role, agro-food, environment, management and 

economics, mathematics, and biology and healthcare. 

E More on: For more information download the official Saclay press file (in french) 

http://www.elysee.fr/president/root/bank_objects/Dossier_de_presse_Saclay.pdf 

Conference-Debate on the Theme of «Equal Opportunity and Success» 

On September 21, the Centrale Equal Opportunity organization, which brings together around fifty first- and 

second-year students involved in outreach programs, organized its second annual conference-debate. This year’s 

speakers—Nabéla Aïssaoui, winner of the 2009 HEC Entrepreneurs and Our 

Neighborhood Has Talent (“nos quartiers ont des talents”) competitions, 

and founder and chief executive officer of Conciergerie Juridique, François 

Hanat, president of the PARTAGE organization, Chantal Dardelet, headmaster 

of the Resources and Outreach Pole of the Grande École Conference, 

and Philippe Le Guillou, director of the Louise Michel secondary school in 

Bobigny—exchanged views on the theme of “equal opportunity and success” 

before an audience of student-engineers, École Centrale Paris faculty, 

secondary school students and teachers involved in the “Cordées de la 

réussite” program. The conference was preceded by workshops featuring 

exchanges between the various elements of social outreach programs: secondary school students, headmasters, and 

tutors. 

E Contact jean-francois.guipont@ecp.fr 

The Centrale Paris Incubator Now Has Its Own Website 

The Centrale Paris incubator has recently launched its own website: www.centraleparis-incubateur.fr. Established 10 

years ago, the incubator hosts and supports innovative and ambitious projects, which may or may not be creations of 

École Centrale students, at a very early stage of development. Acceptance into the incubator is based on 3 fundamental 

criteria: 

- The innovative character of the project (goods or services) 

- The project’s technological dimension, in relation to École Centrale laboratories 

- The project’s potential for growth 

Selected projects are hosted for a 12-month period, renewable one time. 

The incubator offers the creators of all selected project: 

- Managerial support, coaching and training in good business practices 

- Access to research laboratories 

- Fully furnished office space 

- Access to a network of specialized expertise 

E More on: http://www.centraleparis-incubateur.fr


FOCUS 

Centrale Paris Reinforces Its Commitment to Gender Equality through 

the Creation of the Sébastienne Guyot Scholarships 

To enable more young women to enroll at the École Centrale Paris is the overriding 

objective of the Sébastienne Guyot Scholarships. The first awards ceremony will be held 

on Thursday, October 21, at the Maisons des Centraliens. Five scholarships were awarded 

by a jury headed by Claudie Haigneré, the president of the Public Establishment of the 

Palais de la Découverte et de la Cité des Sciences. The initiative is made possible by the 

support of five companies that have been at the forefront of efforts to promote gender 

equality: Bain & Company Paris, BNP Paribas, Dassault Systèmes, the Foundation Spie 

Batignolles, and Orange. 

The five Sébastienne Guyot Scholarships, which begin in the fall of 2010, will cover tuition 

fees at École Centrale Paris in full. 

The launching of these scholarships provides an opportunity to pay homage to one of the 

very first female Centrale students, and also an extraordinary figure in her own right, 

Sébastienne Guyot. Born in 1894, she was one of the first women to be admitted to the 

École Centrale Paris, and became a renowned specialist in aerodynamics. A French athlete 

of international stature, she was one of the early members of the French Resistance 

to Nazi occupation during WWII, joining as early as July 1940. In giving her name to the 

new scholarships, École Centrale pays homage to the values of courage, tenacity, innovation, 

and commitment that she so fully embodied. 

This initiative is part of a standing commitment on the part of École Centrale Paris to 

increase gender equality in its recruitment, which began in earnest several years ago. 

Today’s young Centraliens are overwhelmingly male (around 80%), a situation which does 

not reflect the performance of young male and female students in the course of their 

secondary studies. Other initiatives to promote gender equality are also being undertaken: 

• The creation of « Mademoiselle fait Centrale », a website addressed specifically to 

young women (www.mademoisellefaitcentrale.com). This website is part of a commitment 

to promoting scientific careers among female secondary school students. 

• The organization of the Initiatives for Women Forum to promote scientific studies and 

careers among female secondary school students, and the participation over two 

years in the Sci Tech Girls, designed to raise awareness about the scientific careers 

of female graduates of secondary school science programs, within the framework of 

the Women’s Forum. 

• The organization of meetings between Centrale Paris student-engineers and women 

currently working in scientific professions, to discuss the careers and professional 

advancement of female engineers. 

Claudie Haigneré, the president of the Public 

Establishment of the Palais de la Découverte et 

de la Cité des Sciences. 

The jury and laureates 




E Contact: 

alexandrine.urbain@ecp.fr 

Alexandrine URBAIN 

Tel : 01 41 13 13 10 

E More on: 

http://mademoisellefaitcentrale.ecp.fr/

research - Ecole Centrale Paris

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