|
GURUSWAMI
RAVICHANDRAN JOINS THE FRENCH FORCES AT ÉCOLE
POLYTECHNIQUE
Ravichandran
in Paris
Spring
2002
PDF
| Table of Contents | Go
to Bottom of this Page
ÉCOLE
POLYTECHNIQUE
(commonly referred to as l'X), founded in 1794 during the French
Revolution and currently under the auspices of the Ministry of
Defense, is one of the most renowned of a distinctive class of
French educational institutions called "les Grandes Écoles."
Spread over 440 acres on the Saclay plateau and situated in Palaiseau
in the southern suburbs of Paris, it has approximately the same
size student body as Caltech--about 900 undergraduates.
My
family's most memorable experiences so far, besides the wonderful
sights France has to offer (the Chateaux, monuments and museums),
are our social interactions with the French families, especially
that of Dr. Yves Leroy. We have been welcomed with open arms and
included in all their holiday celebrations, thus immersed into French
culture. The warm hospitality and friendliness of the people here
have impressed us. The city of Paris itself comes across as a living
museum and one can experience history at every street corner.
In
September 2001, Guruswami Ravichandran, Caltech Professor of Aeronautics
and Mechanical Engineering, began a one-year residency at the
Laboratoire de Mecanique des Solides (LMS) at École Polytechnique
as a Directeur de Recherche Associe on invitation from the Centre
National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). Ravichandran has
traveled to France with his wife and two children.
His
principal colleagues at École
Polytechnique are Drs. Yves Leroy and Jean Raphanel of the LMS.
Dr. Yves Leroy was the first PhD student of Professor Michael
Ortiz at Brown University; Ortiz is currently Professor of Aeronautics
and Mechanical Engineering at Caltech. LMS has a distinguished
history as one of the largest CNRS research laboratories in France;
home to over 100 researchers with expertise in theory, modeling,
and experiments. Ravichandran is primarily an experimentalist
with research interests in mechanics of materials--particularly
those pertaining to their dynamic behavior--and heterogeneous
and active solids. He is using his time away from Caltech to work
on modeling and computational analysis of mechanics problems associated
with crystals, defects, and heterogeneous materials, as well as
stability of deformation in solids. From his interactions with
members of the Mecano-Tectonic group in Paris, he is learning
about applications of mechanics to problems in geology.
The
responsibilities are essentially to conduct research in the field
of solid mechanics and interact with scientists within the laboratory
(LMS) that I am visiting at the École Polytechnique. The
title itself, Directeur de Recherche Associe, means Visiting Senior
Scientist.
He
is using this opportunity to visit other laboratories and universities
in France for updates on the research that is being conducted
in mechanics, while still keeping up with his group at Caltech.
He is also spending time in the library thinking about new directions
for his own research. The outstanding hospitality of the researchers
and staff at LMS and the ambiance of École Polytechnique
have made his visit a rich and rewarding experience. ENG
PDF
| Table of Contents |
Go to Top of this Page
|
